In Washington, it’s against the law to drive without insurance . Washington drivers are required to have at least the following minimum car insurance coverage:
Depending on your budget and your needs, you might want to consider carrying higher limits of liability and other coverages such as Uninsured Motorist and Personal Injury Protection medical. We’ll help you customize your Washington car insurance to get the coverage you want at a price you can afford.
The key to finding a good deal is to get car insurance quotes from multiple companies. An independent insurance agent can do that work for you. We can help you find the companies that have the lowest rates.
Another good savings strategy is to bundle your auto insurance with your homeowners or renters insurance. Getting more than one policy from the same company typically results in a decent discount.
Car insurance can help protect you from expensive, sometimes devastating surprises. Imagine you're in an accident, as an insured driver, you can get help paying medical bills, repairs, certain legal defense costs and more.
Your car insurance cost will vary depending on several factors that typically include:
Yes, state law sets the minimum amount of auto insurance coverages but you may want more. We can help you find the coverages you want at a price you can afford. We try to make it easy for you to customize your car insurance.
Required auto insurance coverages.
These pay for damages or injuries to other people and/or their property caused by an accident you're found at fault for.
Washington state only requires:
The amount of protection for these coverages can be increased above state minimums. You may want to consider the kind of cars you typically see around town. If you're in an area where people drive expensive cars, do you have enough coverage to fix or replace one (or more) of them if you cause an accident?
Additional car insurance coverages.
Although not required by the state, these coverages provide you with an extra layer of protection. These coverages normally take care of damages and/or injuries to you:
Would you be able to pay to repair or replace your vehicle if it's damaged from an accident? If someone in your car was hurt in an accident, do you want your car insurance to help pay the medical bills?
Extra car insurance coverages
These cover expenses that may not break the bank if you had to pay them out of pocket but are nice to have.
If your car is in the shop for 3 weeks after a covered accident, would you need a rental car? At $40 or $50 a day that expense can add up fast.
Your auto insurance cost will depend on many different factors including the coverage you choose, your age, where you live, and your driving history.
Some people get the bare minimum coverage, while others prefer the comfort and security of more protection. Let us help you find the coverage you want at a price you can afford.
Get a free quote to see how much you could save.
You would not buy a car just by calling a handful of car dealerships and ask for the price of the cheapest car on each lot, and then picking the lowest. Why would you do that when you are buying car insurance?. Decide on the coverages you want then request quotes for that exact coverage. Make notes as to what agent is most helpful, not just being an order taker but giving valuable advice for you to consider when choosing coverages. If your requirements change as you talk with the various agents, go back and update the prior quotes.
To best compare car insurance quotes from various companies, make sure each quote contains the same:
Car insurance can be expensive, so you may ask yourself if you really need it. Washington state law does require you carry a minimum amount of liability insurance for a reason. And, believe it or not, it is not to make insurance companies rich. But is insurance really necessary?
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2016 an estimated 7,277,000 police-reported traffic crashes occurred and 3,144,000 people were injured in those accidents and 37,461 people were killed, an average of 102 people each day, one fatality every 14 minutes.
Another word for “liable” is “responsible.” So, if you are responsible for an accident, you need responsibility insurance aka liability insurance in order to provide financial relief to the victims of the accident.
Try to imagine a world without car insurance. Every time you went for a drive, you would be risking your bank account and your future earnings. Insurance is designed to help protect you from expensive and sometimes devastating surprises including legal costs if you are taken to court because of an accident.
The average cost of insurance is not that much when you compare it to what the insurance company may have to pay out if you make one minor mistake. The value of good insurance is only revealed when you need it most. In other words, you don’t need insurance… until you do. #AccidentsHappen
The required coverage and limits in Washington State are:
You cannot drive a car without insurance even if you just bought it. Washington state requires all cars driven on public roads to be insured. The fact that you just purchased a vehicle does not change the requirement. Luckily, if all your current vehicles are insured with one insurance company then the coverage on those cars automatically transfers for a few days (check with your insurance company to know exactly how many). If all your cars are not insured with one company, you will want to call your agent before you drive off the lot. If you do not have insurance, you will want to call Mid-Columbia Insurance before you drive off the lot.