There is no way for you to tell when auto accidents will occur, and so you need to be equipped not just with a basic knowledge about first aid and what to do after an accident, but also with a good Wwashington Auto Insurance Policy. The state of Washington takes auto insurance very seriously, and every driver in the state needs to have their own Washington Auto Insurance in order for them to protect themselves as well as other people on the road.
It is easy to forget that in any auto accident that there are generally two parties involved, and so it is incumbent upon you to act responsibly and get some decent cover.
The fundamentals of auto insurance in Washington
Every driver in the state is required to have insurance liability coverage of 25/50/10. This translates to: $25,000 for injury to a person or another person, $50,000 for injury to all persons, and $10,000 for damage to property. These are the minimum amounts as stated in the Washington Auto Insurance law, and most people opt to include additional coverage in the insurance policy that they will choose such as Personal Injury Protection, collision coverage, and underinsured motorist coverage, among others.
The reason for this is simply that in practice the minimum amounts may see you legally allowed to drive in Washington, but they don't offer the levels of protection that you really need, so you need to make sure you get more to take care of all potential problems.
Things required for you to apply for Washingtom Auto Insurance Cover
Most insurance companies will require you to submit the following information in order for you to get Washington Auto Insurance. Some of the vital information includes the following:
* Name
* Driver's license and record
* Credit report or history (You won't have to provide this, the insurance company is Washingto will simply do a search to check).
* Current and permanent residence
* Type of vehicles owned
In practice you will generally fill out a short form online in order to get a Washington Auto Insurance Quote in just a few minutes, and you will then be equipped with both an idea of an average price for your policy, and also what levels of cover you can typically expect to get.
You can get Washington Auto Insurance usually based on these auto insurance market templates:
Preferred market - This particular insurance has the lowest premiums in the market. This is usually recommended for drivers that have good driving records.
Standard market - Drivers who use family-type of vehicles and have average driving skills are offered with plans from this category.
Non-standard market - Those who are being offered Washington Auto Insurance from the non-standard market are the young and inexperienced drivers, especially college students, 16 or 17 year old Washington drivers who do not have enough experience yet, and those who have previous drunk driving histories.
Knowing your rights as a policy holder
Once you have got your Washington Auto Insurance, you need to educate yourself about your rights and responsibilities as well. During any accident, the first thing that you have to do is to notify or call the Washington State Patrol and request for an ambulance, if needed. With the police officials around, it is much easier to assess and create the case report. Should there be any injuries or unfortunate deaths, you have to inform the police official as soon as they arrive at the scene.
After the accident, policy holders are required to promptly report the event to their insurance company and provide all the details required by them. Once you have filed any claim, you should wait for 30 days for the company to investigate on the particulars of the claim. It is the responsibility of the Washington Auto insurance company to notify the claimer within that given period of time, so in the unlikely event that you haven't heard back from them within that period of time then you should definitely follow up.
In practice you would contact the insurance company immediately after any incident, and they would be able toi advise you about the precise procedures you should follow in terms of the claims procedure..
Should the insurance company decline your claim, they will need to provide you with a good reason why they are not allowing it. In case of trouble, you can contact the Washington State Insurance Department so that they can provide you with the assistance you deserve.
In practice most auto insurance claims go through very smoothly, and so your biggest problems come not from having auto insurance and not getting a claim paid out, but from either not having Washington Auto Insurance for your car, or from not having adequate cover.
So make sure that you take the bull by the horns and get some quotes today.