Protect Against Collisions and More If you drive a car in the United States, liability insurance must cover it. This type of policy pays for medical and property damage resulting from a vehicular accident. You can also purchase comprehensive and collision insurance to cover other costs. These additional coverages help protect the value of your car should it be damaged. If you are calculating how much it will cost to buy a car, you need to take into consideration the cost of insurance as well. In this article, we’ll review the basics of car insurance and the best auto insurance companies in America, including costs, pros and cons. This is a brief introduction to automobile coverage. Liability Coverage When an accident occurs, liability insurance covers you, household members and authorized drivers for the costs associated with property damage and bodily injury. It covers the cost to repair or replace property damage that you caused. [youmaylike] You are also covered if you cause the bodily harm or death to someone else while you are driving the car. This includes medical expenses, loss of income and specified legal defense costs. Collision Insurance If you are involved in a collision, this type of insurance will help pay for repairing or replacing your vehicle. If the collision is your fault, the coverage may extend to other damaged vehicles involved in the accident. States do not mandate that you buy collision insurance, but your lender or car dealer will if you finance or lease the car. Policies offer a range of deductibles, which is how much you’ll have to pay for repairs before the insurance kicks in. Larger deductibles lower the policy premiums but expose you to more out-of-pocket expenses if a collision occurs. Comprehensive Insurance Comprehensive insurance covers damage to your car that occurs for reasons other than a collision, including theft, fire, vandalism, weather and natural disasters. This coverage is often required if you finance your automobile. You can add riders to this insurance to provide coverage of additional costs, including auto towing, glass repair, daily rental while your car is in the shop and emergency roadside service. As with collision insurance, you can set the deductible on your comprehensive insurance policy to cut your premium costs. Gap Insurance If your car is severely damaged in an accident or other incident, you might find that your comprehensive and collision damage won’t provide enough coverage to pay off the amount you owe on the vehicle. Many policies pay only the fair market value of a totaled car, which might be only 80% of the amount you owe. You can buy additional insurance to plug this gap and ensure you can pay off the car loan in full if the vehicle is destroyed or stolen. Normally, car leases require you to buy gap insurance. If you pay cash or pay off your loan, you can save money by avoiding or dropping gap insurance when no longer needed. Top Five Auto Insurers These five insurers all offer full coverage policies and many additional services. Amica Amica is a superstar among car insurers, winning accolades from Consumer Reports and J.D. Powers. It’s known for handling the claims process smoothly. The average annual cost for full coverage: is $1,360. Pros You can have your car repaired at any body shop, without restrictions. Offers a premium package which, for an additional cost, provides full glass coverage, rental coverage, good driving rewards and identity fraud monitoring. Superior financial stability rating from A.M. Best. Cons Missing some discounts, such as military, low-mileage and prepay discounts. Must speak on the phone to get a quote. Sparse website when it comes to customer education. State Farm State Farm is the country’s largest multi-line insurance company. It excels in customer service and regularly garners high marks from customers. The average annual cost for full coverage: is $1,337. Pros Superior financial stability rating from A.M. Best. Excellent online quote tool, getting customers a quote in as little as five minutes. Easy claim handling and top service from its more than 18,000 agents and its easy-to-use mobile app. Cons Doesn’t offer coverage for new car replacements or uninsured motorists. Missing prepayment and automatic payment discounts. The Hartford While only 11th in size, The Hartford is big when it comes to policy options. It offers rates based on your actual driving as well as full replacement of new cars when destroyed shortly after purchase. Average annual cost for full coverage: N/A. Pros Solid benefits, including superior roadside assistance and towing programs. High marks from customers for their purchase experiences. One of the few insurers with mechanical breakdown coverage for out-of-warranty repairs. Cons Mediocre service interaction according to J.D. Power surveys. Sparse online learning materials. Geico Geico is the second-largest U.S. car insurer. It is a favorite among tech-savvy geeks who appreciate the insurer’s mobile app and excellent online service. The average annual cost for full coverage: is $1,627. Pros Geico offers plenty of ways to save, such as multi-vehicle, driving history and vehicle safety equipment discounts. Special savings for active and retired military members and federal employees. Full-featured mobile app for getting quotes, buying insurance, managing your policy, submitting claims, summoning roadside assistance and making payments. Cons Human help may be in short supply, as just about everything is handled online. No gap insurance is offered. USAA No insurer matches USAA for service to military members. Unfortunately, it's only available to active service members, their families and retired veterans. Average annual cost for full coverage: $896. Pros Superior financial stability rating from A.M. Best. Top-ranked purchase experience score from J.D. Power. Cons Missing gap coverage. Doesn’t offer interior vehicle coverage or new car replacement coverage. Limited availability. The Right One for You Competition in the insurance industry helps drive down prices and prompts insurers to offer money-saving features. For example, your carrier might reward you for a safe driving record and for having a long-term relationship with the insurer. The right insurer for you is highly rated for service, offers the exact coverage you want and does so at an unbeatable price. You should always gather multiple quotes before selecting an insurer, and make sure you get credit for all applicable discounts.
