Car Accidents Often Occur Very Close to Home

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Insurance Articles by A-1 Auto Insurance

Car Accidents Often Occur Very Close to Home

If you drive often, you should be aware that the majority of accidents happen when you are approaching your own home. Contrary to popular belief, you are much safer when you are driving a far distance from your residence. Progressive Insurance conducted a study that indicated that most car crashes happened in the vicinity of a driver’s residence. Drivers tend to get involved in more accidents on the roads near their home.

Your Location & Your Insurance Rate

Insurance companies use many different factors to determine the rates of different auto insurance policies they sell. Therefore, your location will also play a part in how much you will end up paying for your annual auto insurance premiums. Depending on where you live, you may pay more or less for medical treatment and automotive coverage.

What is Covered by Your Auto Insurance Policy?
The majority of car insurance policies include coverage for medical expenses, liability costs and property damage. The latter includes theft of your vehicle or any damage caused to it. The liability portion of your policy will cover you for any legal responsibility if you cause property damage or a bodily injury to anyone else while driving. Last but not least, medical coverage includes coverage for medical expenses such as rehabilitation, injury treatment or hospitalization. Certain insurance policies will also cover any funeral expenses and lost wages.
Comprehensive Auto Insurance
The most comprehensive car insurance policies will include 6 types of coverage. However, the majority of states require drivers to purchase only some of these available coverage options. If you choose to finance a vehicle, your lender may also require some specific types of auto insurance coverage. As you can see, insurance providers consider many different factors to determine the cost of your auto insurance policy.
Accident Studies
You may wonder why so many studies are conducted on motor vehicle accidents that occur close to a driver’s home. Many drivers believe that the possibility of being involved in an accident is the same no matter where they are driving. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Studies conducted by many insurance companies investigate the frequency of thefts and accidents as well as the medical treatment expenses and repair costs for different areas. These factors are considered when they determine how much drivers are charged for their auto insurance coverage.
Surprising Statistics
If you don’t believe that you have a much greater chance of being involved in an accident near your home, consider the following. Progressive Insurance conducted a survey of 11,000 of its car insurance policy holders who had reported an accident in 2001. Some of the survey’s questions included the distance from their home when any accident happened. Surprisingly, 77 percent of the survey participants indicated they were within 15 miles of their home when they had their accident! In fact, it was discovered that accidents were two times more likely to happen when drivers were 1 mile from their home compared to 20 miles.
The survey confirms the fact that drivers have a greater risk of accidents as they approach their home. However, you also need to consider that most people drive near their home much more often. This is one of the reasons why there are many more accidents in a driver’s own neighborhood. If you happen to live in an area that has a high number of accidents, your insurance company will assume that you also have a greater accident risk.
Approximately 29 percent of the survey participants revealed that their accident had taken place within 2 to 5 miles from their home. Another 23 percent of respondents reported a car accident that occurred 1 or less miles from their residence. Altogether, 52 percent of the individuals in the survey reported an accident that happened fewer than 5 miles from their own home.
Accidents occurred 6 to 10 miles from a driver’s home in 17 percent of the cases. On the other hand, only 8 percent of the respondents indicated that their accident had occurred 16 to 20 miles from their home. Accidents occurred further than 20 miles from a driver’s home only 17 percent of the time. Only one percent of respondents reported an accident that had occurred more than 50 miles from their home. Therefore, the further you are from your home, the less chance you will be involved in a motor vehicle accident.

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