The Dangers of Buying Cheap Auto Insurance

Everyone loves to save money once in a while, but sometimes trying to save money does not work for the best. That goes especially for buying cheap auto insurance. Cheap can mean economical without compromising the quality and integrity of the insurance, but when cheap means the lowest cost possible because the coverage is insufficient and the customer service is nonexistent, that is when the insured will see trouble.

When buying cheap auto insurance, the cheapness is not seen until it is time to contact customer service or file a claim. Cheap auto insurance sometimes means there are not sufficient adjusters available to take on the responsibility of a claim and see it through to an acceptable conclusion in a timely manner. That means a claim may sit for weeks or even months before being picked up by an adjuster for service. In turn that means the car owner is waiting for repairs to be authorized, leaving them without transportation. If they rely on their car for work that just compounds the aggravation the customer is feeling. In most states, vehicles must pass an inspection before the car can be returned to the road. The unfortunate thing is states do not have a mandate in place that requires an insurance company to review a claim and authorize repairs. Once the repairs are authorized, most insurance companies have mandates in place requiring a mechanic to perform the necessary repairs in a certain time frame in order to get paid.

Cheap auto insurance companies often rely on automation to run their business. That means when trying to contact a human customer service representative with questions about claims or help with billing errors will be nothing more than an aggravating process that will make you think twice about using their services again. Unfortunately, anyone who does not ever have to contact customer service has no idea of the level of service the cheap auto insurance provides.

One of the most disconcerting aspects of buying cheap auto insurance is the security, or lack of security, the company provides. Cheap auto insurance often means low overhead which translates to lack of trusted personnel. The insured often provides the cheap auto insurance company with sensitive information such as credit card information, employment information, bank information as well as contact information and if the customer takes any kind of medication. This information is more than enough for identity theft and the chances of a cheap auto insurance company placing any value of the customers information is probably about zero.

A reputable insurance company will put the security of their customer’s information first and put security measures in place to protect that information at all costs. Unfortunately there is no law anywhere that says businesses have be run according to certain standard in order to stay in business. While many industries have protocols in place that dictate how a business of a certain nature should be run, the only thing a consumer can do is not support a shoddily run business.

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