If you are a novice to online car insurance shopping, you may be confused because of the huge number of car insurance companies who claim to have the best car insurance rates.
Most companies like State Farm, Geico and Progressive make it easy to get prices online. Doing online quotes is fairly straightforward because it’s just a matter of typing in your personal and coverage information on the page. After the form is submitted, their rating system will obtain your driving record and credit report and generates a price determined by many factors.
This simplifies rate comparisons, but the time it takes to visit several different sites and type in the same data can be a bit repetitive. But it’s necessary to get many rate quotes if you want to get better prices.
The easiest way to lower your rates uses one form that obtains quotes from more than one company. This type of form saves time, requires much less work on your part, and makes rate comparisons much simpler. Immediately after submitting the form, it gets priced and you can select any of the returned quotes.
If you find a better price you can click and sign and buy the new coverage. This process only takes a few minutes and may result in a nice savings.
If you want to use this form to compare rates, click here to open in new window and input your coverage information. If you currently have coverage, we recommend that you enter deductibles and limits identical to your current policy. This guarantees you will get rate comparison quotes for the exact same coverage.
These eight discounts can lower your car insurance quotes
Not many people think insurance is cheap, but you can get discounts that can dramatically reduce your bill. Some trigger automatically at the time of quoting, but once in a while a discount must be requested specifically prior to receiving the credit.
- Onboard Data Collection – Trotwood drivers who agree to allow data collection to look at their driving habits by installing a telematics device such as Drivewise from Allstate or Snapshot from Progressive could see a rate decrease if they exhibit good driving behavior.
- Multi-line Discount – Not every insurance company offers life insurance, but if they do you may earn a break if you buy life insurance.
- Discounts for Government Workers – Employees or retirees of the government could cut as much as 10% off with a few car insurance companies.
- Anti-lock Brakes – Anti-lock brake equipped vehicles prevent accidents and will save you 10% or more.
- Save with More Vehicles Insured – Having primary and secondary vehicles with the same company could earn a price break for each car.
- Accident Forgiveness – Not necessarily a discount, but a few companies such as Geico and Allstate permit an accident before they charge you more for coverage as long as you don’t have any claims for a specific time period.
- Discount for Low Mileage – Driving fewer miles could qualify for better premium rates on cars that stay parked.
- Passive Restraint Discount – Vehicles equipped with air bags and/or automatic seat belt systems can receive discounts up to 30%.
You should keep in mind that some credits don’t apply the the whole policy. A few only apply to the cost of specific coverages such as physical damage coverage or medical payments. So even though you would think it’s possible to get free car insurance, that’s just not realistic.
A few companies that may offer quotes with these benefits include:
Check with all companies you are considering which discounts can lower your rates. A few discounts may not be available in Trotwood. To see a list of providers with the best discounts in Trotwood, follow this link.
More information is available on the Ohio Department of Insurance website located here. Ohio consumers can learn about specific coverages, download brochures, and find out industry alerts.
More related Trotwood car insurance information:
Car insurance coverages and their meanings
Understanding the coverages of car insurance aids in choosing appropriate coverage and proper limits and deductibles. Car insurance terms can be confusing and nobody wants to actually read their policy.
UM/UIM Coverage
This provides protection from other motorists when they do not carry enough liability coverage. It can pay for injuries to you and your family as well as damage to your vehicle.
Since many Ohio drivers only purchase the least amount of liability that is required (12,500/25/7,500 in Ohio), it only takes a small accident to exceed their coverage. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage is important protection for you and your family. Most of the time these limits are similar to your liability insurance amounts.
Medical costs insurance
Coverage for medical payments and/or PIP pay for bills such as funeral costs, prosthetic devices and ambulance fees. They are used in conjunction with a health insurance program or if there is no health insurance coverage. They cover you and your occupants and will also cover any family member struck as a pedestrian. PIP is not universally available but can be used in place of medical payments coverage
Collision coverage protection
Collision insurance pays to fix your vehicle from damage caused by collision with another car or object. You will need to pay your deductible then the remaining damage will be paid by your insurance company.
Collision can pay for things like driving through your garage door, sideswiping another vehicle, colliding with another moving vehicle and sustaining damage from a pot hole. This coverage can be expensive, so consider removing coverage from vehicles that are 8 years or older. It’s also possible to choose a higher deductible to bring the cost down.
Comprehensive or Other Than Collision
This coverage will pay to fix 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 coverage pays for claims such as theft, damage from flooding and damage from a tornado or hurricane. The maximum payout you’ll receive from a claim is the cash value of the vehicle, so if the vehicle is not worth much it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.
Coverage for liability
This protects you from damages or injuries you inflict on people or other property by causing an accident. This insurance protects YOU against other people’s claims, and does not provide coverage for damage to your own property or vehicle.
Split limit liability has three limits of coverage: bodily injury for each person injured, bodily injury for the entire accident and a property damage limit. Your policy might show limits of 50/100/50 that means you have $50,000 in coverage for each person’s injuries, a per accident bodily injury limit of $100,000, and a total limit of $50,000 for damage to vehicles and property. Occasionally you may see one number which is a combined single limit which limits claims to one amount with no separate limits for injury or property damage.
Liability coverage pays for claims such as loss of income, court costs, medical expenses and emergency aid. How much liability should you purchase? That is up to you, but consider buying as large an amount as possible. Ohio state minimum liability requirements are 12,500/25,000/7,500 but you should consider buying higher limits.
Cheaper car insurance is a realistic goal
Cheaper car insurance is attainable from both online companies in addition to many Trotwood insurance agents, and you need to comparison shop both to have the best selection. A few companies may not have rates over the internet and many times these smaller companies provide coverage only through independent insurance agents.
Drivers who switch companies do it for many reasons like lack of trust in their agent, an unsatisfactory settlement offer, high prices or policy cancellation. Regardless of your reason for switching companies, choosing a new insurance company is pretty easy and you might even save some money in the process.
When buying insurance coverage, it’s very important that you do not skimp on critical coverages to save a buck or two. In too many instances, someone dropped collision coverage to discover at claim time they didn’t have enough coverage. Your objective should be to get the best coverage possible at an affordable rate but still have enough coverage for asset protection.