Sick and tired of paying out the nose to buy car insurance? You’re in the same situation as most other car owners in Oklahoma.
You have multiple car insurance companies to pick from, and although it’s nice to have a choice, having more insurers makes it harder to find the lowest cost provider.
Smart consumers take time to shop coverage around quite often since insurance rates trend upward over time. If you had the best rates a year ago you will most likely find a better rate today. So ignore everything you know about car insurance because you’re going to learn one of the quickest ways to save money, get proper coverage and the best rates.
Companies offer discounts so take them!
Insurance can be prohibitively expensive, but there could be available discounts to reduce the price significantly. Most are applied when you purchase, but lesser-known reductions have to be requested specifically before you get the savings.
- Drivers Education – Require your teen driver to complete a driver education course if it’s offered in school.
- Save with a New Car – Insuring a new car can cost up to 25% less because new vehicles have to meet stringent safety requirements.
- Military Discounts – Being on active duty in the military can result in better rates.
- Clubs and Organizations – Being a member of certain professional organizations could trigger savings when shopping for car insurance.
- Payment Method – If paying your policy premium upfront instead of making monthly payments you could save 5% or more.
It’s important to understand that some credits don’t apply to all coverage premiums. A few only apply to the cost of specific coverages such as physical damage coverage or medical payments. Just because it seems like you would end up receiving a 100% discount, companies don’t profit that way. But any discount will cut the amount you have to pay.
To choose companies with discount car insurance rates in Mcalester, follow this link.
How to Compare Car Insurance Costs in Mcalester
All the larger car insurance companies quote insurance quotes directly from their websites. Getting online rates doesn’t take much effort as you just enter the coverage amounts you desire as detailed in the form. Once you submit the form, their system will obtain your driving and credit reports and generates a price based on these and other factors. This makes comparing rates easy, but the time required to go to many different websites and type in the same information is not the best way to spend an afternoon. But it is imperative to get many rate quotes if you are searching for lower prices.
Compare rates the easy way
An easier way to locate the lowest prices uses one simple form that gets price quotes from many companies. It’s a real time-saver, reduces the work, and makes online shopping much simpler. After sending your information, it is rated and you can select any or none of the quotes returned.
If a lower price is quoted, it’s easy to complete the application and buy the new coverage. This process can be completed in a matter of minutes and may save quite a bit of money.
To compare pricing, simply click here to open in new window and fill out the form. If you currently have coverage, we recommend you enter coverages and limits exactly as they are listed on your policy. Doing this guarantees you will receive rate comparison quotes using the same coverage and limits.
How to know if you need help
When it comes to choosing proper insurance coverage for your vehicles, there is no perfect coverage plan. Each situation is unique and a cookie cutter policy won’t apply. These are some specific questions may help highlight if you could use an agent’s help.
- Does having multiple vehicles earn me a discount?
- If my vehicle is totaled, can I afford another vehicle?
- Does my policy cover me when driving someone else’s vehicle?
- Can I afford low physical damage deductibles?
- I don’t drive much so do I pay less?
- Do I need motorclub coverage?
If you can’t answer these questions but a few of them apply then you might want to talk to an insurance agent. If you want to speak to an agent in your area, fill out this quick form or go to this page to view a list of companies.
Car insurance coverage breakdown
Learning about specific coverages of your policy aids in choosing the right coverages at the best deductibles and correct limits. Policy terminology can be confusing and reading a policy is terribly boring. These are the usual coverages found on most car insurance policies.
Protection from uninsured/underinsured drivers
This protects you and your vehicle’s occupants when the “other guys” are uninsured or don’t have enough coverage. Covered losses include medical payments for you and your occupants and damage to your vehicle.
Since a lot of drivers only carry the minimum required liability limits (25/50/25 in Oklahoma), it only takes a small accident to exceed their coverage. So UM/UIM coverage is very important. Frequently the UM/UIM limits are similar to your liability insurance amounts.
Medical expense insurance
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage provide coverage for immediate expenses for things like doctor visits, X-ray expenses, EMT expenses, surgery and ambulance fees. The coverages can be used to cover expenses not covered by your health insurance program or if you lack health insurance entirely. Medical payments and PIP cover all vehicle occupants and also covers being hit by a car walking across the street. PIP is not universally available but can be used in place of medical payments coverage
Comprehensive (Other than Collision)
This pays for damage that is not covered by collision coverage. A deductible will apply then the remaining damage will be covered by your comprehensive coverage.
Comprehensive insurance covers claims such as a tree branch falling on your vehicle, hitting a bird and falling objects. The maximum payout your car insurance company will pay is the ACV or actual cash value, so if the vehicle is not worth much it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.
Collision insurance
This pays for damage to your vehicle resulting from a collision with another car or object. You have to pay a deductible and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.
Collision coverage protects against things such as hitting a mailbox, rolling your car and hitting a parking meter. This coverage can be expensive, so analyze the benefit of dropping coverage from older vehicles. Drivers also have the option to raise the deductible in order to get cheaper collision rates.
Liability car insurance
This can cover damages or injuries you inflict on a person or their property that is your fault. Coverage consists of three different limits, per person bodily injury, per accident bodily injury, and a property damage limit. Your policy might show liability limits of 50/100/50 that means you have a limit of $50,000 per injured person, a per accident bodily injury limit of $100,000, and a total limit of $50,000 for damage to vehicles and property. Some companies may use a combined limit which limits claims to one amount and claims can be made without the split limit restrictions.
Liability coverage protects against things such as legal defense fees, medical services, court costs, repair costs for stationary objects and funeral expenses. How much liability coverage do you need? That is up to you, but you should buy as large an amount as possible. Oklahoma requires minimum liability limits of 25,000/50,000/25,000 but you should consider buying more liability than the minimum.
Buy online or local, you save
Cheap car insurance can be bought online and with local Mcalester insurance agents, so compare prices from both so you have a total pricing picture. There are still a few companies who do not offer online quoting and many times these small insurance companies only sell through independent insurance agents.
As you shop your coverage around, it’s very important that you do not skimp on coverage in order to save money. There have been many cases where someone dropped liability coverage limits and learned later that it was a big error on their part. The proper strategy is to purchase a proper amount of coverage at a price you can afford while not skimping on critical coverages.