Should you have high or low deductibles for your insurance policies:

Understanding deductibles on your insurance policies is the first step to deciding what deductible is best for you, high or low. Your deductible is the mount of money a policyholder will pay out-of-pocket towards the damages or loss before your insurance company will pay for the claim, this could be on an auto, home, business or other type of policy.

You do not actually pay your deductible directly to the insurance company, it gets paid to the garage or contractor for the damages. The deductible is subtracted from the amount of the claim and this is the amount you will receive for the damages. For example, if your deductible is $500 and your claim is for $8,000, you will receive a check in the amount of $7,500.

Your deductible amount should be based on your own personal finances. Your should be able to afford to pay your deductible amount at any given time, you never know when losses will occur.

You should also be able to pay for any losses out of pocket that occur with damage costs below your deductible amount.

For example, if you have a $1,000 deductible and a loss occurs with a damage amount of $500, you would not want to submit this to your insurance carrier because, they would not pay anything out for this loss and it would still come up in the future as a loss on the home. You would want to pay these damages out of your pocket to avoid any issues in the future purchasing a homeowners policy.

What deductibles you choose will affect your annual premium. The higher the deductible you have, the lower the annual premium is for your insurance. The reason for this, is the insurance company will be paying less for a claim for a client with a higher deductible.

Understanding your deductibles on your automobile insurance is also very important when it comes to knowing what coverage's you are paying for.

Comprehensive and collision coverage will have a deductible for occurred losses, knowing the value of your vehicle and your current deductible will help you understand what could be paid out at a time of a loss.

For example, if you have a $500 deductible on your comprehensive and collision coverage's your involved in an accident and the value of your vehicle is only $500...you will not receive any payment on your vehicle for the loss.

Speaking with your insurance agent regarding what deductible you have is very important to understanding future loss payments.

For a review of your current policies and deductibles contact a local Cote office today.

By Alyssa Long