Being forced to pay for overpriced car insurance premiums can bottom out your family’s budget and force you to make sacrifices. Because you have many car insurance companies to choose from, it’s difficult to choose a lower cost car insurance company.
Most major insurance companies like State Farm, Allstate and Geico provide coverage prices on their websites. Getting online rates is pretty easy as you simply type in the coverages you want into the quote form. Behind the scenes, their quoting system obtains your driving and credit reports and returns a price quote determined by many factors. Online price quotes makes it a lot easier to compare rates but the process of having to visit each company’s website and repetitively type in the same information can be a bit repetitive. Unfortunately, it is important to do this in order to find lower prices.
The preferred way to lower your car insurance bill utilizes a single form to obtain quotes from a bunch of companies at once. This type of form saves time, helps eliminate reptitive entry, and makes online shopping much more efficient. Once the form is submitted, it is quoted and you can select your choice of the quotes returned.
If one or more price quotes are lower than your current rates, you simply finish the application and purchase coverage. The whole process takes less than 15 minutes and could lower your rates considerably.
In order to use this form to compare rates, click here to open in new window and begin entering your coverage information. If you have a policy now, it’s recommended you copy deductibles and limits exactly as shown on your declarations page. This makes sure you will be getting an apples-to-apples comparison using the exact same coverages.
More discounts mean lower premiums
The price of auto insurance can be rather high, but you might find some hidden discounts that you may not know about. Certain reductions will be credited at quote time, but occassionally some discounts must be manually applied in order for you to get them. If you check and find you aren’t receiving every discount available, you may be paying too high a price.
- Discount for Home Ownership – Just being a homeowner can save a few bucks because it requires personal responsibility.
- Accident Waiver – This isn’t a discount exactly, but some insurance companies permit an accident without the usual rate increase so long as you haven’t had any claims for a specific time period.
- Club Memberships – Being in a qualifying organization may earn a discount on car insurance.
- College Student – who live away from home to go to college and won’t have access to an insured vehicle may be able to be covered for less.
- Theft Prevention Discount – Vehicles equipped with anti-theft or alarm systems are stolen less frequently and qualify for as much as a 10% discount.
- Cautious Drivers – Drivers who avoid accidents may receive a discount up to 45% than less cautious drivers.
Keep in mind that many deductions do not apply to the overall cost of the policy. Most only apply to the cost of specific coverages such as collision or personal injury protection. Despite the fact that it seems like having all the discounts means you get insurance for free, companies wouldn’t make money that way.
A few of the larger companies and a summarized list of policyholder discounts are included below.
- Progressive may offer discounts for homeowner, continuous coverage, online quote discount, good student, multi-vehicle, multi-policy, and online signing.
- Farmers Insurance includes discounts for good student, electronic funds transfer, switch companies, mature driver, and teen driver.
- Farm Bureau discounts include youthful driver, multi-policy, safe driver, good student, 55 and retired, and renewal discount.
- State Farm offers premium reductions for multiple autos, safe vehicle, good driver, good student, accident-free, multiple policy, and passive restraint.
- Geico offers discounts including multi-policy, daytime running lights, emergency military deployment, federal employee, seat belt use, and driver training.
- SAFECO may have discounts that include anti-theft, anti-lock brakes, teen safety rewards, multi-car, and accident prevention training.
- Liberty Mutual offers discounts for new vehicle discount, new graduate, good student, preferred payment discount, and safety features.
When quoting, ask every insurance company which discounts you qualify for. Discounts may not be offered in your state. To find insurance companies with the best car insurance discounts in Pittsford, click here.
It’s not one size fits all
When buying coverage for your personal vehicles, there really is not a single plan that fits everyone. Your needs are not the same as everyone else’s so your insurance needs to address that. For example, these questions can aid in determining whether your personal situation might need professional guidance.
- Is rental equipment covered for theft or damage?
- Do all my vehicles need collision coverage?
