If you’ve had an auto accident, the first thing you need to do is render aid to anybody that’s injured. If you can physically help them yourselves, great; if not, call 911 and try to get them help as soon as possible if injuries occurred.

If there’s no injuries involved, then what you want to do is call the police if the accident took place on a public road, and it’s a substantial accident. If it’s a little bit more than a fender bender, you want to make sure the police are involved. If it’s a smaller accident or took place in a parking lot, those types of things, you can usually handle it on your own.

Either way, the step that you want to take next is to start gathering information and exchange information. The information exchange is very important after an auto accident in order to help the claim go smoothly. You want to get the information from the other party: their name, their address, their license plate number, their driver’s license number, and all of their contact information. You want to do that with everybody involved in the accident if there’s several parties involved.

The next thing you want to do is get witnesses, if there’s somebody that saw the accident but wasn’t involved. Whether they are in another vehicle or a bystander, you definitely want to get their information because they will be invaluable — especially if you were not at fault in this accident – to help your case and let everybody know what they saw.

The other thing that’s very important to remember is: do not admit fault at the scene. Even if you think you are at fault, do not admit fault. You want to talk with your insurance carrier first, and let them straighten it out. Admitting fault on the scene can make it very difficult down the road if perhaps you want to file a claim with another carrier or if something wasn’t quite the way it may have appeared and you’ve already admitted fault. So don’t admit that.

The next thing you want to do is contact your carrier as soon as possible, because they’ll help you walk through the claim and help you start to file the auto claim. If you’re interested in seeing how to file an insurance claim, watch our other video on “how to file an auto insurance claim.”

I’m Ron Philleo with Philleo Agency Insurance. Thanks for visiting philleo.com. Make sure to check out our other videos.

So you had an “at fault” auto accident, and now you need to get the collision damage repaired. There are a few things you want to do. First of all, contact your carrier right away. They’re going to need to talk to you. They want to get a statement from you, what happened in the accident and find out all the details. If there’s another vehicle at fault, they’ll need that party’s information as well.

The next thing to do is to assess the damage. How much damage did the car get? Either the insurance adjuster from your insurance company can come out and take a look at the vehicle and let you know how much damage it is, or you can go and get an estimate. Sometimes there’s an in between area that you can kind of do where the insurance company has a preferred shop and that preferred shop can actually do the estimate for you and they can repair the vehicle right there for you, as well. So check with your carrier and find out if you need to talk to an adjuster or if you need to get an estimate from an auto body shop or if there’s a preferred shop you can work with through your insurance carrier.

And remember that if you have rental reimbursement on your vehicle policy that you can get a rental vehicle and the insurance company will pay for that. If you opted to purchase that coverage ahead of time, that’s what it does cover, rental reimbursement. If you do not have that coverage, you can arrange with an auto body shop to get a rental vehicle. Some of them provide free cars, some of them you have to pay an additional fee for.

So you want to make sure that you contact your carrier, get some estimates, and then get the vehicle repaired. If you have a deductible on your policy, typically a five hundred dollar or a thousand dollar deductible is very typical on a collision coverage, talk to you carrier and make sure you found out what deductible that is. You’ll be responsible for paying that deductible portion when you pick up your vehicle.

An instance would be: let’s say you have three thousand dollars worth of damage and you have a five hundred dollar deductible. The insurance company would write a check for twenty five hundred dollars. It would be three thousand, and they would deduct the five hundred dollars off of there. Your portion would be the five hundred dollars when you go to pick up the vehicle. So talk to the insurance carrier about that, make sure you know what your deductible is so that you can plan for that when you do pick up your vehicle.

Thanks for watching philleo.com, and make sure to check out our other videos at philleo.com.

The first thing to do is to find out if the other person has insurance who hit you. Gather their information, get their policy number if possible, their name and address and all their contact information.

The next thing you want to do is contact the carrier who will ultimately pay the claim. And, that will be the other person who hit you. So, you call that carrier and you let them know you were involved. They’re going to want to get a statement from you.

When you give that statement, make sure you use words that are definite, not use words like I think or maybe or possibly. When you give your statement, be definite about the facts of the case because if somebody else was at fault, you need to know exactly what happened.

So, you gave your statement. Now you need to get your vehicle repaired. Well, you’re entitled to take your vehicle to any auto body shop you want. So, if you have a favorite auto body place you’d like to use, that’s fine as long as their charges are reasonable and customary.

I recommend that you let the adjuster of the carrier who is going to pay and the auto body shop negotiate directly to get your vehicle repaired. It’s usually more difficult if you actually get involved and try to negotiate with the auto body shop and the insurance company. Let them negotiate directly.

