Did you fall for a flashy sales pitch and buy an overpriced car insurance policy? Trust us when we tell you there are lots of people in the same boat. Big companies like Geico, 21st Century and Progressive constantly blast consumers with fancy advertisements and it is challenging if not impossible to see through the cute green geckos and mayhem and take the time to shop coverage around.
If you have a current car insurance policy or are looking for a new policy, you will benefit by learning to cut your premiums and possibly find even better coverage. Finding affordable coverage in Burlington is not that difficult. North Carolina consumers just need to understand the best way to shop their coverage around on the web.
Which Car Insurance is Cheapest in Burlington, NC?
Lowering your car insurance rates can be surprisingly simple. Just take a couple of minutes to get quotes from different insurance companies. This can be accomplished in several different ways.
- One of the simplest ways to get quotes would be an industry-wide quote request form click here to open form in new window. This easy form keeps you from doing repetitive form submissions to each individual car insurance company. One simple form gets you coverage quotes from multiple companies.
- A slightly less efficient method to compare prices requires visiting each company’s website and request a quote. For instance, we’ll assume you want rates from Allstate, Liberty Mutual and GMAC. To get rate quotes you would need to go to every website and enter your information, which is why the first method is more popular. For a list of links to companies insuring cars in Burlington, click here.
However you get your quotes, make absolute certain that you use apples-to-apples coverage limits for each comparison quote. If you compare different deductibles it’s not possible to make an equal comparison in Burlington.
Don’t be fooled by advertising claims
Consumers can’t get away from ads for the lowest price auto insurance by companies like State Farm, Allstate and Geico. All the ads have a common claim that you’ll save big if you move to them.
How do they all make the same claim? It’s all in the numbers.
All companies have a certain “appetite” for the driver that is profitable for them. A good example of a preferred risk could be a mature driver, a clean driving record, and drives newer vehicles. A customer getting a price quote who matches those parameters will qualify for the lowest rates and most likely will save quite a bit of money when switching.
Drivers who are not a match for the “perfect” profile will have to pay a more expensive rate and ends up with business going elsewhere. The ads state “customers who switch” not “people who quote” save that much money. That’s the way insurance companies can confidently advertise the savings.
Because of the profiling, drivers must get a wide range of price quotes. It’s not possible to predict which car insurance company will have the lowest rates.
These nine discounts can slash car insurance rates
Properly insuring your vehicles can get expensive, but you may find discounts that many people don’t even know exist. Some trigger automatically at the time of purchase, but a few must be specially asked for before being credited. If you aren’t receiving every discount possible, you are throwing money away.
- Employee of Federal Government – Simply working for the federal government could cut as much as 10% off with select insurance companies.
- Save over 55 – If you’re over the age of 55, you can possibly qualify for better car insurance rates.
- Lower Rates for Military – Being deployed with a military unit could be rewarded with lower premiums.
- Discount for Swiching Early – A few companies offer discounts for switching policies before your current expiration date. The savings is around 10%.
- Auto/Home Discount – When you have multiple policies with one insurance company you could get a discount of at least 10% off all policies.
- Braking Control Discount – Anti-lock brake equipped vehicles can reduce accidents and therefore earn up to a 10% discount.
- Passive Restraints and Air Bags – Vehicles with factory air bags and/or automatic seat belt systems may earn rate discounts of 20% or more.
- Pay Now and Pay Less – If you pay your entire premium ahead of time instead of making monthly payments you can actually save on your bill.
- Seat Belts Save more than Lives – Buckling up and requiring all passengers to wear their seat belts could save 15% on the medical payments or PIP coverage costs.
Keep in mind that most discount credits are not given to the entire policy premium. Most only apply to individual premiums such as liability and collision coverage. So when the math indicates it’s possible to get free car insurance, companies wouldn’t make money that way. Any amount of discount will help reduce the amount you have to pay.
To see a list of companies with discount car insurance rates in North Carolina, click this link.
Additional information is available on the website for the North Carolina Department of Insurance located here. North Carolina consumers can find disaster information, learn about specific coverages, and file complaints about a company.<img class="alignright" style="padding-top:15px;" src="https://www.carinsurancediy.com/wp-content/uploads/ci175-87.jpg" alt="Burlington North Carolina auto insurance“/>
More related Burlington car insurance information:
Car insurance policy coverages
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 nobody wants to actually read their policy. Shown next are typical coverage types available from car insurance companies.
Collision protection
This covers damage to your vehicle caused by collision with an object or car. You first must pay a deductible and then insurance will cover the remainder.
Collision insurance covers things such as scraping a guard rail, rolling your car and crashing into a building. This coverage can be expensive, so consider removing coverage from vehicles that are 8 years or older. You can also choose a higher deductible to save money on collision insurance.
Comprehensive coverage
Comprehensive insurance will pay to fix damage OTHER than collision with another vehicle or object. A deductible will apply and the remainder of the damage will be paid by comprehensive coverage.
Comprehensive coverage pays for things like rock chips in glass, hail damage and damage from getting keyed. The maximum amount a car insurance company will pay at claim time is the cash value of the vehicle, so if it’s not worth much more than your deductible it’s not worth carrying full coverage.
Auto liability insurance
Liability coverage can cover injuries or damage you cause to a person or their property. Liability coverage has three limits: bodily injury for each person, bodily injury for the entire accident, and a limit for property damage. As an example, you may have policy limits of 50/100/50 which means a limit of $50,000 per injured person, a per accident bodily injury limit of $100,000, and a limit of $50,000 paid for damaged property. Occasionally you may see a combined limit which combines the three limits into one amount with no separate limits for injury or property damage.
Liability coverage pays for claims such as court costs, emergency aid, medical services and attorney fees. How much liability should you purchase? That is your choice, but it’s cheap coverage so purchase as large an amount as possible. North Carolina requires drivers to carry at least 30,000/60,000/25,000 but you should think about purchasing more liability than the minimum.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage
This protects you and your vehicle’s occupants when other motorists are uninsured or don’t have enough coverage. It can pay for injuries sustained by your vehicle’s occupants and damage to your vehicle.
Because many people only carry the minimum required liability limits (30/60/25 in North Carolina), it only takes a small accident to exceed their coverage. For this reason, having high UM/UIM coverages is a good idea. Frequently the UM/UIM limits are similar to your liability insurance amounts.
Medical payments coverage and PIP
Medical payments and Personal Injury Protection insurance kick in for expenses like surgery, funeral costs, rehabilitation expenses, nursing services and ambulance fees. They can be used to cover expenses not covered by your health insurance policy or if there is no health insurance coverage. They cover all vehicle occupants and also covers any family member struck as a pedestrian. PIP coverage is not an option in every state and may carry a deductible
Best coverage at the best price
As you restructure your insurance plan, it’s very important that you do not buy lower coverage limits just to save a few bucks. There have been many situations where drivers have reduced physical damage coverage only to regret at claim time that saving that couple of dollars actually costed them tens of thousands. The proper strategy is to purchase a proper amount of coverage at a price you can afford while still protecting your assets.
Affordable car insurance can be found on the web and also from your neighborhood Burlington agents, so compare prices from both in order to have the best price selection to choose from. A few companies may not provide online quoting and many times these small insurance companies only sell through independent insurance agents.
We just presented some good ideas how to lower your car insurance rates. The key thing to remember is the more times you quote, the higher your chance of finding lower rates. You may even discover the lowest priced car insurance comes from some of the smallest insurance companies. Regional companies may only write in your state and offer lower rates than the large multi-state companies such as Allstate or State Farm.