Making Sense of the Different Sections in Your Car Policy

As you look through your car policy, you may be quite confused by what you see. After all, there are many terms that can be difficult to understand and, on a whole, the document is rather large and complex. In order to try to make sense out of your car insurance policy, it is helpful to look at each of the sections of the policy and to understand the purpose of each.

Declarations

The first section of the insurance policy is the declarations section. In this section, you will see a quick overview of what your policy provides to you. You will also see a list of the basic information about you and your vehicle. For example, this section of the policy will have your vehicles:

• Model
• Make
• Year
• Vehicle Identification Number (VIN)

This portion of the policy will also list the insured rivers as well as the effective dates of the policy. Your premium payment amount and the type of coverage you have purchased will also be included in this section, as will information about the lender if there is a lien on your vehicle. Information such as whether you use your car for business or pleasure and the annual mileage you expect to drive will also be listed in this section.

Insuring Agreement

The insuring agreement portion of your policy will provide more detail about the type of coverage you have in place. While it is briefly discussed in the declarations section, the insuring agreement will precisely spell out the type of protection you receive in exchange for making your regular premium payments on time. This is generally the longest and most confusing section, but it is important to understand it fully in order to make certain you have the coverage you need.

Definitions

The definitions section is in place in order to help you make sense of your policy. Here, you can look up terms that you may not understand from your insuring agreement section.

Exclusions

In the exclusions section, you can read about the specific forms of coverage that are not provided by your policy. For example, if your policy does not cover damage covered by tornados, that fact will be listed within the exclusions section. It is important for you to fully understand this section of your insurance policy. That way, you aren’t caught off guard if you need a certain form of coverage and later find out it is not included with your policy.

Conditions

The conditions section provides information about what you need to do in order to keep the policy in effect. You will also find information about performing certain tasks, such as how to file a claim or how to contact your insurance company when you have a question or a problem.

Article Source: http://www.a1-articledirectory.com

Shannon Kietzman is a freelance writer and an authority on car insurance issues, including methods for auto insurance comparison. She helps others learn the basics of car insurance so they can make proper and informed decisions when choosing the coverage that is right for them.

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