What Is Gap Insurance?

What Is Gap Insurance?

When you buy or lease a new car or truck, the vehicle starts to depreciate in value the moment it leaves the car lot. In fact, most cars lose 20 percent of their value within one year. Standard auto insurance policies cover the depreciated value; in other words, insurance pays the current market value of the vehicle. If you finance the purchase of a new car and only put down a small deposit down, the amount of the loan may exceed the market value of the vehicle in its early years of ownership. Gap insurance is available to cover the “gap” between what a vehicle is worth and what you owe on it.

 

It’s a good idea to consider buying gap insurance for your new car or truck purchase if you:

 

Made less than a 20 percent down payment.

Financed for 60 months or longer.

Leased the vehicle.

Purchased a vehicle that depreciates faster than the average.

Rolled over negative equity from an old car loan into the new loan.

 

While the car dealer may offer to sell you gap insurance on your new vehicle, most car insurers offer it—and it typically costs much less. On most auto insurance policies, including gap insurance with collision and comprehensive coverage adds only about $20 a year to the annual premium.  

Insuring a Leased Car

Insuring a Leased Car

If you lease a car, you still need to buy your own auto insurance policy. The auto dealer or bank that is financing the car will require you to buy collision and comprehensive coverage. You will need to buy these coverages in addition to the others that may be mandatory in your state, such as auto liability insurance.

• Collision covers the damage to the car from an accident with another automobile or object.
• Comprehensive covers a loss that is caused by something other than a collision with another car or object, such as a fire or theft or collision with a deer.

The leasing company may also require "gap" insurance. If you have an accident and your leased car is damaged beyond repair, or "totaled," there's likely to be a difference between the amount that you still owe the auto dealer and the check you'll get from your insurance company. That's because the insurance company's check is based on the car's actual cash value which takes into account depreciation. The difference between the two amounts is known as the "gap."

On a leased car, the cost of gap insurance is generally rolled into the lease payments. You don't actually buy a gap policy. Generally, the auto dealer buys a master policy from an insurance company to cover all the cars it leases and charges you for a "gap waiver." This means that if your leased car is totaled, you won't have to pay the dealer the gap amount. Check with the auto dealer when leasing your car.

If you have an auto loan rather than a lease, you may want to buy gap insurance to protect yourself from having to come up with the gap amount if your car is totaled before you've finished paying for it. Ask your insurance professional about gap insurance; it may not be available in some states.

Protecting Yourself against Uninsured Motorists

Protecting Yourself against Uninsured Motorists

Overlooked Auto Insurance Options

About one out of every eight U.S. drivers does not have an auto insurance policy, even though it is mandatory to purchase this coverage in 49 out of 50 states (New Hampshire is the exception), according to the Insurance Research Council (IRC). In several states, more than one in five drivers do not carry coverage.

If you’re involved in a serious accident with an uninsured motorist, you could be at risk for substantial financial losses.

For protection from losses arising from an accident with an uninsured motorist, consider purchasing uninsured motorist coverage. A handful of states require that this coverage be included in all auto insurance policies. Regardless of state requirements, you may already carry uninsured motorist coverage, so check your policy or ask your insurance professional.

 

Types of Uninsured Motorist Coverage

Specific options for uninsured motorist coverage vary by state and insurer, but in general there are three types of protection:

• Uninsured Motorist (UM) Insurance—Also known as Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury (UMBI) insurance, this coverage will pay your and your passengers’ medical bills if you’re involved in an accident with an uninsured motorist who is at fault. In addition, UM insurance will reimburse you and your passengers for lost wages. UM coverage also kicks in if you are hit as a pedestrian by an uninsured driver, or if you’re the victim of a hit-and-run accident.
• Uninsured Motorist Property Damage (UMPD) Coverage—While UM insurance covers injuries, it does not extend to damage to your car or property. For this, you need UMPD coverage. Note that UMPD may not cover damaged property beyond your car, and this option may not be available from your insurer—it depends on what state you live in. In addition, UMPD may not cover hit-and-run accidents.
• Underinsured Motorist (UIM) Protection—In some instances, an at-fault driver may have liability insurance, but the policy’s limits do not cover the full extent of damage to your vehicle. In such cases, UIM insurance will cover the shortfall.

 

Auto Insurance for Lower-Income Drivers

Ideally, you’ll have sufficient auto insurance to provide financial protection for any collision. Uninsured motorist coverage offers an important layer of protection, though making an uninsured motorist claim should be a last resort. You can help limit the chances of such an occurrence for someone else by making sure that you always carry auto insurance yourself.

To help ensure that everyone, regardless of financial circumstances, can obtain car insurance, some states, such as California, have programs to assist lower-income drivers. Check with your state’s insurance division to see if your state has such a program. In addition, shop around. Some insurers specialize in writing policies for lower-income consumers.

Can I drive legally without insurance?

Can I drive legally without insurance?

