Your routine car insurance does not cover air conditioning issues. This is because air conditioning problems tend to present themselves as a part of normal wear and tear as your car ages. That said, if your air conditioning goes out because of an accident—then it is normally covered, because that was the fault of the accident, not a natural part of the driving/wearing process. But when issues like air conditioning problems happen, what is your first thought? To try to get a claim for it, to pay for the repairs, is probably one of the things you thought.
There are a lot of things that insurance helps with, but there are also those that insurance doesn’t help with. Here are a few of the most common types of issues, and why they aren’t covered with normal auto insurance.
Other People Driving Your Car
Okay, this one will depend on your policy, but most normal coverage will end up not covering them. Some policies will go as far as saying people who are immediate family, or who live in the same residency as you, are covered—but no one else. Others might say people who do not live with you are fine to drive. There’s no direct or perfect answer for these situations, so it changes between states, insurance providers, even drivers, considering their various histories. Honestly, your worst-case scenario here, is them getting into a crash, them being found ‘at fault’ and then you are being given a large fine. And that’s not including any sort of damages that happen to your car in the process.
Rideshare Problems
Rideshare companies are still a new and challenging thing for most insurance companies. Rideshare drivers have taken on a lot of responsibility by opening their cars and themselves to strangers on the road. Many drivers have taken on the legal ramifications of driving for a company by adding the rideshare insurance policies to their own. However, this insurance is only active during work most of the time, and some normal auto insurance may end up canceling the policy of the holder if there is an overlap of insurances. These sorts of policies are tricky and hard to understand, so it really comes down to the sort of policy that is offered.
Wear and Tear Repairs
Normal wear and tear isn’t usually covered by any policies, for anything. That goes for everything from auto insurance to homeowner’s insurance. Often, these sorts of issues fall into a call of repair called regular repairs, and insurance is not interested in them. Things like new tires or oil changes, or your air conditioning not working, fall into this category. Now, there are some insurance policies which will help you with these issues if you purchase the right plan. Most of these are called some version of ‘comprehensive policy’, so keep a look out for those. They will usually cover things like collision repairs, animal damage, hail damage, even glass or fire damage. Things that you didn’t cause, but you need to be fixed.
Exotic Cars
There are a whole lot of reasons why insurance companies don’t like these cars. One of the reasons is that since they are exotic, that means that there is an increased chance that the owner of it will crash it via some poor choices. When that happens, it is challenging to find replacement parts, if at all possible. Further, since they attract more attention than the normal car, they are prone to both vandalism and theft. There are those few insurance companies that will insure them, for a cost, but finding one can be challenging.
Damages Higher Than Your Liability
In all cases of insurance, there are different types of liability—that is the difference in many policies, outside of costs. The main types of liability considered by a normal insurance are these: bodily injury liability, property damage liability, personal injury protection, uninsured motorist, comprehensive, or collision. Each state has a minimum amount of liability that needs to be covered for a driver, but that doesn’t mean that the insurance will pay for the damages if you’re in an accident. If your damages are more than your policy limits, you’ll need to receive only the amount of money available on your policy, and the rest will have to be paid by yourself.
Insurance doesn’t cover everything, but you’ll never know what it does cover unless you speak with an insurance agent. Give us a call today to speak with an expert about your options—or explore our blog page for more insurance insight.