Does Erie offer gap insurance?

To find out if you have gap insurance, you should check both your existing car insurance policy and the terms of your loan or lease. Drivers can get gap insurance through their insurance company as an add-on or separately through their auto lender, so it’s important for drivers to check both places.… read full answer

How To Know If You Have Gap Insurance

1. Check with your car insurance company.

You can look through records such as your recent bills, or you can log in to your account on the company’s website. If this fails, you should call to ask about your coverage.

2. Check with your auto lender.

If you didn’t buy gap insurance from your normal insurance company, you could have purchased it from the dealership, bank, or credit union that supplied you with a loan or lease. It can be easy to overlook gap insurance from one of these sources since it’s sometimes included in your contract automatically.

3. Check your financial documents.

If you do not have gap insurance through your dealership, lender, or car insurance company, you probably are not covered. But as a last resort, you can look through your financial records – such as your online bills, credit card statements, and checkbook – to try to find some clues.

Gap insurance, which covers the difference between your loan balance and the car’s actual value, can come from a dealership, bank, credit union, or car insurance company. It’s unlikely that you bought a stand-alone gap insurance policy without realizing it, so your first step should be to check with the obvious candidates.

Finally, if you realize you don’t have coverage, check out WalletHub’s recommendations on when gap insurance is worth it and where to buy gap insurance.

Erie is cheap for drivers who have full coverage policies. Drivers can also save even more with Erie by taking advantage of discounts for things like having multiple policies from Erie or for having a vehicle equipped with safety features. Erie is not one of the cheapest car insurance companies overall, though, and young drivers specifically may find cheaper rates elsewhere.… read full answer

Average Rates for Erie Car Insurance vs. Top Competitors

Note: Premiums are representative of a full coverage in NY; individual premiums will vary.

Erie may not be one of the cheapest car insurance companies for most drivers, but it does offer a variety of discounts, like discounts for taking a driver training course or for paying your policy in full. Plus, Erie rewards customer loyalty with discounts for insuring more than one car and bundling multiple policies, such as home and auto.

Your final premium is based on a variety of factors, though, such as your driving record, insurance history, and more. Every insurance company determines their rates differently, so the best way to find a good deal is to compare quotes from multiple insurers and take advantage of every discount.

To learn more, check out WalletHub’s review of Erie and see Erie’s full profile.

Gap insurance takes 5-45 days to pay the policyholder after a claim is filed. For drivers to receive a gap insurance payout, the car first needs to be declared a total loss, and the insurance company needs to accept the claim.

State laws also dictate how long an insurance company has to pay for a claim. For example, insurers in Texas must pay within five days after accepting a claim. Some other states, like Massachusetts, do not have a specific limit, saying only that an insurer must pay within a “reasonable” amount of time.… read full answer

Factors That Affect How Long it Takes for Gap Insurance to Pay

Insurance companies will generally declare a car a total loss within 30 days of the initial claim being filed. However, more complicated situations take longer to settle, such as:

• Accidents involving multiple drivers
• Medical bills
• Unclear fault determination

Once the car has been officially established as a total loss and the insurer agrees to pay for gap coverage, the company will begin to process the gap payment. Since gap insurance pays for the difference between a car’s actual cash value (ACV) and the balance on its loan or lease, gap insurance payments are usually sent straight to the lessor or lender.

How To Speed Up Gap Insurance Payout

To get the fastest possible gap insurance payout, be sure to check your policy details and follow any instructions from your insurance company. For example, some insurers require you to keep making payments to your lender or lessor while the claim is being investigated.

Also make sure to send the insurance company any necessary documents, like a copy of the police report, and promptly sign and return all paperwork. And if needed, check your state’s laws to see if there’s a specific window during which your gap insurer is required to pay.