What’s the Best Accounting Software for Small Business?
Ask any small business owner and they’ll tell you the same thing; running your own show is no easy task.
Business owners are required to wear many different hats. First and foremost, you’ve got to be good at your craft. If you can’t cook, for example, good luck owning a local restaurant. Then there are several other skills that are required, depending on the scale of the business, and these include human resources, customer management, sales and keeping the operation running efficiently.
And that’s just on the operational side. A business owner must also have a solid long-term business plan, be aware of any expansion opportunities, have at least a little marketing skill and, perhaps most importantly, keep the books up to date. After all, you don’t want the IRS to pay you a visit. You can also learn how to file your business taxes as a small business owner here.
Sure, you can always pay for an accountant to manage your books for you — but that costs money — cash that comes right out of your bottom line. Besides, unless you’re a relatively large business, it might not even make sense to pay someone for this. With a little help, you can easily do up your own books.
If you’re interested in doing your own accounting, then a big part of that is having the correct accounting software. Let’s take a closer look at what exactly accounting software does and some of the advantages and disadvantages of the leaders in the space.
What Exactly Is Accounting Software, Anyway?
Essentially, accounting software is a computer program that helps a business keep track of its revenue, expenses, assets, liabilities and equity. It can also help business owners generate invoices, do payroll, decrease accounts receivable, and just generally keep a better eye on the total financial picture of the business.
The beauty of accounting software is that it automates many of the processes that a business owner would normally have to do by hand. For instance, based on the information on file, accounting software can generate a real-time balance sheet or show you how the rest of the year will play out.
If you have a simple business, then a basic version of accounting software is best. This is for an organization that doesn’t have employees, or many sources of revenue. If you’re a one-person organization, you’ll likely only need a bare-bones version.
If your business is a little larger, or more complicated, then you’ll have to upgrade to a better model. It’s not that hard to find free accounting software if you just have basic needs, but you’ll be stuck having to pay if you need premium features. However, unless your business is complex, accounting software is affordable. You won’t pay much more than $10-$25 per month.
How Accounting Software Will Benefit Your Business
The big benefit of accounting software is that it makes doing your books a whole lot easier than using a spreadsheet or using a paper ledger. It improves accuracy, makes the administration side of the business much simpler and enables a business owner to get a better overall picture of the financial state of the business.
Essentially, accounting software is a cheaper version of hiring your own accountant. And since the average small business only needs an accountant for just a few hours a month, the software provides an excellent solution.
So, Which One Should You Choose?
Here are three of the best accounting software choices for your business; these are companies that already boast thousands of happy customers.
Let’s start with QuickBooks, North America’s most dominant accounting software provider. The company is the undisputed king of this space; it must be doing something right.
Advantages to QuickBooks include the software’s easy-to-use interface, a major plus for those with zero accounting knowledge. All information is also stored online, meaning you can access it from anywhere in the world. It has all the functions a typical small business would ever need. Plus, you can also link it to your bank account.
However, there are some disadvantages. The first is the cost; some of QuickBooks’ competitors offer free versions for simple businesses. QuickBooks does not, with even a basic plan costing around $25 per month. Some users also think the program could be streamlined a bit. You also must use the online feature, something that made a lot of long-time users angry when the change was made a few years ago.
FreshBooks is another leading accounting software provider. Unlike Quickbooks, which is geared more towards small and medium sized businesses, FreshBooks is focused more towards freelancers and other one-person types of businesses.
Where Freshbooks really excels is in invoice management. The software allows a freelancer to easily submit an invoice to up to five different clients on the lite package. It also monitors when the client opens the invoice and allows either credit card or direct deposit to bank account billing.
One main issue with FreshBooks is its limitations; many users report that it isn’t a great option for larger businesses or ones with a lot of moving parts. If you’re running an e-commerce site, for example, FreshBooks probably isn’t your best choice. And like Quickbooks, there’s no free option. You’re stuck paying a monthly fee.
If you’re looking for a (mostly) free accounting software program, your best bet is Wave. The company’s main accounting functions — like invoicing and general bookkeeping — are completely free, while it does charge a fee for things like payroll and processing payments. Like the others on this list, all the info you put in is stored on the cloud; you can access it from anywhere. It’s also easy to use and has an interface most users love.
Wave’s major downfall is much like FreshBooks’s main issue. It struggles to provide adequate service to complex businesses with needs a little higher than sending out a few invoices every month. And although it’s free, Wave offers many additional services for a fee. Some people find these offers a little annoying.
The Bottom Line
If you’re still using an antiquated paper system for your business, it’s time to take the next step. Accounting software can simplify your bookkeeping system while giving you easier access to your business’s important data. Whether you choose a paid option like QuickBooks or FreshBooks, or software that’s free like Wave, your business will ultimately be more successful if you use the proper tools.