When you own a vehicle, car insurance is a must and when you are renting one it is no different. Sometimes when renting a car, insurance will be available along with the rental however there are some rental companies that do not provide this service, and in this case separate rental insurance, or one day insurance would need to be taken out. The reason for rental insurance is exactly the same as general insurance, which is to protect you from any financial loss that would occur as the result of an accident or theft.

The price of the rental cover that you end up getting will be dependent on how comprehensive the protection is. Selecting the insurance policy offered by the rental company, may not always be necessary depending on the type of cover you have for your own private motor vehicle, as some policies have a specific benefit which covers the policy holder whilst driving rental cars. If you are uncertain of the existing cover that you hold it is best to talk to your insurance agent or to err on the side of caution by taken out rental cover regardless.

Although there is no real justification for it many of us have made mistakes when behind the wheel of a car, whether they be minor ones such as a lapse of concentration, or more major “mistakes” such as being drunk. When it comes to getting car insurance after making one of these mistakes you will often find that the mainstream insurance companies will come down hard on you and either refuse to offer insurance or charge you an astronomical rate for the privilege. Whilst not condoning driving dangerously or whilst under the influence of alcohol, I do believe in second chances, and that is why I’m glad that there are some second tier insurers who won’t look so harshly upon previous convictions.

In the competitive industry of car insurance there has been an increased movement towards benefit competition as opposed to providers solely competing based on the cost of there premiums. As such it is no longer the case that the cheapest car insurance is always the best, as you will see below there are a lot of benefits that you must also weigh up.

There is a growing trend amongst insurance providers worldwide to look more holistically at their impact on the surrounding economic and environmental environment, this can be seen by the fact that there are now insurance companies releasing triple bottom line reports which outline their environmental impacts alongside their financial results, this change in paradigm is doubtlessly the result of pressure from the wider community for large corporate to reduce their impact on the environment.

As a result of this new found enthusiasm for the environment more and more of the large insurance companies are offering green car insurance policies. These policies generally come with two features, one of which is also a benefit and the other which is more of a hindrance, but potentially could be seen as a benefit depending on how much environmental guilt you carry.

Car insurance, also known as auto insurance, or motor insurance, protects cars, trucks or other vehicles against damages incurred as a result of traffic accidents. It is a contract between you and the insurance company. You agree to pay the premium and the insurance company agrees to pay your losses as defined in your policy. The car insurance also protects against liability incurred in an accident. In many countries, in order to use or keep a vehicle on public roads, the vehicle must be first insured. If you are involved in an accident or have your car stolen, owning the right kind of auto insurance can help to ease a difficult situation. It also helps minimize the financial losses in case of accident, theft, or fire.

Insuring a car that is going to be driven by a teenager is unfortunately one of the most expensive things that you can do. The reason for this is the statistical increase in likelihood of a teenager crashing their car. The same increase in premium applies even if the teenager will only be driving a family car occasionally.

The most expensive cars to insure for teenagers are those with big engines and newer model cars, this often comes as a shock to potential insurance applicants as they assume that a newer car would be less likely to crash and therefore have lower premiums, and much as this may be the case, the fact that newer cars are worth more dictates the increase in the premium of these cars. Cars with larger engines also attract a higher premium due to the fact the their parts are generally more expensive to replace and also because they are able to reach higher speeds faster and generally cause more carnage. So when you are picking out a car with your teenage child be sure to steer the towards the slightly older, but still good, cars with a smaller engine to save them on insurance premium, then encourage them to save towards a better car which will be cheaper to insure once they have a few years no claims bonus and a bit more age under their belts.