So you take your vehicle in, it’s being repaired, but you need a rental vehicle in the meantime. You are entitled to a rental vehicle to be paid for at the insurance company’s expense while your vehicle is being repaired.

So, if your car is going to be in the shop for a week or so, the insurance company should pay for a rental vehicle for you to use in the meantime.

If you have problems with filing a claim with somebody else’s carrier, you can always file the claim under your own carrier. You will be responsible for your deductible and the insurance company will generally try to recover that money for you, but it’s not guaranteed. So, we usually recommend filing the claim with the carrier that’s going to pay the claim to start with.

But if you can’t get satisfaction that way, you can always go to your own carrier and file a claim.

If you have any questions on how to file a claim, whether it be your own claim or a claim for somebody else, feel free to contact us here at the Philleo Agency and make sure to check out our other videos at Philleo.com.

Thanks for watching.

Hello. I’m Ron Philleo with Philleo Agency Insurance. Today I’m going to help you decide whether you need to carry what’s known as collision and comprehensive on your vehicle, or it’s sometimes referred to full coverage.

Now, there’s a couple different aspects of the insurance policy you’re going to want to be aware of. Liability is coverage in case you injure or damage someone else’s property. You’ve got to have that. Your uninsured and underinsured motorist protection, in case somebody hits you and injures you, you’ve got to have that.

Collision and comprehensive covers the vehicle itself. OK? The collision covers if the vehicle is damaged when it collides with something, whether you hit something or someone hits you. And comprehensive covers things that are not collision-related, things like flood, hail, theft of the vehicle, vandalism, those types of things, where you didn’t actually collide with something but damage did occur to a vehicle.

Today we’re going to talk about if you need that full coverage, or that collision and comp.

Collision and comprehensive coverage, it’s going to depend, if you need them, based on the age of the vehicle and the value of the vehicle. Those are probably going to be the two biggest things. If you’ve got an old car, has a lot of miles on it, not worth much, you probably want to not carry collision and comprehensive because the payout to you is not going to be that much. You’re not protecting that much.

But you’ll also want to take into account your ability to absorb the loss. If $3,000 or $4,000 is going to make a big difference to you financially, and that’s all your vehicle is worth, well, you may want to consider having that full coverage on there to protect against those losses. If a couple thousand dollars isn’t going to hurt you much, and that’s all the vehicle is worth, you may want to save that extra money and not pay for that coverage and take the risk yourself.

So you may want to consider that. Your ability to absorb the loss is going to be a big thing. If it’s going to be a big hit to you, carry that collision and comprehensive.

Also, a couple of things to take into consideration, too. The area you live in. How likely is your vehicle to get stolen or vandalized? Or is it a high-congestion area where traffic accidents occur a lot more? You may want to take that into consideration. If you live in a low-risk area, maybe you’re better off without the collision and comprehensive.

And your driving record, too. If you have a bad driving record, you’re going to pay more for that collision and comprehensive coverage than you will for somebody who has a great driving record. So, if you have a bad driving record and you’re looking for ways to save some money, you may want to take off that collision and comprehensive coverage and absorb that risk yourself. But remember, though, you are absorbing that risk yourself, and if something happens, you’re not going to have any money from the insurance company if you decide not to carry that collision and comprehensive.

There’s some additional coverages as far as towing and rental you may want to add on to your policy, too. Talk with your agent, or call us. We’d love the opportunity to see if we can help you as well. We’d be happy to go through the coverage with you line by line and see if you need each coverage.

But make sure to check out our other videos at philleo.com. And please feel free to call or email or fax us with any questions or topics you’d like to see on the Video Insurance Agency.

I am Ron Philleo with Philleo Agency Insurance. People often call our agency asking, “Do I need auto insurance, and what is it and how do I get it?” Well if you drive a vehicle, you definitely need auto insurance. Some states actually require you carry auto insurance in order to be able to renew your license or get plates for your vehicle.

Regardless of if your state requires you to carry insurance or not, it definitely is a good idea to be carrying coverage. Auto insurance will protect you in case you injure somebody or you damage someone else’s property. That is known as liability coverage.

We also recommend you carry uninsured and underinsured motorist in case somebody hits you and injures you and your passengers and they don’t have any insurance or not enough insurance. Again, that coverage is uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage.

There are additional coverages you can add for your vehicle as well, collision and comprehensive. But if you are driving a vehicle and you are out on the roads, you definitely need auto insurance to protect you against that loss of injuring somebody or damaging someone else’s property.

