Don't Forget to Pick Up Gap Insurance When You're Shopping For Cheap Car Insurance Quotes Online

Do you know what your car is worth? Hold that number close to your heart, and make sure you have plenty of evidence to back it up when you're shopping around for cheap car insurance quotes online. Why? Because while no self-respecting car insurance provider is going to openly try and rip you off, you may find that the number they come up with when they ask a dealer what your car is worth is dramatically different from the number you had in mind-and notably smaller than the size of the note you still owe on your car!

Yes, you heard it right. Nowhere is it written that the value of your car will be equivalent to the value remaining on your auto loan, and as a result you could actually find yourself paying car payments to your lender even after insurance has totaled out your car. If you want to make sure you're really covered after you've been in an accident, make sure you include gap insurance in the list when you're hunting for cheap car insurance quotes online.

What's Gap Insurance?

What is gap insurance, you say? Gap insurance is the answer to the prayers of every driver with a car loan greater than the amount of money sitting in their bank account. Why? Because gap insurance is specifically designed to offer protection to drivers whose loan balance is worth more than the amount of money their insurer is going to give them when they total it out.

Picture this: You buy a brand new, $15,000 car. You drive it for about six months, put $1,200 toward paying it off, then fall asleep behind the wheel. Insurance decides it's too much trouble to fix and totals it out. The problem is, over those six months your new car's value has depreciated by $5,000! (Please note, all numbers are completely fictional and designed only to make a point. We have no idea how much your new car would depreciate in its first six months on the road.)

Now you have a problem. You have an outstanding car loan for $13,800 and a check in hand for $10,000 to give to your lender. You also now have to get another car loan so you can buy a new car, which you can't do until you pay the other one off. In short, you're out of money, out of luck and, unless you can work something out, out of a way to get to work that doesn't involve walking and public transportation until you can come up with almost $4,000 to pay off the balance on your loan.

Had you bought gap insurance when you went looking for cheap car insurance quotes online the gap insurance would have made up the difference and you could have been driving to work in style.

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