New car owners lack insurance knowledge

New car owners know far more about the vehicle they are purchasing than they do about the insurance they buy to cover it, says a study by U.S. insurer Progressive.The survey of new car buyers should that while 98% could name the transmission type and 91% the number of cylinders in their vehicle, 51% could not say how much bodily injury liability coverage they had. Similarly, while 99% knew how many airbags were in their new vehicle, 62% did not know their liability limits per accident.Even more surprising, 30% of drivers could not even say how much they pay every six months for their insurance coverage.”Buyers put a lot of thought into the types of features they want in their new vehicle,” says Tom Hollyer, product development manager for Progressive. “Yet our survey showed that many new car buyers don’t pay as much attention to their car insurance.”The insurer goes on to say that new car buyers need to know the relationship between the type of vehicle they purchase and their insurance rates. For example, in 2004 the most expensive vehicles to insure include the Dodge Viper, Acura NSX, Jaguar XKR, Porsche 911 and BMWM5. On the flip-side, the least expensive vehicles to insure included the Oldsmobile Silhouette, Pontiac Montana, Saturn SL, Chrysler PT Cruiser and Saturn SC.