Sick and tired of not being able to afford to keep your car insured? You are in the same boat as millions of other consumers. You have multiple insurance companies to insure vehicles with, and although it’s nice to be able to choose, more choices can make it harder to find the lowest cost provider.
It’s a good habit to check car insurance prices periodically because car insurance rates tend to go up over time. Just because you had the best premium rates a couple years back you can probably find a better price now. You’ll find quite a bit of inaccurate information about car insurance on the internet, but you can learn some tested techniques to lower your car insurance rates.
Affordable Alabama car insurance quotes with discounts
Car insurance is neither fun to buy or cheap, but there could be significant discounts that could drop your premiums quite a bit. A few discounts will automatically apply at quote time, but some need to be inquired about before they will apply.
- Telematics Data Discounts – Policyholders that allow their car insurance company to look at where and when they drive through the use of a telematics system such as Drivewise from Allstate or Snapshot from Progressive may get a rate reduction if they are good drivers.
- E-sign Discounts
- Homeowners Savings – Owning a house in Cullman may earn you a small savings because maintaining a house shows financial diligence.
- Anti-theft Discount – Cars, trucks, and SUVs optioned with advanced anti-theft systems are stolen with less frequency and qualify for as much as a 10% discount.
- Safe Driver Discounts – Drivers who don’t get into accidents can save up to 40% or more on their than drivers with accident claims.
- Driver Training Discounts – Completing a course in defensive driver could cut 5% off your bill and easily pay for the cost of the class.
- Accident Waiver – This one is not really a discount per se, but a few companies such as Libery Mutual, Geico and Allstate will turn a blind eye to one accident before raising your premiums with the catch being you have to be claim-free for a set time period.
- Multiple Policy Discount – When you combine your auto and homeowners insurance with the same insurance company you could earn a discount of over 10 percent off each policy depending on the company.
- Student Discounts – This discount can be rewarded with saving of up to 25%. The discount lasts up until you turn 25.
Drivers should understand that most discount credits are not given to the entire cost. Some only apply to individual premiums such as physical damage coverage or medical payments. Even though the math looks like all those discounts means the company will pay you, company stockholders wouldn’t be very happy. Any qualifying discounts should help reduce your car insurance premiums.
Companies and the discounts they provide are outlined below.
- State Farm includes discounts for good driver, Steer Clear safe driver discount, accident-free, safe vehicle, passive restraint, and multiple policy.
- Geico policyholders can earn discounts including multi-policy, anti-lock brakes, good student, defensive driver, air bags, daytime running lights, and five-year accident-free.
- Liberty Mutual offers discounts for teen driver discount, newly married, newly retired, new move discount, and exclusive group savings.
- The Hartford offers discounts including vehicle fuel type, defensive driver, driver training, air bag, bundle, anti-theft, and good student.
- MetLife has discounts for claim-free, multi-policy, good driver, accident-free, good student, and defensive driver.
- Progressive has savings for good student, online signing, online quote discount, multi-policy, continuous coverage, homeowner, and multi-vehicle.
Double check with every company how many discounts you can get. Some discounts listed above may not apply to policies in Cullman. If you would like to view providers who offer discounts in Cullman, follow this link.
Tailor your car insurance coverage to you
When it comes to choosing adequate coverage, there really is no single plan that fits everyone. Every insured’s situation is different so your insurance should reflect that For instance, these questions can help discover whether or not you may require specific advice.
- Should I have combined single limit or split liability limits?
- Am I covered by my employer’s commercial auto policy when driving my personal car for business?
- Does my vehicle need full coverage?
- Does my medical payments coverage pay my health insurance deductible?
- Should I rate my vehicle as pleasure use or commute?
- At what point should I drop full coverage?
- Do I need roadside assistance coverage?
- Do I need motorclub coverage?
If it’s difficult to answer those questions but one or more may apply to you then you might want to talk to a licensed agent. To find lower rates from a local agent, fill out this quick form or you can also visit this page to select a carrier It’s fast, doesn’t cost anything and you can get the answers you need.
Additional resources for Alabama consumers
Even more information can be read at the Alabama Department of Insurance website. Visitors are able to find disaster information, view agent and company licensing information, read consumer alerts, and find out industry alerts.
Additional helpful sites include Auto Insurance 101 and this page where you can research Cullman insurance agents.
Learn about car insurance coverages
Understanding the coverages of your policy helps when choosing which coverages you need at the best deductibles and correct limits. The coverage terms in a policy can be confusing and coverage can change by endorsement. Listed below are the normal coverages found on the average car insurance policy.
Medical costs insurance – Medical payments and Personal Injury Protection insurance provide coverage for bills such as nursing services, hospital visits, EMT expenses, chiropractic care and ambulance fees. They are often used to fill the gap from your health insurance program or if there is no health insurance coverage. They cover you and your occupants as well as any family member struck as a pedestrian. Personal Injury Protection is not an option in every state and gives slightly broader coverage than med pay
Collision coverage – Collision coverage will pay to fix damage to your vehicle caused by collision with another car or object. A deductible applies and then insurance will cover the remainder.
Collision insurance covers things such as crashing into a building, colliding with another moving vehicle, crashing into a ditch and driving through your garage door. Collision is rather expensive coverage, so analyze the benefit of dropping coverage from older vehicles. You can also increase the deductible in order to get cheaper collision rates.
Liability coverages – Liability coverage will cover damage that occurs to people or other property by causing an accident. This coverage protects you from legal claims by others. Liability doesn’t cover your injuries or vehicle damage.
Coverage consists of three different limits, bodily injury per person, bodily injury per accident and property damage. You might see values of 25/50/25 that translate to $25,000 in coverage for each person’s injuries, a total of $50,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident, and a total limit of $25,000 for damage to vehicles and property.
Liability can pay for claims such as repair costs for stationary objects, attorney fees, legal defense fees, bail bonds and medical expenses. The amount of liability coverage you purchase is up to you, but buy as high a limit as you can afford. Alabama state law requires minimum liability limits of 25,000/50,000/25,000 but it’s recommended drivers buy higher limits.
Comprehensive or Other Than Collision – This coverage pays for damage from a wide range of events other than collision. You first have to pay a deductible and then insurance will cover the rest of the damage.
Comprehensive coverage pays for things like damage from a tornado or hurricane, fire damage, hitting a bird, rock chips in glass and a broken windshield. The highest amount you can receive from a comprehensive claim is the market value of your vehicle, so if the vehicle is not worth much it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.
UM/UIM Coverage – This coverage protects you and your vehicle’s occupants when other motorists do not carry enough liability coverage. It can pay for injuries to you and your family as well as damage to your vehicle.
Since a lot of drivers have only the minimum liability required by law (25/50/25 in Alabama), it doesn’t take a major accident to exceed their coverage limits. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage should not be overlooked.
More quotes mean more savings
Lower-priced car insurance can be sourced from both online companies in addition to many Cullman insurance agents, so you should be comparing quotes from both to have the best selection. A few companies may not offer online quoting and usually these smaller companies work with local independent agencies.
We just covered a lot of tips how to lower your car insurance premium rates. The key thing to remember is the more companies you get prices for, the better likelihood of getting . You may be surprised to find that the biggest savings come from a lesser-known regional company. These smaller insurers may often insure only within specific states and give getter rates than the large multi-state companies such as Progressive or Geico.
When searching for , make sure you don’t buy lower coverage limits just to save a few bucks. There are a lot of situations where drivers have reduced liability limits or collision coverage only to regret at claim time that saving that couple of dollars actually costed them tens of thousands. Your objective should be to buy enough coverage at the best cost and still be able to protect your assets.