Auto insurance is governed by the state laws. The state laws have mandated certain auto coverage to ensure safety of the community. Hence, if you want to continue with the privilege of driving in your hometown, you should learn the state auto insurance laws by heart.

The auto insurance laws of America vary widely, but still can be categorized as the following,

The tort state:

Tort defines the injuries that are eligible to receive compensation under the law. In a tort state, one party is identified as the responsible party for the accident and is liable to compensate the sufferers for their losses.

A tort state can further be categorized as ‘full tort’ and ‘limited tort’. In the limited tort state, the recipient can’t claim compensation for the pains and sufferings from the party responsible for the damages, until and unless he suffers permanent disability.

The no-fault state:

The no-fault state requires the drivers to carry insurances for their own protection, since it imposes restrictions upon the ability to sue the responsible driver.

Under the pure no-fault law the drivers are covered under their own plans respectively and will receive coverage irrespective of their responsibility for the damages. However, no state follows the pure no-fault status, and thus leaves the opportunity for the involved parties to sue the other to recover a portion of their damages.

The ‘add-on’ no-fault state:

The add-on no fault state allows the victim to collect the benefits under the responsible party’s bodily injury liability coverage, once his medical expenses exceeds the PIP coverage limit.

The doctrine of comparative negligence

Some states follow the theory of comparative negligence, where the responsibility of an accident gets distributed amongst the parties involved in it. This doctrine restricts one party to hold the other party fully responsible for the damages caused to him.

In the states following the doctrine of comparative negligence, the party contributing more than 50% towards the damages caused in the accident, is the party at-fault.

The issue of liability

All the states require the drivers to carry at least the minimum liability coverage and that is to ensure the safety of the community around the driver. The state law makes sure that the driver has adequate coverage to compensate for the damages caused by him to others.

Multiple car insurance quotes allow you to insure more than one vehicle with the same policy. This is an option that is now offered by a large number of auto insurance companies, and that many households are seriously looking at.

There is no doubt that a multiple car insurance policy can save you money if there are a number of vehicles in your household. In fact it is one of the best ways to save money on your car insurance, and will likely save you more than comparing individual vehicle quotes online – although there are exceptions which are discussed below. The policy can cover more than two cars or vehicles in the household, though does not apply to motor bikes.

This cost saving is due to a number of factors, most pertaining to the reduction in administration costs. It is a lot cheaper to set up one automobile insurance policy for two or three cars than it is to arrange two or three separate policies. Not only is there less paperwork involved, but also less time spent by people in doing the work. Some companies actually specialize in this type of car insurance.

Multiple car insurance quotes will be in one name only, although there can be a number of named drivers stated on the policy. Some insurers will accept details from only the main policy holder, whereas others will want details of all the named drivers. This can affect the policy price, so make sure you know what information your car insurance company wants. It will be on the quotation form. More on this later.

Your first step should be to take a note of the details of each vehicle you want included in the policy. Many companies will insist that all be private passenger autos, although other might allow commercial vehicles to be included. When seeking online auto coverage, you should be asking for a number of different quotes from different companies for comparison. This is particularly true of multiple vehicle quotes, since there are so many ways that these can be priced.

It might also be worthwhile seeking one or two quotations for the individual vehicles and drivers, since not all multiple quotes are cheaper than all individual quotes. It does no harm to do this, so you might as well just so that your mind is at rest that you are doing the right thing. Some people are surprised at the cost of the policy, but that is because they were expecting a similar price to an individual quote, so it can be beneficial to actually see the combined cost of the individual auto insurance rates and compare that with the multiple policy. You can then see the true savings you are making.

Be careful to read the insuring agreement before accepting any quotation since you will have to make sure that all vehicles and named drivers are equally covered. Once you have received a number of quotations, you should check them all over carefully to make sure that they provide the cover you requested. You have the same options with a multiple auto insurance policy as you have with normal individual insurances, so the range of cars you are insuring might have an impact on the saving.

You will generally be taking out the same cover for all vehicles, so it can become complicated if you need collision and comprehensive for your brand new Cadillac, but have also included your partner’s old Buick on the policy. That is when individual policies might be considered, and when you should compare the individual quotes with the combined quote. In some cases what you save on the multiple cover is spent on the unneeded collision and comprehensive cover for a vehicle that will totalled in the event of a minor bump!

Also keep in mind that internet insurance quotation engines are generally set up to handle standard enquiries, and if you have a ’special’ you might have to set up your insurance manually. That means losing the benefits of an online quote, and you might be better in the long run just comparing prices for the individual policies. If you are looking for instant car insurance quotes, you would also be more likely to get the individual policies quicker than a multiple policy, unless all the cars insured were very similar.

Such insurance quotes are very useful if you have a number of cars you want to insure, and there is not much difference in value between them. It is also worthwhile if one of the drivers has a poor record, in which you can save a lot of money by finding an insurer that requires only the main policy holder to provide details of their driving record. In such cases, a multiple car insurance quote is definitely well worth the time and effort.

Generally multiple car insurance quotes are worthwhile and can save money, but not always, and you should always compare the multiple quote with quotations for the individual vehicles, including the levels of insurance most appropriate for them. That is when you can make a true comparison and make your mind up as to which is better for you.