Are you sick and tired of not being able to afford to pay your car insurance bill each month? You are in the same boat as many other Oregon consumers. Numerous car insurance companies battle to insure your vehicles, so it can be very hard to choose a provider to find the absolute cheapest price
Finding more affordable car insurance rates can be quick and easy. The only requirement is to take a couple of minutes to compare to find the company with . This can be accomplished in a couple of different ways.
- Probably the best way to get quotes would be an industry-wide quote request form (click to open form in new window). This method prevents you from having to do separate quotation requests for each price estimate. One quote request gets coverage cost estimates from multiple low-cost companies.
- A more difficult way to obtain and compare quotes online requires a visit to each company’s website and fill out their own quote form. For examples sake, let’s say you want to get rates from Farmers, Safeco and Geico. In order to compare rates, you need to navigate to each company’s site and repeatedly type in your coverage information, which can get rather old. For a handy list of car insurance company links in Dallas, click here.
Whichever way you use, try to keep nearly identical deductibles and coverage limits with every price quote. If your comparisons have different limits and deductibles on each one you can’t possibly determine which rate is truly the best in Dallas.
Save $466 a year! What?
Consumers in Oregon can’t escape the ads that promise big savings by Allstate, Geico and Progressive. They all say the same thing about how much you will save after switching to them.
It sounds good, but how can they all charge less that you’re paying now?
Car insurance companies quote their cheapest rates for a prospective insured that makes them money. For example, a profitable insured may need to be over the age of 40, has no tickets, and drives less than 7,500 miles a year. Anyone that fits those parameters will most likely get cheap rates and will also cut their rates if they switch.
Consumers who fall short of this stringent profile will get higher rates which leads to business not being written. The ad wording is “drivers who switch” not “everyone who quotes” can get the lowest rates when switching. That is how insurance companies can make the claims of big savings.
This really drives home the point why drivers should compare often. It is impossible to predict with any certainty which company will have the lowest rates.
Get lower rates with these ten discounts
Companies offering auto insurance don’t always publicize every available discount very well, so the list below details both the well known and the more hidden credits available to you.
- Discount for Multiple Policies – If you combine your homeowners and auto policies with one company you could save at least 10% off all policies.
- Full Payment Discount – By making one initial payment instead of making monthly payments you may reduce your total bill.
- Driver’s Education for Students – Cut your cost by having your teen driver successfully complete driver’s ed class in school or through a local driver safety program.
- Active Military Service – Being on active deployment in the military may qualify for rate reductions.
- Telematics Discount – Insureds who allow their car insurance company to spy on driving manner by using a telematics device such as Progressive’s Snapshot and State Farm’s In-Drive may see discounts as long as the data is positive.
- No Claim Discounts – Claim-free drivers have much lower rates in comparison with insureds who have frequent claims or accidents.
- Dallas Homeowners Discount – Just being a homeowner can save you money since owning and maintaining a home means you have a higher level of financial diligence.
- Theft Prevention System – Cars and trucks equipped with tracking devices and advanced anti-theft systems have a lower chance of being stolen and will save you 10% or more.
- New Vehicle Savings – Adding a new car to your policy can save you some money since new vehicles have better safety ratings.
- Discount for Swiching Early – A few insurance companies offer discounts for signing up before your current expiration date. You can save around 10% with this discount.
Drivers should understand that most of the big mark downs will not be given to your bottom line cost. A few only apply to the cost of specific coverages such as collision or personal injury protection. Even though it appears you would end up receiving a 100% discount, it doesn’t quite work that way.
Larger car insurance companies and their offered discounts are shown below.
- Travelers may offer discounts for early quote, good student, multi-car, home ownership, hybrid/electric vehicle, continuous insurance, and driver training.
- 21st Century offers premium reductions for automatic seat belts, 55 and older, driver training, anti-lock brakes, and homeowners.
- State Farm discounts include multiple autos, defensive driving training, safe vehicle, good student, Steer Clear safe driver discount, and passive restraint.
- Geico offers discounts including multi-policy, membership and employees, seat belt use, anti-lock brakes, driver training, and daytime running lights.
- SAFECO may include discounts for multi-car, bundle discounts, teen safety rewards, accident prevention training, teen safe driver, and homeowner.
- AAA offers discounts for multi-car, education and occupation, pay-in-full, good student, anti-theft, and AAA membership discount.
