Military Service Members, Their Families And Their Car Insurance Issues

U.S. Troops and those who are members of the armed services are often deployed on short notice, giving them less time to face their personal and business affairs. Auto insurance, home insurance and other insurance product issues, as a subject, is often affected when someone moves out of the state or spends an extended period away from home. Now before purchasing any car insurance policy, it is always the best idea to ask your prospective insurer or broker some specific questions about how the company will handle issues related to the deployment of their policyholders who are in the military service.

In 1981, I volunteered and entered the United States Air Force. After Basic Training at Lackland Air Force in San Antonio, Texas, I was reassigned to Kessler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi to attend technical school and learn my AFSC or what you would refer to as my primary career responsibilities.  After completion, I was permitted toi return home for a few weeks before reporting to my permanent duty station.  There were many issues I had to discuss including shopping for new car insurance in the new state where I would be assigned.

Your car insurance coverage would depend on what state you belong and what company you have applied to. They have their own specific guidelines for this. By simply make a call or typing few clicks on the internet, you may be able to find insurers and agents who offers these specialized needs of military service members into their account. 

Now it would be very hard for you to balance your time and handle a routine business like paying car insurance premiums from time to time or renewing your policies when you’re in service. Talk to your insurer to settle the matter before you leave for deployment, learn more about your auto insurance policy and when it is up for renewal try to set arrangements on how to pay your premiums. You may able to pay or renew your auto and home insurance policy via automated bank draft. Other insurance companies might even allow you to suspend a certain coverage while you’re away from your state. Payment history and continuity of coverage are two major factors of how insurance companies determine their rates and eligibility standards. Keep in mind that when your insurance expires while you’re away, insurers are unwilling to insure you or be willing to do so at a higher cost.

Who Needs Life Insurance?

The need for life insurance will differ depending on your age and responsibilities. The members from the armed services may consider their life insurance needs all throughout out their military career. You might want to consider this as a major financial planning. There are many reasons why you should get a life insurance. Life insurance would always protect the dependents from debts when there is a need to replace lost income when after the death of the policy holder. You would always want to insure your dependents that they would not be harmed by these significant debts. Life insurance will be their partner in keeping your assets against selling them to pay bills and taxes. However, you should also consider that most military men automatically receive $400,000 of life insurance coverage, unless there are specific requests to opt it out. There are many things to consider when you are in military service. These can be: 

  • Financial help when the surviving family members try to secure their employment.
  • The medical bills before the death, burial expenses and estate taxes in excess of amounts that would be covered by the military.
  • Ongoing monthly bills and expenses, daily costs, college tuition and even the retirement of surviving family members; or
  • A policy has exclusions for death while performing military duties. 

When you are in military service, it is very important that you would understand and check your policies and look for exclusions in the coverage as many life insurance policies indicates “war exclusion” provision that means benefits will not be provided if the death is a result of war or in the event of action of a military force. Moreover, there are many life insurance policies that contain exclusions when travelling on any non-commercial aircraft.