If you read your lease agreement, you will likely find they have specific clauses regarding Liability, Collision & Comprehensive, and Guaranteed Auto Protection (GAP).

Most of the time, they will require higher coverage’s on the liability insurance. This way it’s more likely the insurance company will pay more and the likeliness that the leasing company could wind up paying damages is less.

As far as the Collision & Comprehensive, this type of coverage will usually have a deductible maximum they will allow for the vehicle. If the vehicle is lost or stolen, this insurance pays what the vehicle is estimated to be worth at the time of the loss. This doesn’t necessarily pay the total owed.

GAP is an additional insurance that covers any balance left over after Collision and Comprehensive have paid. In some cases GAP will also pay the deductible amount. Without it, you may have to pay the difference out of your own pocket.

Make sure you maintain the minimum required insurances (everything except the GAP) when dealing with a lease company. If you don’t have this they will usually add it on their own (and require you to pay for it as well). What they add in this sense will almost always be much more than it will cost you elsewhere.

While it is easy to at least have the lease company add their GAP coverage to your lease, you will probably find this kind of coverage elsewhere cheaper. In fact it might be part of your Collision & Comprehensive already.

The cheapest rates will likely be found by shopping for more choices in insurance carriers, and in the end, selecting one carrier (the cheapest) for all the insurance on the vehicle. Don’t forget to check with your existing insurance carriers, because often if you keep all your coverage with one company you will get special preferred rates.

A final note, when talking insurance, the more you shop around once in a while, the better you will come out.

To read more articles by Tony Robinson, check out http://fun-birthdays.com.