A question I’ve been asked from time to time: Do you have to get car insurance in Nashville?

Quick answer: Legally speaking, yes. If you’re driving a car in Tennessee, you’re required, by law, to carry a minimum level of liability insurance, in place to protect other drivers from injuries or damage you might cause.

Those Tennessee minimums, as of March, 2017:

$25,000 for one injury or death

$50,000 for all injuries or deaths

$15,000 for property damage for one accident

(You can read more about the state Minimum Limits of Liability at the Tennessee Department of Safety & Homeland Security’s site, if you’re intrigued by the nuts and bolts of state laws.)

The long answer to that question: There are legally required auto insurance minimums in Tennessee, yes, but they’re generally not enough to adequately protect you. 

Back in February, I shared two long lists of bummers: things that can make your car insurance rates go up, and home insurance rates go up.

Now that we’ve moved into spring and we’re all full of life and vigor, let’s tackle something more positive: things that can make your insurance rates go down.

A funny (and unfortunate) thing that I find a lot when talking to clients: Many of us have become used to just picking an insurance policy and leaving it alone, no matter how many changes happen in our lives, jobs, etc.

The risk there is two-fold: You can leave yourself with inadequate insurance coverage, and/or get stuck paying a bunch of money you don’t really need to pay. It’s why I really encourage shopping for insurance somewhat regularly, even if you’re not going through me.

In a perfect world, all the time and care you put into planning a luxurious launch party, a spectacular Sweet 16, a wonderful wedding, a delightfully quirky quinceañera, would be paid back in spades, with a celebration that goes off without a hitch, from delicious food to sunny weather.

Unfortunately, as we all know too well, the world is fiercely imperfect.

There’s a certain amount of risk involved with planning an event, particularly when they’re of the higher-cost variety. You’re depending on vendors, on guests of honor, sometimes on nature itself. And to put everything in place, you generally have to commit to expenditures that leave you little wiggle room.

Sure, your big 50th anniversary party venue might grant a refund if a tree takes out the banquet space, but what about the caterers who’ve arranged their schedule around your shindig? What about the photographer, the bartenders? Anything with multiple moving pieces — all of which require deposits and contracts — can get complicated.

This is where special event insurance comes into play.

If there’s one word I’d use to describe how I approach insurance coverage in Nashville: individualized. One person’s totally-adequate basic policy is another person’s woefully lacking coverage. To keep you (and your stuff) protected, we have to focus specifically on your needs, your life, and your belongings.

So, on that note, I’ll share something a lot of Nashvillians don’t think about: Your average homeowners insurance or rental insurance policy probably won’t cut it if your assets are, essentially, anything outside of the average. If you’ve got a couple of flat-screen TVs and computers and maybe a few small pieces of jewelry, you’re probably fine. But what if we move into the realm of antique silverware, prized pieces of art, high-end cameras or valuable stamp and coin collections?

Should something like a break-in happen, chances are good that your average policy isn’t going to adequately cover the replacement of those especially valuable — and especially loved — items.

Lots of positives have come with the rise of the sharing economy, as ride-sharing companies like Uber have become our Saturday-night rides home and Airbnb has become our go-to for weekend-trip lodgings. People all over the world have juiced their income with supplemental (or even primary) sharing-economy jobs, taking more control of their schedules and their bottom line. Good news, for sure.

But the gig economy has its complexities, and insurance coverage is definitely one of them.

If you’re thinking about putting your home up on Airbnb or VRBO, or joining up with Uber or Lyft as a driver, there’s a lot more to it than just signing up on an app — getting proper insurance coverage is a must. And what you have as an individual isn’t going to do it.

I work with a lot of homeowners in Nashville, sorting out their home insurance needs. And homeowners are, necessarily, on top of that — if you have a mortgage, you get home insurance, whether you feel inspired to or not.

Renters, on the other hand, don’t always look into insurance to protect what’s under their roofs. According to the Insurance Information Institute, in 2015, about 40 percent of renters had renters insurance, and although that was up from 29 percent in 2011, it’s still far too low a number for my liking — beyond the fact that I wrangle insurance for a living.

If there’s one thing I’m willing to get naggy about, it’s the topic of renters insurance. Even if your budget is tight, renters insurance should be a priority, and I say that not just as an independent Nashville insurance agent, but as a guy who hates seeing my neighbors end up in a bad financial way when it could’ve been easily (and affordably) avoided.

There are days when I wish I was, say, a dentist, and could simply encourage you to schedule the next appointment with your friendly Nashville insurance agent on a scientifically calculated, best-practices basis. But when it comes to insurance, things are a little more wiggly — routine “maintenance” doesn’t tend to be simply routine.

A lot of financial experts recommend searching for new insurance coverage annually, and I can see the logic in that — you may not necessarily want to change policies every year (like I mentioned previously, there can be rate benefits to being loyal), but it’s good to scan the landscape and make sure you’re not leaving money behind. Still, that’s a little simplistic, and there’ll be times when I’d encourage a client to reassess their coverage earlier, or later.

If you’re reading this and thinking, “I can’t remember the last time I looked into my insurance options,” let’s definitely talk about it. I can almost guarantee you’ve had a significant enough life event (or three) that’s changed your picture enough to also change your insurance needs.

Last week, I shared a rundown of factors that can cause your car insurance rates to rise, like your massively powerful engine or length of commute.

This week, I’m digging into the factors that affect your home insurance rate. Some are similar, some are different; some are things you can tweak, others just are what they are. But I’m always happy to arm my friends and clients with insurance knowledge, so here are some things you may or may not know feed into your homeowners insurance policy picture:

It can understandably feel like there’s some kind of mystical tea leaf-reading happening when insurance companies calculate your rates — you pour out buckets of information, it’s mixed up behind a curtain, then poof: a number you couldn’t have predicted and can’t necessarily explain.

Part of what I try to do, as an independent insurance agent in Nashville, is bring clarity to the process of finding the right insurance coverage, and outline how different factors can affect how insurers see you, your home and/or your car, in terms of risk and in terms of rate. There’s a bit of science and a bit of art that goes into their calculations, and different insurers approach things different ways, so one company’s policy might be a much better price — and much better fit — than another.

All that said, certain things do tend to make anyone’s insurance premiums go up; the specific figures will differ from company to company, but many insurers take them into consideration.

This week, I’m going to share a few factors that can feed into car insurance rate increases. Next week, I’ll focus on homeowners insurance.

It's almost a New Year, and I'm starting it off with a new addition to the Tucker Coverage website: our new blog.

In the coming weeks and months, I'll be sharing lots of info, advice and experiences here, from recommendations on the type of insurance coverage you might need and want as you move through life's milestones, to pitfalls you can avoid by finding the right home, auto and renter's insurance. (We go well beyond those types of insurance, too -- whatever insurance needs you might have, let me know, I'd be glad to help.)

I hope this'll be a valuable resource to Nashvillians in need of insurance guidance, and I hope it'll be a fun read (I'll make sure to share a fair share of interesting/bizarre insurance facts, particularly on our Instagram).