NO! Almost every state requires you to have auto liability insurance. All states also have financial responsibility laws. This means that even in a state that does not require liability insurance, you need to have sufficient assets to pay claims if you cause an accident. If you don’t have enough assets, you must purchase at least the state minimum amount of insurance. But insurance exists to protect your assets. Trying to see how little you can get by with can be very shortsighted and dangerous. The insurance industry and consumer groups generally recommend a minimum of $100,000 of bodily injury protection per person and $300,000 per accident since accidents may cost far more than the minimum limits mandated by most states.

If you've financed your car, your lender may require comprehensive and collision insurance as part of the loan agreement.

For more information, see Automobile Financial Responsibility Laws.

Infographic: Types of Auto Coverage

Infographic: Types of Auto Coverage

Some types of auto insurance coverage are required, others are optional, but you’ll want to understand them all because they provide protection against several types of risk.

What Is Covered by a Basic Auto Insurance Policy?

What Is Covered by a Basic Auto Insurance Policy?

Your auto policy may include six coverages. Each coverage is priced separately.

1. Bodily Injury Liability

This coverage applies to injuries that you, the designated driver or policyholder, cause to someone else. You and family members listed on the policy are also covered when driving someone else’s car with their permission.

It’s very important to have enough liability insurance, because if you are involved in a serious accident, you may be sued for a large sum of money. Definitely consider buying more than the state-required minimum to protect assets such as your home and savings.

2. Medical Payments or Personal Injury Protection (PIP)

This coverage pays for the treatment of injuries to the driver and passengers of the policyholder's car. At its broadest, PIP can cover medical payments, lost wages and the cost of replacing services normally performed by someone injured in an auto accident. It may also cover funeral costs.

3. Property Damage Liability

This coverage pays for damage you (or someone driving the car with your permission) may cause to someone else's property. Usually, this means damage to someone else’s car, but it also includes damage to lamp posts, telephone poles, fences, buildings or other structures your car hit.

4. Collision

This coverage pays for damage to your car resulting from a collision with another car, object or as a result of flipping over. It also covers damage caused by potholes. Collision coverage is generally sold with a deductible of $250 to $1,000—the higher your deductible, the lower your premium. Even if you are at fault for the accident, your collision coverage will reimburse you for the costs of repairing your car, minus the deductible. If you're not at fault, your insurance company may try to recover the amount they paid you from the other driver’s insurance company. If they are successful, you'll also be reimbursed for the deductible.

5. Comprehensive

This coverage reimburses you for loss due to theft or damage caused by something other than a collision with another car or object, such as fire, falling objects, missiles, explosion, earthquake, windstorm, hail, flood, vandalism, riot, or contact with animals such as birds or deer.

Comprehensive insurance is usually sold with a $100 to $300 deductible, though you may want to opt for a higher deductible as a way of lowering your premium.

Comprehensive insurance will also reimburse you if your windshield is cracked or shattered. Some companies offer glass coverage with or without a deductible.

6. Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage

This coverage will reimburse you, a member of your family, or a designated driver if one of you is hit by an uninsured or hit-and-run driver.

Underinsured motorist coverage comes into play when an at-fault driver has insufficient insurance to pay for your total loss. This coverage will also protect you if you are hit as a pedestrian.

Why should I buy life insurance?

Why should I buy life insurance?

Many financial experts consider life insurance to be the cornerstone of sound financial planning. It can be an important tool in the following situations:

Replace income for dependents

If people depend on your income, life insurance can replace that income for them if you die. The most commonly recognized case of this is parents with young children. However, it can also apply to couples in which the survivor would be financially stricken by the income lost through the death of a partner, and to dependent adults, such as parents, siblings or adult children who continue to rely on you financially. Insurance to replace your income can be especially useful if the government- or employer-sponsored benefits of your surviving spouse or domestic partner will be reduced after your death.

Pay final expenses

Life insurance can pay your funeral and burial costs, probate and other estate administration costs, debts and medical expenses not covered by health insurance.

Create an inheritance for your heirs

Even if you have no other assets to pass to your heirs, you can create an inheritance by buying a life insurance policy and naming them as beneficiaries.

Pay federal “death” taxes and state “death” taxes

Life insurance benefits can pay estate taxes so that your heirs will not have to liquidate other assets or take a smaller inheritance. Changes in the federal “death” tax rules between now and January 1, 2011 will likely lessen the impact of this tax on some people, but some states are offsetting those federal decreases with increases in their state-level “death” taxes.

Make significant charitable contributions

By making a charity the beneficiary of your life insurance, you can make a much larger contribution than if you donated the cash equivalent of the policy’s premiums.

Create a source of savings

Some types of life insurance create a cash value that, if not paid out as a death benefit, can be borrowed or withdrawn on the owner’s request. Since most people make paying their life insurance policy premiums a high priority, buying a cash-value type policy can create a kind of “forced” savings plan. Furthermore, the interest credited is tax deferred (and tax exempt if the money is paid as a death claim).