Do you get exhausted from wondering where the money will come from to pay auto insurance each month? You’re in the same situation as millions of other people. Companies like State Farm, Farmers Insurance, Geico and Allstate increase brand awareness with advertising and it is challenging if not impossible to see through the cute green geckos and mayhem and take the time to shop coverage around.
Do you qualify for these ten discounts?
Car insurance is not cheap, but you might find some hidden discounts that you may not even be aware of. A few discounts will automatically apply when you quote, but less common discounts must be requested specifically before you will receive the discount. If you check and find you aren’t receiving every discount possible, you could be getting lower rates.
- Save with More Vehicles Insured – Buying coverage for multiple vehicles on one policy may reduce the rate for each vehicle.
- Student Discounts – Excelling in school can earn a discount of 20% or more. Earning this discount can benefit you until age 25.
- Responsible Driver Discount – Insureds without accidents can pay as much as 50% less as compared to drivers with claims.
- Savings for New Vehicles – Buying coverage on a new vehicle can cost up to 25% less due to better safety requirements for newer vehicles.
- Payment Method – If you pay your bill all at once instead of paying each month you can avoid the installment charge.
- Own a Home – Owning a house in Stanton may earn you a small savings because of the fact that having a home requires personal responsibility.
- Accident Waiver – This isn’t a discount exactly, but companies like State Farm and Allstate allow you one accident before raising your premiums as long as you don’t have any claims for a specific time period.
- Fewer Miles Equal More Savings – Driving less could earn slightly better prices than normal.
- Seat Belt Usage – Drivers who require all occupants to use a seat belt can save a little on medical payment and PIP coverage.
- Passive Restraints and Air Bags – Vehicles equipped with air bags and/or automatic seat belt systems may get savings of more than 20%.
A little disclaimer on discounts, some of the credits will not apply to all coverage premiums. The majority will only reduce individual premiums such as physical damage coverage or medical payments. So even though they make it sound like having all the discounts means you get insurance for free, nobody gets a free ride.
Companies and some of their more popular discounts can be read below.
- Progressive may have discounts that include multi-policy, good student, online signing, homeowner, and continuous coverage.
- SAFECO offers discounts for bundle discounts, teen safe driver, anti-lock brakes, drive less, homeowner, and multi-car.
- American Family has savings for TimeAway discount, air bags, accident-free, good driver, multi-vehicle, early bird, and defensive driver.
- MetLife may offer discounts for multi-policy, good driver, accident-free, defensive driver, claim-free, and good student.
- Geico includes discounts for membership and employees, multi-vehicle, anti-lock brakes, good student, military active duty, and multi-policy.
- The Hartford has discounts for bundle, anti-theft, air bag, good student, driver training, and defensive driver.
Double check with every prospective company which credits you are entitled to. Discounts might not be offered on policies in Stanton. If you would like to see a list of auto insurance companies with the best discounts in Nebraska, click here.
Most of the larger companies such as State Farm, Allstate and Geico allow consumers to get pricing online. Getting quotes is pretty painless as you just enter your personal and coverage information into the form. After the form is submitted, their system requests reports for credit and driving violations and gives you a price quote. Quoting online streamlines rate comparisons, but having to visit each company’s website and repetitively fill out multiple forms gets old quite quickly. But it’s absolutely necessary to do this if you are searching for better auto insurance pricing.
Keep reading for an easier way to compare prices
The preferred way to lower your rates uses one form that analyzes rates from a lot of companies. The form is fast, helps eliminate reptitive entry, and makes price shopping online much more enjoyable. After your information is entered, it is quoted and you can select any one of the resulting price quotes.
If you find a better price you can click and sign and buy the new coverage. This process can be completed in less than 10 minutes and you will find out if you’re overpaying now.
To quickly fill out one form to compare multiple rates now, click here to open in a new tab and submit your coverage information. To compare your current rates, we recommend you copy your coverages just like they are on your policy. This way, you will get comparison quotes for similar coverage.
Auto insurance coverage considerations
Understanding the coverages of your auto insurance policy aids in choosing appropriate coverage for your vehicles. Auto insurance terms can be ambiguous and coverage can change by endorsement. Below you’ll find the normal coverages found on the average auto insurance policy.
Liability insurance – Liability insurance provides protection from damage that occurs to people or other property that is your fault. Liability coverage has three limits: bodily injury for each person injured, bodily injury for the entire accident and a property damage limit. You might see limits of 25/50/25 which means $25,000 in coverage for each person’s injuries, $50,000 for the entire accident, and $25,000 of coverage for damaged propery. Alternatively, you may have a combined single limit or CSL that pays claims from the same limit without having the split limit caps.
Liability insurance covers claims such as structural damage, funeral expenses and repair costs for stationary objects. How much coverage you buy is up to you, but buy as much as you can afford. Nebraska state law requires minimum liability limits of 25,000/50,000/25,000 but it’s recommended drivers buy better liability coverage.
Protection from uninsured/underinsured drivers – Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage protects you and your vehicle’s occupants when other motorists either have no liability insurance or not enough. This coverage pays for injuries sustained by your vehicle’s occupants and also any damage incurred to your vehicle.
Because many people have only the minimum liability required by law (Nebraska limits are 25/50/25), their limits can quickly be used up. So UM/UIM coverage is important protection for you and your family. Usually the UM/UIM limits are similar to your liability insurance amounts.
Comprehensive (Other than Collision) – This covers damage from a wide range of events other than collision. You need to pay your deductible first then your comprehensive coverage will pay.
Comprehensive coverage pays for claims like hitting a bird, rock chips in glass and theft. The highest amount you’ll receive from a claim is the ACV or actual cash value, so if it’s not worth much more than your deductible consider removing comprehensive coverage.
Medical expense insurance – Medical payments and Personal Injury Protection insurance kick in for bills for X-ray expenses, prosthetic devices and nursing services. They are often used to fill the gap from your health insurance policy or if you do not have health coverage. It covers both the driver and occupants and will also cover being hit by a car walking across the street. PIP is not universally available but can be used in place of medical payments coverage
Collision coverage – Collision insurance covers damage to your vehicle resulting from colliding with a stationary object or other vehicle. A deductible applies then the remaining damage will be paid by your insurance company.
Collision coverage protects against things like crashing into a ditch, sustaining damage from a pot hole, backing into a parked car and sideswiping another vehicle. Collision is rather expensive coverage, so analyze the benefit of dropping coverage from older vehicles. Another option is to bump up the deductible to bring the cost down.
Quote more, save more
As you , it’s a bad idea to sacrifice coverage to reduce premiums. In too many instances, an accident victim reduced liability limits or collision coverage only to regret at claim time that their decision to reduce coverage ended up costing them more. Your strategy should be to buy the best coverage you can find at the best cost, but do not skimp to save money.
The cheapest auto insurance is possible on the web as well as from insurance agents, and you should compare price quotes from both to have the best rate selection. There are still a few companies who may not have online quoting and most of the time these regional carriers prefer to sell through independent insurance agents.