When getting , it’s a good idea to every company what discounts are available to you. Depending on the company, some discounts may not be available in your area. If you would like to see a list of car insurance companies that can offer you the previously mentioned discounts in Dallas, click this link.
Car insurance can be complex
When buying coverage, there isn’t really a cookie cutter policy. Everyone’s needs are different so this has to be addressed. For instance, these questions may help highlight whether you might need an agent’s assistance.
- What is the difference between comprehensive and collision coverage?
- How can I get high-risk coverage after a DUI?
- When does my teenage driver need to be added to my policy?
- Exactly who is provided coverage by my policy?
- Is my vehicle covered for flood damage?
- How many claims can I have before being cancelled?
- Should I rate my vehicle as pleasure use or commute?
- Does my personal auto insurance policy cover using my vehicle for business use?
If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you might consider talking to an insurance agent. If you don’t have a local agent, take a second and complete this form or go to this page to view a list of companies. It’s fast, doesn’t cost anything and can provide invaluable advice.
Learn about car insurance coverages
Learning about specific coverages of a car insurance policy can be of help when determining which coverages you need at the best deductibles and correct limits. Policy terminology can be impossible to understand and even agents have difficulty translating policy wording. Listed below are the usual coverages found on the average car insurance policy.
Insurance for medical payments – Medical payments and Personal Injury Protection insurance provide coverage for short-term medical expenses for things like funeral costs, X-ray expenses and nursing services. They are often used to cover expenses not covered by your health insurance program or if you are not covered by health insurance. Medical payments and PIP cover you and your occupants and also covers if you are hit as a while walking down the street. Personal injury protection coverage is not universally available and gives slightly broader coverage than med pay
Uninsured Motorist or Underinsured Motorist insurance – Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage gives you protection from other motorists when they either have no liability insurance or not enough. Covered claims include injuries to you and your family as well as your vehicle’s damage.
Since many Oregon drivers have only the minimum liability required by law (25/50/20), their liability coverage can quickly be exhausted. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage is important protection for you and your family. Normally the UM/UIM limits are similar to your liability insurance amounts.
Comprehensive coverage (or Other than Collision) – This coverage pays to fix your vehicle from damage caused by mother nature, theft, vandalism and other events. A deductible will apply then the remaining damage will be covered by your comprehensive coverage.
Comprehensive coverage pays for claims like falling objects, a broken windshield and vandalism. The maximum amount your car insurance company will pay is the cash value of the vehicle, so if it’s not worth much more than your deductible it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.
Collision coverage – This covers damage to your vehicle resulting from colliding with a stationary object or other vehicle. A deductible applies and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.
Collision can pay for claims like scraping a guard rail, crashing into a building, backing into a parked car and crashing into a ditch. Paying for collision coverage can be pricey, so you might think about dropping it from lower value vehicles. Another option is to raise the deductible to bring the cost down.
Auto liability – This protects you from injuries or damage you cause to a person or their property that is your fault. It consists of three limits, bodily injury per person, bodily injury per accident and property damage. You might see values of 100/300/100 which means $100,000 in coverage for each person’s injuries, a per accident bodily injury limit of $300,000, and a total limit of $100,000 for damage to vehicles and property. Alternatively, you may have a combined limit which combines the three limits into one amount with no separate limits for injury or property damage.
Liability coverage protects against claims like repair costs for stationary objects, medical services and legal defense fees. How much coverage you buy is your choice, but it’s cheap coverage so purchase higher limits if possible. Oregon requires drivers to carry at least 25,000/50,000/20,000 but you should consider buying better liability coverage.
More information is available on the website for the Oregon Insurance Division through this link. Visitors are able to download brochures, read industry bulletins, view a list of available companies, and view agent and company licensing information.
These articles may also be worth reading.
- Is Your Dallas, TX Auto Insurance Too High? Learn How to Lower Your Rates
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Better coverage you can count on
Discount car insurance is definitely available on the web in addition to many Dallas insurance agents, so you need to with both in order to have the best chance of saving money. Some car insurance companies may not provide online price quotes and many times these small insurance companies prefer to sell through local independent agents.
As you , never reduce coverage to reduce premium. There are a lot of situations where an accident victim reduced liability coverage limits to discover at claim time that saving that couple of dollars actually costed them tens of thousands. The goal is to purchase plenty of coverage at the best cost, but don’t skip important coverages to save money.