- What is covered by UM/UIM coverage?
- When do I need to add a new car to my policy?
- Do I have coverage when making deliveries for my home business?
- Do I need special endorsements for business use of my vehicle?
- Are there companies who specialize in insuring high-risk drivers?
- Where can I get insurance after a DUI in New York?
- Should I have combined single limit or split liability limits?
- Are rental cars covered under my policy?
If it’s difficult to answer those questions but you know they apply to you then you might want to talk to an insurance agent. To find lower rates from a local agent, fill out this quick form or go to this page to view a list of companies.
Parts of your car insurance policy
Having a good grasp of your car insurance policy can help you determine which coverages you need at the best deductibles and correct limits. The terms used in a policy can be impossible to understand and reading a policy is terribly boring. Shown next are typical coverages found on the average car insurance policy.
Medical costs insurance
Coverage for medical payments and/or PIP provide coverage for expenses such as EMT expenses, rehabilitation expenses and X-ray expenses. The coverages can be used to fill the gap from your health insurance policy or if there is no health insurance coverage. Coverage applies to both the driver and occupants in addition to being hit by a car walking across the street. PIP coverage is not universally available but can be used in place of medical payments coverage
Collision protection
This coverage pays to fix your vehicle from damage from colliding with a stationary object or other vehicle. You have to pay a deductible then the remaining damage will be paid by your insurance company.
Collision coverage protects against claims such as backing into a parked car, crashing into a building and hitting a mailbox. This coverage can be expensive, so analyze the benefit of dropping coverage from vehicles that are older. It’s also possible to choose a higher deductible to bring the cost down.
Coverage for liability
This will cover damages or injuries you inflict on other’s property or people. This coverage protects you against claims from other people. Liability doesn’t cover damage to your own property or vehicle.
Split limit liability has three limits of coverage: bodily injury for each person, bodily injury for the entire accident, and a limit for property damage. You commonly see values of 50/100/50 that means you have a limit of $50,000 per injured person, $100,000 for the entire accident, and a total limit of $50,000 for damage to vehicles and property. Alternatively, you may have a combined single limit or CSL which combines the three limits into one amount rather than limiting it on a per person basis.
Liability coverage pays for things like court costs, funeral expenses, bail bonds, legal defense fees and repair costs for stationary objects. How much liability coverage do you need? That is up to you, but it’s cheap coverage so purchase higher limits if possible. New York requires minimum liability limits of 25,000/50,000/10,000 but you should think about purchasing more coverage.
UM/UIM Coverage
This provides protection when the “other guys” either have no liability insurance or not enough. Covered losses include medical payments for you and your occupants as well as your vehicle’s damage.
Since many New York drivers only carry the minimum required liability limits (which is 25/50/10), it doesn’t take a major accident to exceed their coverage limits. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage should not be overlooked. Frequently these limits are identical to your policy’s liability coverage.
Comprehensive or Other Than Collision
This 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 can pay for claims such as damage from getting keyed, a tree branch falling on your vehicle, rock chips in glass and a broken windshield. The most you’ll receive from a claim is the market value of your vehicle, so if the vehicle is not worth much it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.
Don’t give up on affordable coverage
When you , don’t be tempted to buy poor coverage just to save money. There are too many instances where an insured dropped physical damage coverage and found out when filing a claim they didn’t purchase enough coverage. Your goal is to purchase plenty of coverage for the lowest cost, but do not skimp to save money.
You just read many ideas to shop for car insurance online. The key thing to remember is the more providers you compare, the better likelihood of getting . Consumers could even find that the lowest premium rates are with the least-expected company. Smaller companies may have significantly lower prices on certain market segments than their larger competitors like Allstate, Geico and Progressive.
Additional information is located on the located here. Consumers can file complaints about an insurance agent or broker, find out industry alerts, read state legal mandates and laws, and get help finding coverage.
Additional helpful sites include this page for car insurance in New York and this link which helps you find a Pittsford agent.