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.
Software for Small Businesses
Running a business is not for the faint-hearted. Luckily, there are several options for software for small businesses that can make it easier. From managing people to procedures, we know there is a lot to keep track of. Quite frankly, it can almost be impossible for entrepreneurs to totally stay on top of things – no matter how small the business is.
According to research, the average business owner spends about 68% of their time working and handling day-to-day business operations. In comparison, the remaining 32% of the time goes into strategic business planning and scaling their business. This is why many small businesses find it challenging to grow, and several others may eventually fail.
When you have the right tools, you will be able to effectively manage your business, improve processes and boost overall performance. For example, you can automate accounting, hiring, marketing, client management and more.
Here’s a list of some of the best software tools that small businesses can use for essential daily operational activities.
1. Best Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
The Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is an all-in-one ERP software that a company can use to manage significant business processes, improve customer relations and enhance business development. This solution allows small and medium-sized businesses to connect and unify their finance, operations, sales and customer service teams.
In other words, the tool can help companies sync interdepartmental operations and help teams work smarter to deliver results.
The Pros:
- Unified reporting across departments.
- Improved efficiency.
- Saves time and cost.
- Cloud storage and data security.
- Easy user interface.
The Cons:
- High setup cost.
- Limited data storage.
- Possible downtime.
2. Best Bookkeeping Software: Wave Accounting
Wave Accounting helps businesses keep track of their cash flow by connecting their bank accounts and credit cards to the software. Companies with multiple bank accounts and businesses can also use Wave to track income and expenses from all accounts.
The software also organizes payments, creates and sends branded invoices and generates financial reports.
The Pros:
- Free and secure accounting and invoicing.
- Seamless reporting for taxes.
- Unlimited income and expense tracking.
- Can connect multiple bank accounts and business credit cards.
- Unlimited users.
The Cons:
- Live chat support only (no phone support).
- No extra functionality like inventory management.
3. Best Point of Sale (POS) Software: Square
Square POS offers an all-in-one point of sale service that businesses can use to sell their products and services in person or online. Whether you run a brick-and-mortar restaurant business, have an e-commerce market for your retail store or both, you can use Square POS to oversee your sales from anywhere in the world.
In other words, with Square POS, businesses can take customers’ orders, accept payments for products and services and synchronize transactions from all their sales channels. Usually, you can start with the free option, but you must subscribe to the paid option for the best experience.
The Pros:
- Integrated payment processing.
- Free online sales option.
- Easy to use.
- Seamless inventory tracking.
The Cons:
- High processing fees for high-volume transactions.
- Free option has limited uses.
4. Best Email Marketing Software: MailChimp
MailChimp has a free email marketing software to help business owners get started with email marketing. The marketing tool comes with ready-to-use email templates, signup forms, opt-in pop-ups, etc. Users can also personalize their experience with branded emails and run analytics or view campaign performance with the built-in analytics tool.
The exciting thing about MailChimp is its free plan is one that small businesses can enjoy or test before opting for the paid option.
The Pros:
- Free plan available.
- Behavior-based automation.
- Email marketing and newsletter samples and templates.
- Abandoned cart messages (for e-commerce businesses).
- Easy to use and customize.
The Cons:
- Accounts can be cancelled or suspended.
- Free plan has limited access.
5. Best Communication Software: Slack
Slack is an internal communication tool that companies can use to achieve timely and effective communication among their team members. The software offers instant, real-time messaging, collaboration and feedback. Users can also create channels and teams to communicate separately to specific team members or project stakeholders.
Additionally, it offers cloud storage, file sharing, meeting scheduling and integrations for video calls all in one place.
The Pros:
- Comes with a free plan.
- Easy collaboration and integration.
- Cloud storage.
- Automated meetings and scheduling.
- Easy to use and personalize.
The Cons:
- Many activities can happen at the same time. Users may find it hard to keep track of these activities.
- Its push notifications can be a distraction.
Final Thoughts
Today, businesses use software to manage and carry out different tasks. As an entrepreneur, you need to stay on top of things, but you can save time and cost by streamlining processes while focusing on other essential aspects of the business, like scaling.
There are software tools for small businesses designed for this purpose. Some of them come with free plans to save cost while you need to pay for others. However, to determine which software is best for your business, you need to identify your peculiar needs and the problems you are trying to solve. Ultimately, you will have a highly efficient and productive company that is ready to grow.