Welcome to /Insurance, Frequently Asked Questions, Post Suggestions, Common Terms

This is a community who wants to help navigate a complex system that is one of the lubricants of the financial world. Lots of lives are impacted by insurance directly and indirectly, and it can be a complicated system.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much will my insurance go up after a ticket/accident/lapse in coverage? We don't know unless your state has a statutory requirement for your very specific situation.
My premium went up $X. How do I fight this? You can't. The only thing you can do is shop for new coverage, which we can't do for you.
How much does everyone else pay for coverage? Unless you're lucky enough to get someone in your exact demographic in your exact part of the world, the answers you're going to get are useless.
How much is my claim worth? We don't know. (note: if you're asking a more complex question about your claim, that could be very different)
How long will my claim take to close? We don't know (again: a more complicated question might have different answers)
Why is this person trying to sell me something? Block the person and report it to the moderators and let them handle that.
Will you help me commit fraud or otherwise break the law? No. Absolutely not. And we may ban anyone that does try to do that.

Here are some things that make a good post so it's easier for you to get help:

Location (Country and state/province at a minimum)
Type of insurance involved (Auto, Homeowners/Renters, Commercial, Health, something else)
A brief description of the problem and any advice you've gotten so far

Common Terms:

Adjuster - the person that handles your claim, makes coverage determinations and processes payments
Agent - the person that sells a policy. Some agents get involved in some claims, although that is the exception to the rule.
Underwriter - the person that decides how much a specific policy will cost for a specific risk.
Rate - this is the way your final price is calculated and is usually used synonymously with "premium", "cost" and "price".
~~Full coverage~~ - don't use this term. There's no agreed definition, even among the regular posters
No Fault - there are 18 states that, at least to some extent, make automobile bodily injury claims be paid by your own policy first instead of someone that caused your injury. There is only one state (Michigan) that makes damage to your vehicle No Fault. All Canadian provinces have some sort of No Fault provision for injuries, which is one reason why we need to know where you are when you're asking questions.
Collision coverage - this fixes your car when it collides with something else or another car hits it.
Comprehensive coverage (also known as Other Than Collision) - this covers your car for almost everything else, including floods, fires, tree branches and lightning strikes. Usually animal strikes are covered here, but not always.
Deductible - this is the amount that you agreed to pay in case of any claim. Your payment comes before any insurance payment. Deductibles are occasionally waived, but that's the exception, not the rule.