Vehicle owners fed up with high insurance quotes and are new to buying insurance coverage online are likely to discover buying is more work than they anticipated.
This information will tell you the best way to quote coverages and some money-saving tips. If you are paying for car insurance now, you stand a good chance to be able to lower your premiums substantially using these tips. Nevertheless, Wisconsin car owners do need to know how insurance companies market insurance on the web and use this information to your advantage.
Do you qualify for discount car insurance?
Insuring your fleet can be pricey, but you might find some hidden discounts that many consumers don’t even know exist. Some of these disounts will be visible when you purchase, but occassionally some discounts must be specifically requested before being credited.
- Include Life Insurance and Save – Not all insurance companies offer life insurance, but some may give you a small discount if you purchase life insurance from them.
- Passive Restraints and Air Bags – Vehicles equipped with air bags can receive discounts as much as 30%.
- No Charge for an Accident – This isn’t a discount exactly, but companies like Geico, State Farm, and Progressive will forgive one accident without raising rates so long as you haven’t had any claims prior to being involved in the accident.
- Homeowners Savings – Owning your own home or condo may trigger a policy discount on car insurance because of the fact that having a home is proof of financial responsibility.
- Good Students Pay Less – Maintaining excellent grades may save you up to 25%. Many companies even apply the discount to college students up to age 25.
- Senior Citizen Rates – If you’re over the age of 55, you can possibly qualify for a small decrease in premiums.
- Service Members Pay Less – Having a deployed family member could mean lower premium rates.
As a disclaimer on discounts, most discounts do not apply to all coverage premiums. Some only apply to individual premiums such as collision or personal injury protection. Just because you may think you could get a free car insurance policy, that’s just not realistic.
A partial list of companies that may have these benefits include:
Before buying, ask each insurance company to apply every possible discount. All car insurance discounts might not be available to policyholders in your area. If you would like to view insurance companies with significant discounts in Wisconsin, click this link.
Auto insurance coverages
Having a good grasp of your policy helps when choosing the best coverages for your vehicles. Car insurance terms can be impossible to understand and reading a policy is terribly boring.
Coverage for liability
Liability insurance provides protection from injuries or damage you cause to other people or property that is your fault. It protects YOU from legal claims by others, and does not provide coverage for damage sustained by your vehicle in an accident.
It consists of three limits, bodily injury for each person, bodily injury for the entire accident, and a limit for property damage. Your policy might show liability limits of 25/50/25 that means you have $25,000 bodily injury coverage, $50,000 for the entire accident, and $25,000 of coverage for damaged propery. Some companies may use one limit called combined single limit (CSL) that pays claims from the same limit and claims can be made without the split limit restrictions.
Liability coverage protects against things like funeral expenses, structural damage, medical expenses, pain and suffering and legal defense fees. How much coverage you buy is a decision to put some thought into, but buy higher limits if possible. Wisconsin requires minimum liability limits of 50,000/100,000/55,000 but you should consider buying more coverage.
Insurance for medical payments
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage reimburse you for bills such as ambulance fees, funeral costs and pain medications. They are often utilized in addition to your health insurance program or if you lack health insurance entirely. Coverage applies to both the driver and occupants and also covers getting struck while a pedestrian. PIP is not an option in every state and gives slightly broader coverage than med pay
Comprehensive coverage (or Other than Collision)
This covers damage caused by mother nature, theft, vandalism and other events. You first must pay your deductible and then insurance will cover the rest of the damage.
Comprehensive coverage protects against things such as hitting a bird, damage from flooding, hitting a deer, a tree branch falling on your vehicle and theft. The maximum amount a car insurance company will pay at claim time is the ACV or actual cash value, so if it’s not worth much more than your deductible consider dropping full coverage.
Collision coverage protection
Collision insurance covers damage to your vehicle resulting from a collision with an object or car. You have to pay a deductible and then insurance will cover the remainder.
Collision coverage pays for claims such as crashing into a ditch, sideswiping another vehicle and driving through your garage door. Collision coverage makes up a good portion of your premium, so consider dropping it from older vehicles. Drivers also have the option to increase the deductible to get cheaper collision coverage.
Uninsured Motorist or Underinsured Motorist insurance
Your UM/UIM coverage protects you and your vehicle when the “other guys” are uninsured or don’t have enough coverage. Covered claims include medical payments for you and your occupants as well as damage to your vehicle.
Since many Wisconsin drivers have only the minimum liability required by law (Wisconsin limits are 50/100/55), it only takes a small accident to exceed their coverage. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage should not be overlooked. Normally your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverages are identical to your policy’s liability coverage.
Online resources for education
Much more information about car insurance in Wisconsin is located on the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance website located here. Visitors are able to view a list of available companies, file complaints about an insurance agent or broker, find out industry alerts, and find a variety of consumer forms.
Find cheaper rates by being thorough
Throughout this article, we presented a lot of techniques to save on car insurance. The key thing to remember is the more companies you get auto insurance rates for, the higher your chance of finding . You may even discover the best price on car insurance is with a small mutual company.
As you , it’s not a good idea to skimp on critical coverages to save a buck or two. There have been many cases where someone sacrificed collision coverage to discover at claim time that it was a big mistake. The goal is to get the best coverage possible at the best possible price and still be able to protect your assets.
Cheaper car insurance can be found on the web and also from your neighborhood Whitewater agents, so you should be comparing quotes from both in order to have the best chance of saving money. Some insurance providers may not provide the ability to get quotes online and many times these small, regional companies only sell coverage through independent insurance agents.