Unfortunately, owning a car is not all about comfort and freedom. Sometimes it is associated with high costs. From routine maintenance to accidents, injuries, and even natural disasters – owning a car has never been cheap.
However, insurance is supposed to be a tool that protects your nerves, time and saves you a great deal of money. But do you know for sure what does your insurance cover? Sometimes people are convinced that they have full insurance coverage and get shocked once they receive a laundry-list worth bill. In other cases, drives miss lots of benefits of their insurance coverage, unaware of its details.
Let’s go through the overall concept of car insurance to see your perspectives once you need a mechanic’s services.
What kind of insurance do you have?
Traditionally, car insurance covers such unfortunate accidents like car crashes or damage due to a natural disaster, injuries, or carjacking. However, sometimes you may end up with a defective engine, a glitch in the electric system, or any other “unimaginable” challenge.
Unfortunately, those cases are much common than you think and can cost you a lot of money. In this case, you may want to consider the so-called car repair insurance or mechanical breakdown insurance (also known as MBI). Technically, this type of insurance is like an extended warranty – it deals with all possible technical complications that may occur, including mechanical and electrical issues.
The difference between a warranty and Car Repair Insurance
As we already mentioned above, car warranties and car repair insurance are technically the same things. The only difference is that an extended warranty comes from the dealer, while car repair insurance is a product of an insurance company. They cover the same possible issues such as engine and transmission defects, electronic malfunctions, and a vehicle computer’s glitches.
However, there are some critical differences between those insurance products:
- Since you buy car repair insurance from your insurance company, it is usually included in your overall insurance bill. According to your plan, you may pay it monthly, semi-annually, or annually.
- Extended warranty is sold by the car dealer, manufacturer, owners club, etc. It means that a warranty is a part of your vehicle and the lump sum joins your loan payments.
Do you need car repair insurance?
The decision is up to you. Of course, it depends on many factors. Those are the age of your car, its history, driving environment, and many others. But most of all, the decision is financial: whether you will be able to pay for any unexpected mechanical malfunction out of your pocket or prefer an insurance company deals with at least most of the spending.
However, here are several crucial points you should check before purchasing a car repair insurance plan:
- Can you transfer the insurance? It is essential to know whether you can move the insurance to a different driver once you lend or sell the vehicle. This factor may be a huge benefit or cause a lot of trouble once unclear.
- What benefits does the offered plan include? Most of the time, car repair insurance comes with perks that car owners don’t even know about. Those may be rental reimbursement, roadside assistance, and many others.
- Do you need additional coverage? Before getting involved with an extended insurance plan, make sure that you don’t already have the same content from the warranty that came with the car or the extended warranty you bought when you purchased the vehicle. Otherwise, you will have to pay at least twice (and sometimes even more) for the very same list of coverage.
OHS Body Shop serves the Greater Flathead Valley and offers auto body repairs and more at our service centers in Kalispell, Whitefish, Columbia Falls and Polson. Visit the closest to you to get comprehensive consultation from our qualified mechanics and the best prices in the area for all kinds of service.