Nevada Car Insurance

Nevada is home to one of the biggest tourist destinations in the country. Since so many different tourists and transplants are traveling in, out and through the state of Nevada at any given time, it's important to brush up on the insurance laws and what type of coverage is required before you buy a vehicle and hit the dessert road. Compare car insurance rates now by using our FREE tool above!

In Nevada, all residents are required by law to purchase auto insurance as long as they have a vehicle registered in their name. If you decide to drive your vehicle uninsured in the state, what happens in Vegas might not necessarily stay there. Before comparing auto insurance coverage, here's what you need to know to build a policy:

Nevada is a Tort State

When it comes to insurance systems and how fault allocation affects a claims payments, there are two different types of systems. You will either live in a fault-based tort state or a no-fault state where fault isn't used to determine which insurer will pay for personal injury claims. There are currently only 12 no-fault states in the US.

Nevada is a tort state. This means that anyone who's injured in an auto accident has the right to collect for damages and to sue if needed.It's the auto insurance company's job to investigate the claim and to allocate fault so that the responsible driver's company pays for the damages of the driver who's not at-fault.

Why do state officials in Nevada mandate auto insurance requirements?

When you're at-fault for an accident, you're expected to pay for the other driver's medical bills and their property damage. In Nevada, you only have to be 51% or more to blame for the incident to be held liable for it. Since accidents can happen at any time, state officials have mandated that insurance is mandatory for all residents.

By requiring insurance, all drivers, regardless of their income and their assets, are able to cover their liabilities.

This requirement protects not just vehicle owners, but also other drivers, pedestrians and passengers who can be injured in an auto accident at any given time. Without the requirement, there's no telling if a driver would have money for damages.

What type of coverage is required in Nevada?

Every state has its own unique insurance requirements. Some states require higher limits and more coverage than others. In Nevada, the limits you must maintain are low. These limits are written as 15/30/10 on your policy documents. Here's a breakdown of the mandatory coverage limits in Nevada and what the coverage pays for:

• Bodily Injury (BI): In Nevada, the minimum amount of BI coverage that you can carry is $15,000 per person, up to $30,000 per accident. These limits will pay for someone else's medical bills, transport costs, rehabilitation costs, lost wages and pain and suffering in an accident that you cause. BI also gives you legal defense if you're taken to court after an accident.

• Property Damage (PD): The state says that you must carry at least $10,000 per accident of Property Damage coverage. This coverage pays to either repair or replace someone else's property, up to its Actual Cash Value, when you damage it while operating your car. It won't pay to repair your own property because it's a third-party coverage and not a first-party coverage.

What's the penalty for driving without insurance in Nevada?

Nevada might be home to 'Sin City', but some mistakes that you can make in the state will follow you for years. If you're caught driving without insurance, you could face a misdemeanor conviction and some pretty hefty fines. Here's a comprehensive list of penalties for choosing to drive without coverage:

• If cited for driving without insurance, you face a fine of between $250 and $1000
• The actual fine depends on the length of the insurance lapse
• Fines for multiple offenses range from $500 to $1000
• Registration is suspended until you have active insurance and you pay a reinstate fee
• Reinstate fee through the DMV for registration is $250
• If your policy has lapsed for more than 90 days, you must file an SR-22
• If you have 3 offenses, your license is automatically suspended for 3 months

How is your insurance coverage verified?

Without electronic systems, it was virtually impossible for authorities to check to see if your policy was valid at the time that you presented ID cards. Now, law enforcement and the transportation department can check status real-time.

Technology has changed the way that state officials and motor vehicle departments keep track of auto insurance.

The Nevada Live Program is a unique financial responsibility verification program that's been developed to combat all of the uninsured drivers on the road. With this program, insurance companies will verify and validate coverage over the Internet whenever the DMV requests information. This information is requested when you register the car and sporadically throughout the year.

Are other coverage options available?

Third-party coverage protects your financial resources but it doesn't protect you and your car. If you want protection that pays for your medical bills and your repair bills, you'll need to add a few optional items to your policy. Here are some options types of coverage to consider depending on your needs and budget:

• Comprehensive: Pays to repair or that you own when it's damaged after a fire, vandalism, falling object, wind, flood, storm, explosion or a collision with a live animal. Your insurer will only pay up to the Actual Cash Value of your car which includes depreciation. If your vehicle is financed through a lender, you must have comprehensive.

• Collision: Pays to repair your car if it's damaged or replace it if it's totaled after you collide with an object. In most cases, your collision pays when you're at-fault. If you're in a hit-and-run accident, you can also use collision but may need to pay a deductible. Collision is also required on financed vehicles.

• Medical Payments: Med Pay covers your medical bills even if you're liable for a loss. One of the great things about medical payments coverage is that it will cover immediate medical costs if you have a high-deductible health insurance plan or if you don't have health insurance at all. It's also nice to have if you drive with passengers a lot.

• Uninsured Motorist Protection: Uninsured Motorist Protection is very similar to Bodily Injury coverage, but it pays your bills with the other driver doesn't have coverage to pay for your bills. The coverage also pays for your medical bills and rehab costs when the driver has insurance but their low limits of Bodily Injury Liability won't cover all of your bills.

Do you need Uninsured Motorist Protection?

Uninsured Motorist Protection is one coverage to seriously consider in a state like Nevada. With so many out-of-state drivers and new residents, the rate of uninsured motorists is fairly high. Based on the latest statistics, in the state don't have insurance. This means that out of the 1,862,838 registered vehicles in the state, more than 227,000 aren't insured.

How to Choose a Nevada Auto Insurance Carrier

There's so many direct writers of insurance and brokers in Nevada, that choosing a company can be difficult. You want to find an affordable policy, but you don't want to pay a company that knowingly uses bad faith tactics to avoid paying claims or to delay the processing. Here are some tips that can be useful as you compare the carriers out there:

1. Check the company's financial rating through agencies like A.M. Best to find a company that can afford to pay claims
2. Review the company's complaint record with the Nevada Division of Insurance to spot red flags
3. Check the company's licensing status through the Nevada Division of Insurance to verify that your coverage will satisfy the state laws
4. Use consumer ratings sites like JD Power and Associates to check claims satisfaction and customer satisfaction ratings
5. See what other lines of insurance the company offers for greater convenience

Auto insurance can really save the day. That's why it's important to focus on cost without overlooking how important it is to carry adequate limits through a company that you can trust. If you're interested in comparing prices to find the best deal, use an online quote tool. Once you see what each carrier is charging, you can officially decide on the policy that gives you the biggest value.

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