4×4 Car Insurance
Those who own a four wheel drive know how important 4×4 car insurance is. The mere fact of owning a four wheel drive increases your risk both on road and off-road. They are larger and heavier vehicles which usually means that they take off slower and brake slower. They also usually handle worse, which means that swerving doesn’t always work the way you want it to. On top of this, 4×4 car insurance usually costs a bit more because of the increased risk when you take your vehicle off-road. It’s easy enough to dent a panel or damage the lights on a vehicle if you hit something that sticks up, and you pay for this in your premium.
Legalities of 4×4 car insurance
The most important part of 4×4 car insurance is that you are actually covered! This sounds simple, but so many people break it. Having a car in most places of the world which isn’t legal means that your insurance company won’t have to pay out in the case of an accident (assuming that they find out that your vehicle wasn’t legal in the first place). This means that if you are running a lift kit, larger tires, engine modifications or any other accessory that isn’t 100% road legal you are voiding your insurance.
Imagine if you cleaned up a 100 thousand dollar Porsche? You would be paying the car off for the rest of your life, and you don’t even get to drive or own it either! On top of this, modifications that are done to your car but are not told to the insurance company will also cause you to void your insurance policy. When you are paying top notch premiums for good cover, you want to make sure that your money is actually going to a good cause! You also want to make sure that the insurance covers your 4×4 Spotlights, bullbars and other accessories as these add up in value!
What types of 4×4 car insurance can you get?
Most insurance companies will offer a few different types of insurance. The first is comprehensive insurance. This covers your car, yourself and passengers along with any other cars involved in an accident, and the drivers and their passengers too, regardless of whether you are at fault or not. This is the most expensive type of insurance, but also the most worthwhile.
The second type of insurance is 3rd party insurance, which covers just the other party. For example, if you crash into another car your insurance will fix up any damage to their car, and to the other driver and passengers but it will not cover you or your car. Some people like to do this, especially if you are driving an older car which doesn’t damage very easily, or you don’t think the premium is worth paying based on the value of the car.
The last type of insurance is basically nothing. When you register your car, most often the license fee will cover 3rd party person anyway. This means that if you injure or kill another person in the car that you hit, your insurance will cover any costs.
It’s important to know the finer details of 4×4 car insurance, because you could be spending thousands of dollars a year only to find out when you do have a crash that it was a waste of money. It’s a good investment, especially if you have an expensive four wheel drive. Even more importantly, you build up a 4×4 and replacing it to the same specifications is expensive and very time consuming. You should have insurance regardless of whether you are driving Used 4×4 Trucks or a brand new 4×4.