Everybody needs a day off, away from all the noise and clamor of the city. A long, luxurious road trip is something that can relax even the most stressed person in the world. The greenery, the scenery, and the comfort of being in your car, going at your pace, anywhere you want in the country are incredible. But there are a few things that you need to make sure of before you set off to explore the country.

Being away from your home, your locality, and your state can bring new challenges. Road trips are fun, but if taken unprepared, can become a nightmare. There are so many things you need to ensure, but perhaps one of the most important and often missed things is auto insurance.

People either do not consider the risk of getting stuck in some other state in a car accident or assume that their general auto insurance policy is capable enough to manage whatever the road trip will throw at them. So here’s everything you need to know about car insurance when you go on a relaxing, luxury road trip.

Is There a Car Insurance for Road Trips?
No, there’s no special car insurance policy made specifically for road trips. Your current auto insurance policy is all you have to use when you take on the roads and travel hundreds of miles. But just like taste in clothes, everyone’s auto insurance policy is different.

While there’s no specific road trip auto insurance policy, there are some important tips and modifications that you can do to your car insurance plan to make it fitter for long road trips. Do not commit the mistake of leaving for a road trip without tweaking your auto insurance policy. Here’s what tweaking you should do to your car insurance and why.

Increase the Coverage Limit
What: Auto insurance policies have a coverage limit. This is the maximum amount of money the insurance company would pay in an insurance claim. For example, liability coverage comes with three sections; one for covering bodily injury per person, one for covering bodily injury per accident, and one for covering property damage.

The same applies to collision and comprehensive insurance policies. The rate of your insurance depends partly on the coverage limit. Higher coverage limit costs more. Since the price depends on other factors such as age, driving record, and the state you live in if you want to get affordable car insurance, look for the best insurance companies in your state.

For example, if you live in California, look for the most affordable and popular California vehicle insurance company where you can get a higher coverage limit without paying too much for the policy.

Why: When in some other state or remote part of the country, or even driving at high speeds on the freeway, not only does the risk of getting in a car accident increase, the but probability of the accident is serious also jumps up. Severe accidents would require more money to insure, and the last thing you want is to be in an accident with an auto insurance policy that cannot pay for the cost of repairs and medical treatments for all the parties involved.

Get Roadside Assistance
What: Roadside assistance is an add-on that most auto insurance companies offer. Roadside assistance adds extra features to your auto insurance policy, making it fitter for road trips, especially the ones that involve driving long distances in remote locations. The cost of roadside assistance is not too much, usually priced at around $70 to $150. It is an absolute necessity to have roadside assistance when you are going on a road trip.

Why: Roadside assistance includes services such as winching, towing, battery jumpstart, tire replacement, gas refilling, getting spare keys, minor repairs, etc. All these things might not be too big of an issue, but when you are far from your city, on some remote freeway with a dead battery or a flat tire, you’d be blessing yourself for getting roadside assistance.

Get Collision and Comprehensive Insurance
What: It is mandatory to have a liability insurance policy in 48 states (exceptions are Virginia and New Hampshire). But liability insurance only pays for the cost of repairs and medical treatments of the other driver in an accident caused by you. This is where collision insurance comes in. Collision and comprehensive insurance are the optional coverage that you can get to protect your car. Collision insurance will pay for the damages to your car in an accident, irrespective of whose fault the accident is.

Why: Collision insurance is even claimable for damages to your car due to bad potholes, or driving into an object or an animal. When you are out on a road trip, having collision insurance is a must because you never know what kind of roads you’ll encounter. Any accidents or damage to your car will be covered under this policy, making it very important, not just for road trips, but for general insurance as well.

A comprehensive insurance policy covers the damages to your car due to natural calamities like fires, floods, earthquakes, hailstorms, theft, vandalism, etc. Since you’ll have no idea which areas are safe to park in or what kind of place you are in, it is better to have a comprehensive insurance policy and sleep peacefully while your car is parked outside.

You should also get an uninsured motorist policy and personal injury protection plan in case you don’t have them already. UM/UIM policy is very helpful in road accidents when the driver at fault either does not have liability coverage, or the liability coverage does not have sufficient coverage amount. It can also be claimed in a hit-and-run accident, something that occurs often on freeways.

Follow these tips and you are all set to take a safe, and enjoyable luxury road trip. Stay insured and stay secured.