We recommend using an independent agent or broker in order to be able to shop around. Independent agents and brokers represent more than one carrier, so they can shop around and find you the best deal.

We do not recommend using the Internet or 800 numbers because you will not be able to get advice from these people or the service that comes along with the policy. So again, use an agent rather than an 800 number of a website for your insurance needs is what we recommend.

Thanks for watching coverage concepts. I am Ron Philleowith Philleo Agency Insurance. Be sure to check out our other videos.

You want to save money on auto insurance? There’s lots of ways to save money on auto insurance. I’ll go over a few ideas for you.

First of all, when you are shopping around for auto insurance, call an independent agency. An independent agency represents more than one carrier. They actually shop around for you. Their services don’t cost you any money either, so we definitely recommend you take advantage of that.

Call an independent agency. They’ll shop around many carriers and find a carrier that has the best coverage and the best price for you.

Keeping your driving record clean, very important. Don’t have a lot of claims, accidents, and tickets. That’s probably the number one thing you can do to help lower your rates. A person with a bad driving record is going to pay a lot more than a person with a good driving record.

Where you live is important. They generally go by zip codes or territories. A zip code with high crime and high congestion of traffic is generally going to cost more than an area, say like in a suburban area where the crime is lower and the traffic congestion is lower. So where you choose to live is going to affect your rates.

Also, group your auto insurance along with your home, renter’s, or condominium insurance. When you group it together and package it, most companies give you a discount for that, and you’ll probably also get a discount on the other end of it with your home, renter’s, or condo insurance as well. So you get the discounts on both sides to help lower your total insurance cost.

There are additional discounts as well. There are discounts for having an airbag. Some companies are offering discounts for driving hybrid vehicles. There are also discounts — if you have kids in the household — for good student discounts. Or even if a student is living away at college, they’ll give you a discount for that as well because they’re not using the vehicle as often.

The other thing you need to take a look at is if your car is older, you may not need to add what is known as full coverage or collision and comprehensive coverage. Just taking the basic liability package could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year. If your car is older and it’s not worth that much, you may want to consider that option.

So you’re going on vacation, great! You’re gonna need to get around somehow, right? Get a rental car; easy enough; but what about the insurance for the rental car? Oh, didn’t think of that.

Let’s go over that now, so you don’t have to deal with it when you get to that rental counter. So you’re renting a car; should you take out the insurance at the rental counter, or does your policy already cover you?

Well, if you have an auto policy that contains liability and collision and comprehensive; typically known as a full coverage policy on your auto, your coverage should extend to that rental vehicle, provided you’re not renting that vehicle for more than 30 days at a time and you’re within the United Stated or Canada.

If you don’t have an auto policy, then you’re going to need to take out the coverage from the rental agency; or another option, which I’ll go over in a second. But your policy that you have (if you have an auto policy) will be just like driving your own car. Your same liability coverages should extend to that rental vehicle, and your same deductibles also will extend to that vehicle if you damage it.

What I recommend though: talking to your agent first to make sure that your policy does cover it. There are different types of auto policies; not every policy covers a rental vehicle. So please check ahead of time, before you go, with your agent.

If you don’t have an auto policy, then you’re going to need to purchase that coverage. There are two parts to the coverage. There’s liability, and there’s the collision or property damage portion. The liability is gonna cover it in case you injure somebody else. The collision is gonna cover it in case you damage the vehicle itself.

Make sure your policy will extend to both those; if you don’t have one or the other, then you may need to purchase that. Also, if you’re renting a vehicle with a credit card, a lot of credit card companies will extend coverage to that rental car if you rent it with their credit card.

Now, there’s a lot of fine print with that, make sure you call your credit card company and ask them a lot of questions about how that coverage works. But, you may be able to get some additional coverage through that credit card that you carry.

There’s another big coverage that’s often overlooked, though. It’s loss of use coverage. Let’s say you do damage to a rental vehicle and it’s involved in an accident. The company can’t rent that out anymore. They’re gonna lose the rental income on that car. It may be several hundred dollars, or it may be several thousands of dollars, depending on how long that car is out of service.

Make sure that your auto policy will cover those damages and the loss of that income; or your credit card company will cover that loss of income, because that can add up very quickly. If not, you may want to buy the coverage from the rental agency as well.

Also, don’t forget to inspect that car when you first get it. There might be a couple dings or there might be some damage on there. You don’t want to get stuck paying for someone else’s damage that had the accident before you picked up the car. So go over it with the rental car agency people, and make sure that the damage is not existing before you rent the car, so you don’t get stuck with someone else’s bill.