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Are You Covered?
  • Care to Share? How Joining a Car or Bike Share Program Could Impact Your Insurance
    Across the country car and bike share programs are gaining in popularity as a way to ease congested traffic patterns in urban areas while at the same time providing more flexible transportation alternatives to public transit. These programs are a great alternative for urban dwellers and college students who may not own a car or bike but occasionally need one to run errands, or to use as an alternate means of commuting. But how does your insurance work with these types of bike and car share programs?
  • Do Individuals Need to Buy UM Coverage?
    Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage (referred to as UM or UIM, respectively), is a unique form of auto insurance in that it gives drivers an added opportunity to protect themselves from “out there”—specifically, all those people driving with little or no auto liability insurance.
  • Rental Car Insurance:  To Buy or Not to Buy?
    As the holiday season approaches, millions of Americans will take to the roads to visit family and friends. Since many will make the trip in a rented car, it’s an appropriate time to discuss one of the most frequently asked questions of agents and brokers all over the country: “Should I buy the insurance from the rental car company?”
  • Transporting Kids to School Events
    As early as they start school, children become involved in extra-curricular activities. Adults charged with getting groups of kids from home or school to the ball field and back home again are usually more concerned with maintaining their sanity than auto insurance. However, hauling kids around could have a serious affect on your coverage.
  • Insurance: The One Question Everyone Asks
    “Am I overpaying?”

    That’s a question that every consumer asks from time to time. Everyone is curious and concerned as to whether he or she is getting a good value for the money, whether it’s for a candy bar, a car or an airline ticket.
  • Family Members: What You Auto Know
    Those that design personal auto insurance policies learned years ago that folks living in the same house will take turns driving the family cars. That’s why auto insurance policies are designed to provide coverage not just for the person specifically named on the policy (you) but also your spouse and family members.
  • Understanding Driver Exclusions
    Everyone knows “that guy” whom you wouldn’t trust behind the wheel of your car, even in a matter of life and death. For the truly unfortunate, “that guy” is a member of your household—and looks not only to your vehicles as a source of transportation but also to your auto insurance as a source for coverage.
  • Auto Insurance Goes to the Dogs
    Many auto insurers are now offering more than collision and liability coverage for motorists – they’re also providing protection for their furry friends, too.
  • Business Use of My Personal Vehicle: Will My Insurance Work?
    Running errands, making deliveries, visiting customers. Even for those whose employment is not based on driving, it’s fair to say that your vehicle is an essential part of your employment. This presents an important question: If you are involved in an accident in the course of employment, are you covered by your personal auto insurance policy (PAP)?

  • Back-to-School Driving Tips for Student and Parents
    School is back in session and many high school and college students will be driving more as they commute to and from school, which makes now a good time to remind your student driver about safe driving practices.
  • Is insurance for an old car necessary?
    Should the age or value of your car make any difference to the cost of your auto insurance? For some insurance coverages, the answer is no.
  • Shopping Carts Woes
    Could your car’s worst enemy be…a shopping cart? How could a motor-less, four-wheeled wannabe pose such a threat to a proper automobile? Believe it or not, one of the most common causes of body damage to a car is the dings and dents received by not-so-innocent buggies in the parking lots of your neighborhood grocery store. The question is: If your car is the next victim, how will your car insurance respond?
Auto Insurance Goes to the Dogs
Many auto insurers are now offering more than collision and liability coverage for motorists – they’re also providing protection for their furry friends, too.

Pet owners can now feel better when taking Fido or Fifi for a ride in the car thanks to insurers that are offering special pet-injury coverage. The coverage provides reimbursement for veterinary care costs if a pet is hurt in an auto accident.

In most cases, the coverage takes effect when a pet is riding in a car and an accident occurs in which the pet is injured and requires medical attention. The coverage provides reimbursement for veterinary bills the pet owner incurs because of the accident, and some policies also cover the burial cost if a pet is killed in an accident.

Pet-injury coverage varies by company, but here are the basics from a few different policies:
  • One company's pet-injury coverage, which pertains only to cats and dogs, is already built into its collision insurance. If a pet is injured in an auto accident, fire or theft, the company will pay up to $1,000 in vet bills. 
  • Another company covers up to $2,000 in veterinary care and includes all types of pets, such as horses, lizards, birds and rabbits, along with cats and dog. This company's pet-injury coverage is only available in select states, though. 
  • A regional insurer is offering a pet injury endorsement to its auto insurance customers for an additional $20 annually. The insurance provides up to $500 in coverage for a cat or dog that is hurt or killed in an auto accident.  

 

Like other insurance policies, customers who have pet-injury coverage need to submit a claim to their independent insurance agent, broker or insurance company if their pet is injured in a crash. Also keep in mind, this is not pet health insurance, the coverage only pertains to vet bills from auto-related injuries.

If you have any questions about whether your pet is covered by your auto policy or for more information on pet-injury coverage, contact your Trusted Choice® independent insurance agent or broker. 

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127 South Peyton Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
Phone: 800.221.7917
Fax: 703.683.7556
Email: Trusted.Choice@iiaba.net