On any road trip, it is best to get insurance for yourself and your car , and while car insurance is probably something that you don’t want to think about while you are traveling, it is important.
Especially if you are traveling to another state because accidents can always happen on the roads and if you have an accident inside of another state, you don’t want to have to figure out if you are covered or not.
How Does Car Insurance Work In Other States?
If you are going on a cross country road trip, you need to know who is covered by your insurance and what happens if you or they get into a crash inside of another state.
For the first point, anyone can drive your car unless they don’t have a license, are drunk, or are excluded from the policy for whatever reason.
Car insurance follows the car and not the driver, so if a friend of yours is behind the wheel and they end up in a car crash, then your policy will cover the crash up to its limit. However, if you hit the limit then your friend’s policy will be used next.
For other states, every single state has legal insurance minimums that travel and change from state to state.
For example, if you start your trip in Florida you are only required to have $10,000 of property damage liability, but if you end your trip and accidentally crash in New York, then that state has a minimum of $50,000.
Thankfully, most car insurance companies will work with you to bump your minimum insurance limits up to the limit where you were when you crashed.
Now that you know how car insurance works, now you need to find the best car insurance policy for you before you hit the road.
What to Look for When Choosing Car Insurance Before a Road Trip
If you want to get the best car insurance possible before your road trip, then you need to know these things.
First, make sure that the basics are covered first by picking liability car insurance from a company that you trust.
If you aren’t already on a car insurance plan, then you should look at some websites like Gabi.com, theZebra.com, or even quote pickers from various insurance websites when choosing car insurance in Florida.
There are countless companies to get your car insurance from as well, so look for some of the best ones and go with a company you like the best.
State Farm, Progressive, and Geico are almost always on TV and in the public’s consciousness, so you can very easily do some research into them and see if their quotes match up.
Just make sure that you are getting the best insurance for your trip, and if you are driving a long distance, you might also want to look for roadside assistance insurance as well.
This will help keep you safe if you are far from home and have a flat tire, a dead battery, run out of gas in the middle of nowhere or even lock the keys in the car! Roadside assistance coverage will help you get back on the road and on your way before you know it!
Make Car Insurance A Part Of Your Preparation
While car insurance might not seem as important as planning your itinerary or making sure you have the right clothes for the weather or the right songs on your road playlist, you need to make sure you have the car insurance that you need whenever you are hitting the road.
So if you’ve gone this far with only a basic plan or don’t have any idea what you’d do if you get into a car accident in another state, make sure you are taking the time to prepare yourself.
Work with the common companies you see on TV, or look around the internet for some websites and see if you can find some great deals.
That’s the best way to get the insurance you need for your road trip, and then you can hit the road!