Loveland Car Insurance
All residents who live in Loveland, Colorado, for more than six months out of the year are required by law to carry Loveland car insurance.
For your auto insurance policy to satisfy the requirements that have been set by the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA), you must have insurance that is provided by a licensed carrier in Colorado.
All licensed carriers that are recognized by the Colorado DORA must offer applicants and current policyholders a minimum amount of mandatory coverage required by the Vehicle Code in the state.
If you are caught in Loveland without any type of Colorado insurance, you can face severe penalties.
This is why it is important for all drivers and vehicle owners in Colorado to take the time to familiarize themselves with the law and the consequences of disobeying the law before they get behind the wheel.
You are not taught the ins and outs of insurance when you are attending high school. In fact, many people who are licensed to drive do not really know what type of insurance they have or how coverage options work.
If you want to be an informed consumer before you trust a carrier to provide you with financial protection, doing your homework is imperative. Read this easy and straightforward guide to Loveland car insurance and learn everything that you need to know to buy the right coverage and still save money.
After you've read this article, enter your zip code into our FREE quote tool to access car insurance rates from multiple providers!
What types of insurance must you carry in Loveland?
Anyone who lives in Loveland must obey the Colorado insurance laws.
Colorado auto insurance laws state that all drivers must have coverage for bodily injuries that they cause to a person or property damage that they may cause to another person's property when they are negligent for a collision.
This is why two separate type of third-party liability coverage must be purchased to provide financial protection for those who would be unable to pay thousands of dollars to a victim for their medical treatment or the repair of their property.
Third-party Liability
Third-party liability cover consists of both Bodily Injury and Property Damage protection.
Bodily Injury will pay only for third-party medical expenses when someone is injured or dies in an accident. BI does not pay if someone in your car is injured.
Property Damage coverage will pay to repair or replace any type of property that the victim or another third-party owns that is damaged. This can include the vehicle, items in the vehicle, light posts, fences, and buildings.
You can have no less than the following in third-party liability cover:
- Bodily Injury - $25,000 per third-party person, no less than $50,000 per incident
- Property Damage - $15,000 per collision for property that you and your passengers do not own
Medical Payments Requirements in Colorado
The mandatory auto insurance requirements changed in 2009 and states that all insurance carriers must include Medical Payments (Med-Pay) in the amount of $5000 on policies that are issued in Colorado.
Med-Pay will offer you a specified amount of coverage to pay for medical costs like transport, doctor visits, emergency services and trauma care no matter who is at fault for the loss. Med-Pay may also cover co-payments and medical insurance deductibles.
This law was set in place in an effort to help people pay their medical bills after an auto accident without having to worry about the lengthy auto claims process.
With this coverage, drivers would have peace of mind to know that they have coverage to fill the gaps that lie between standard health insurance and liability insurance.
While all carriers have to include $5000 of Medical Payments on each policy issued, policyholders are not required by law to accept this coverage. If you do not want to pay the additional premiums associated with protecting yourself and your passengers, you can reject the coverage in a written letter to your agent.
You must also sign it and date it so that the insurer can put this request in your file for their own protection.
If you reject the cover, you will need to sign a rejection form during every renewal period to prevent Med-pay from being added to the renewal plan.
Uninsured Motorist
Did you know that Colorado is ranked 9th in the states with the highest percentage of uninsured drivers? About 16.2 percent of residents in Colorado drive with no coverage at all.
This means that 1 in 6 drivers that you come into contact with on public roads in Loveland and surrounding areas do not have liability coverage that will pay your bills if they are irresponsible.
In order to combat the problem, state officials now have made it a requirement that insurance companies offer their policyholders a minimum amount of Uninsured Motorist (UM) protection. This type of protection will pay for your medical bills, and those of your guests, if they are injured in an accident with someone who does not have cover.
The coverage will also kick in if someone with low limits of liability does not have enough cover to pay for all of your covered medical expenses.
You must be offered $25,000 per individual and $50,000 per incident in Uninsured Motorist coverage when damages are caused by an uninsured driver. While this is required, it can also be rejected in writing if you feel that you do not want the added protection.
Are there any additional forms of coverage available in Loveland?
Colorado law may only mandate that you carry liability and be offered Med-Pay and UM, but there is additional protection available if you have budgeted to purchase a more comprehensive plan.
Keep in mind that you must answer to not only the state but also your lender or lessor if your vehicle is financed.
While you are not required by the state to protect your vehicle, you have agreed when you signed your contract with your lender/lessor to maintain physical damage cover on the vehicle until you became the title holder.
Here are some forms of protection available to you:
- Comprehensive - Pays for damages to your vehicle caused by perils like fire, theft and vandalism.
- Collision - Pays for repairs or replacing your car if it is damaged in an accident.
- Rental Car - Pays for a temporary replacement car while your car is being fixed because of covered damages.
- Towing and Labor - Will pay for costs associated with vehicle disablement like towing, battery jump start, or lockout.
- Death and Dismemberment - A special form of life and disability coverage for death or disablement sustained in an accident.
Penalties For Driving Without Coverage
The state government has buckled down on the penalties for driving with no insurance because the rate of uninsured drivers is so much higher than the national average of 12.6 percent.
To combat the problem, operators who are caught without insurance will face steep penalties that include:
- Four points on your record
- 40 hours of community service
- A fine of up to $500 for first-time offense
- Fine goes to $1000 for subsequent convictions
- License suspension of 4 to 8 months
How to Save Money on Your Loveland Car Insurance
Driving without any insurance in Loveland can be much more expensive than buying coverage that can save your assets.
If you are worried about the cost of insurance, there are plenty of ways to save on your coverage without putting yourself at risk by purchasing bare minimum cover.
Here are some tips on saving money by being a cost-conscious consumer:
- Comparison shop to find the best rates through the best insurer
- Insure all of your vehicles with the same company for multi-car discounts
- Buy life, disability, or property insurance with the same carrier for multi-line discount
- Take advantage of low mileage discounts on vehicles you do not drive often
- Inform your agent when you have alarms for extra savings
- Ask for garaging or gated community discounts
- Get good student discounts when you or children under 25 get good grades
- Exclude drivers in the household with their own coverage from your policy
- Decide if it is worth the cost to buy full coverage on older cars
- Ask about mature driver and driver education discounts
The only way to save is to start asking for quotes, and the most effective way to get quotes is to use a rate comparison tool online. These tools have the rates through all of the best insurance carriers so that you can get instant rate estimates when you insert your personal information.
You will only need to enter your information a single time to get all of the quotes that you need to select the best-priced plan and the best combination of cover.