Are you overwhelmed by the crazy number of car insurance sources in your area? There are so many options that it can easily become hard work to compare prices. If you live there, you know that Saratoga Springs has many things to offer, but budgeting for expensive car insurance can make it hard for many residents to buy proper levels of coverage.
Finding the best rates in Saratoga Springs is not that difficult. If you have car insurance now, you will most likely be able to save some money using this information. But New York consumers must understand the way insurance companies price insurance differently and take advantage of how the system works.
Car insurance companies offer money-saving discounts
Companies don’t always advertise all their discounts in a way that’s easy to find, so the list below gives a summary of some of the more common and the harder-to-find ways to save on car insurance.
- Discounts for New Vehicles – Insuring a vehicle that is new can get you a discount because newer vehicles are generally safer.
- Sign Online – A handful of car insurance companies will give a small break online.
- Student Discounts – Being a good student can be rewarded with saving of up to 25%. This discount can apply up until you turn 25.
- Distant College Student Discount – Children who live away from home to go to college without a vehicle on campus may qualify for this discount.
- Drive Less and Save – Keeping the miles down could be rewarded with slightly better car insurancerates than normal.
- Telematics Discount – Saratoga Springs drivers who agree to allow companies to study where and when they drive remotely like Drivewise from Allstate or In-Drive from State Farm could save a few bucks as long as they are good drivers.
It’s important to understand that some of the credits will not apply to the overall cost of the policy. Some only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like liability and collision coverage. So despite the fact that it appears you would end up receiving a 100% discount, insurance companies wouldn’t stay in business.
If you would like to choose from a list of insurers that offer multiple discounts in Saratoga Springs, click here.
All major car insurance companies like Geico, State Farm and Progressive make it easy to get prices online. Obtaining pricing is possible for anyone because you just enter your required coverages into a form. After you submit the form the system requests credit information and your driving record and returns pricing information based on many factors.
This simplifies rate comparisons, but the time it takes to visit several different sites and complete many quote forms can get tiresome after awhile. But it’s necessary to perform this step if you are searching for the best price on car insurance.
The smarter way to compare car insurance pricing makes use of a single form that gets price quotes from a lot of companies. It’s a real time-saver, requires much less work on your part, and makes price shopping online much simpler. Immediately after submitting the form, your coverage is rated and you can choose any or none of the returned quotes. If the quotes result in lower rates, you simply finish the application and purchase the new policy. The whole process takes 15 minutes at the most and you will know how your current rates stack up.
To quickly find out how much you can save on car insurance, click here to open in new window and submit your coverage information. If you have your current policy handy, we recommend you duplicate exactly as shown on your declarations page. Doing this assures you will have an apples-to-apples comparison for exact coverage.
Why you might not save $439 a year
Companies like Geico, State Farm and Progressive consistently run television, radio, and online ads. All the companies tend to make the same promise that drivers will save a bundle if you switch your policy. How do they all give you a lower rate? This is how they do it.
Insurance providers have specific characteristics for a prospective insured that will most likely be profitable. For example, a profitable risk profile should be a married female, has no driving citations, and insures a new vehicle. A customer who matches those parameters may get the lowest prices in Saratoga Springs as well as cut their rates substantially.
Consumers who may not quite match these standards will probably have to pay a higher premium and the customer buying from someone else. If you listen to the ad wording, they say “drivers that switch” not “all people who quote” save that much. That’s the way insurance companies can make it sound like they have such great premium rates. This really illustrates why drivers must get as many as possible. You cannot predict with any certainty which company will have the best auto insurance rates.
Car insurance coverage considerations
Having a good grasp of your car insurance policy aids in choosing the best coverages for your vehicles. The coverage terms in a policy can be impossible to understand and reading a policy is terribly boring.
Comprehensive coverage (or Other than Collision) – Comprehensive insurance coverage pays to fix your vehicle from damage caused by mother nature, theft, vandalism and other events. You first have to pay a deductible 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 vandalism. The maximum amount a car insurance company will pay at claim time is the market value of your vehicle, so if it’s not worth much more than your deductible consider removing comprehensive coverage.
Coverage for liability – This can cover damage that occurs to people or other property. It protects YOU against other people’s claims, and doesn’t cover your own vehicle damage or injuries.
Liability coverage has three limits: per person bodily injury, per accident bodily injury, and a property damage limit. You might see limits of 100/300/100 which means a limit of $100,000 per injured person, a per accident bodily injury limit of $300,000, and a limit of $100,000 paid for damaged property.
Liability insurance covers things such as attorney fees, repair costs for stationary objects, medical expenses, pain and suffering and court costs. The amount of liability coverage you purchase is a decision to put some thought into, but consider buying as much as you can afford. New York requires drivers to carry at least 25,000/50,000/10,000 but it’s recommended drivers buy higher limits.
Insurance for medical payments – Med pay and PIP coverage pay for expenses for pain medications, nursing services and rehabilitation expenses. They are often used to fill the gap from your health insurance program or if you lack health insurance entirely. Medical payments and PIP cover you and your occupants in addition to getting struck while a pedestrian. PIP is not universally available and gives slightly broader coverage than med pay
Collision coverages – This pays for damage to your vehicle resulting from colliding with another car or object. You will need to pay your deductible then your collision coverage will kick in.
Collision coverage pays for claims such as damaging your car on a curb, driving through your garage door, colliding with another moving vehicle and scraping a guard rail. This coverage can be expensive, so consider removing coverage from vehicles that are older. Drivers also have the option to bump up the deductible in order to get cheaper collision rates.
Uninsured Motorist or Underinsured Motorist insurance – Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage gives you protection when the “other guys” either have no liability insurance or not enough. Covered claims include injuries to you and your family as well as your vehicle’s damage.
Due to the fact that many New York drivers have only the minimum liability required by law (25/50/10 in New York), their limits can quickly be used up. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage is a good idea.
Persistence pays off
People change insurance companies for a variety of reasons including high rates after DUI convictions, denial of a claim, delays in responding to claim requests and even high prices. It doesn’t matter what your reason, finding a great new company is less work than it seems.
As you prepare to switch companies, it’s not a good idea to reduce needed coverages to save money. There have been many cases where someone dropped comprehensive coverage or liability limits only to discover later that saving that couple of dollars actually costed them tens of thousands. The ultimate goal is to find the BEST coverage at the lowest possible cost, but do not skimp to save money.
Lower-priced car insurance is available on the web as well as from independent agents in Saratoga Springs, so you should be comparing quotes from both in order to have the best price selection to choose from. Some insurance companies do not offer the ability to get quotes online and many times these regional insurance providers sell through independent insurance agents.
More detailed New York car insurance information is available at the New York Department of Financial Services website. Consumers can view agent and company licensing information, read state legal mandates and laws, report car insurance fraud, and view a list of available companies.