Nobody enjoys paying for car insurance, especially when the price is too high. Consumers have many car insurance companies to pick from, and although it’s a good thing to be able to choose, it makes it harder to locate the cheapest rates.
Finding affordable car insurance in Portage is not that difficult. If you have insurance now or are shopping for new coverage, you can use these tips to shop for the lowest rates and possibly find even better coverage. Michigan vehicle owners just need to understand the best way to compare rates over the internet.
Decisions you make can impact your rates
It’s important that you understand the rating factors that help determine car insurance rates. When you know what positively or negatively impacts premium levels enables informed choices that may reward you with lower car insurance prices.
- Low deductibles can be expensive – Insurance for physical damage to your car, also known as collision and other-than-collision, is used to repair damage to your car. Some instances where coverage would apply are colliding with a building, damage from fire, and burglary. Deductibles for physical damage are how much you are willing to pay before your car insurance pays a claim. The more you are required to pay out-of-pocket, the lower your rates will be.
- Mature drivers pay less – Young drivers in Michigan are statistically proven to be careless and easily distracted behind the wheel so car insurance rates are higher. Parents adding a teen driver to your policy can be quite pricey. Older drivers are more cautious drivers, file fewer claims and receive fewer citations.
- Lower rates with optional equipment – Driving a car with a theft deterrent system can help lower your rates. Theft prevention devices like tamper alarm systems, vehicle immobilizer technology and General Motors OnStar all hinder auto theft.
- Higher safety ratings means cheaper insurance – Cars with high safety ratings get lower rates. These vehicles result in less severe injuries and fewer injuries translates into savings for insurance companies and thus lower rates.
Compare the Market for Car Insurance in Portage, MI
All major car insurance companies give pricing online. Getting quotes is fairly simple as you just type in your required coverages as requested by the quote form. When complete, their system will order credit information and your driving record and generates pricing information. Being able to quote online makes comparing rates easy, but the time it takes to visit multiple sites and enter the same data into a form is repetitive and time-consuming. But it’s very important to get many rate quotes in order to find the best price on car insurance.
Rate comparisons made easy
A more efficient way to find better car insurance pricing makes use of a single form to obtain quotes from a lot of companies. It’s a real time-saver, eliminates form submissions, and makes price shopping online much easier to do. After sending your information, it is quoted with multiple companies and you can pick any one of the resulting price quotes.
If you find a better price it’s easy to complete the application and buy the policy. It takes less than 15 minutes and may save quite a bit of money.
To save time and find out what other companies charge, click here and enter your information. If you currently have coverage, we recommend you duplicate the insurance coverages identical to your current policy. This makes sure you will have rate quotes using the exact same coverages.
Do you qualify for discounts?
Car insurance is not cheap, but you can get discounts to reduce the price significantly. Certain discounts will be triggered automatically when you complete an application, but some may not be applied and must be specially asked for before you will receive the discount. If you aren’t receiving every discount you qualify for, you are paying more than you should be.
- College Student – Youth drivers living away from home attending college and do not have access to a covered vehicle may qualify for this discount.
- Lower Rates for Military – Being on active duty in the military may qualify for rate reductions.
- Accident Waiver – A few companies allow you one accident before raising your premiums as long as you don’t have any claims for a particular time prior to the accident.
- Federal Employees – Being employed by or retired from a federal job may qualify you for a discount with certain companies.
- Multi-policy Discount – If you have multiple policies with the same insurance company you may save at least 10% off all policies.
- Good Student – Performing well in school can get you a discount of up to 25%. The good student discount can last until age 25.
- Claim Free – Good drivers with no accidents pay much less when compared with frequent claim filers.
- Braking Control Discount – Vehicles with anti-lock braking systems are safer to drive and will save you 10% or more.
- Senior Discount – If you’re over the age of 55, you may receive a discount up to 10%.
- Early Switch Discount – Some insurance companies reward drivers for switching to them prior to your current policy expiration. It’s a savings of about 10%.
As a disclaimer on discounts, some credits don’t apply the the whole policy. Some only apply to specific coverage prices like medical payments or collision. Even though it may seem like you would end up receiving a 100% discount, car insurance companies aren’t that generous. Any amount of discount will bring down the amount you have to pay.
Online quotes with a local Portage insurance agent
Some people prefer to sit down with an agent. Good agents can point out coverage gaps and give you someone to call. One of the best bonuses of comparing insurance prices online is you can get the lowest rates and still have an agent to talk to. And providing support for small agencies is especially important in Portage.
By using this simple form, your information is immediately sent to insurance agents in Portage who will give you bids for your insurance coverage. You won’t need to even leave your home since price quotes are sent directly to your email. How’s that for easy!
Insurance agencies in Portage come in two varieties
When searching for a good Portage insurance agent, you need to know there are two types of insurance agents to choose from. Agencies in Portage can either be captive or independent (non-captive). Both types can do a good job, but it’s worth learning how they are different because it can impact the type of agent you choose
Independent Agents (or Brokers)
Independent insurance agents are not employed by any specific company but instead can place your coverage amongst many companies and possibly get better coverage at lower prices. If you are not satisfied with one company, your agent can switch companies and that require little work on your part. When shopping rates, we recommend you include price quotes from multiple independent agents to ensure the widest selection of prices.
Listed below are Portage independent agents that may be able to provide pricing information.
Thomas S Breitenbach Insurance – 5921 S Sprinkle Rd – Portage, MI 49002 – (269) 324-4800
T A Chambers Agency – 8312 Portage Rd – Portage, MI 49002 – (269) 323-2479
Miller Schuring Agency Inc – 5136 Lovers Ln – Portage, MI 49002 – (269) 381-9442
Becker Insurance – 8080 Moors Bridge Rd # 201 – Portage, MI 49024 – (269) 323-7793
MBI Agency – 5106 Meadowlark Ln – Portage, MI 49024 – (269) 385-4754
Captive Agents
These agents can only place business with one company and examples are AAA, State Farm, Farmers Insurance and Allstate. Captives cannot shop your coverage around so keep that in mind. Captives receive extensive training on their products and sales techniques which helps them compete with independent agents.
Below are Portage captive agencies who can help you get price quotes.
Farmers Insurance Group – 616 W Centre Ave – Portage, MI 49024 – (269) 488-7855
Allstate Insurance – 1930 W Milham Ave # B – Portage, MI 49024 – (269) 345-2100
Farm Bureau Insurance – 1124 E Centre Ave – Portage, MI 49002 – (269) 323-1999
State Farm Insurance – 1595 W Centre Ave # 201 – Portage, MI 49024 – (269) 323-8353
To view a full list of captive insurance agencies in Portage, simply jump to this page.
Picking an insurance agency needs to be determined by more than just the price. These questions are important to ask:
- If your car is totalled, how to they determine the replacement cost?
- How long has their agency been open in Portage?
- What are the financial ratings for the companies they represent?
- Is the agency involved in supporting local community causes?
- Do clients work directly with the agent or are most inquiries handled by a CSR?
- Are they properly licensed to sell insurance in Michigan?
- Do they have adequate Errors and Ommissions coverage? This protects you if they make a mistake.
- Do they assist clients in filing claims?
Once you have received good answers to these questions and an affordable coverage quote, chances are good that you have found an auto insurance agent that will insure your vehicles.
Additional car insurance information is available on the website for the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation through this link. Consumers can find a variety of consumer forms, learn about specific coverages, and file complaints about a company.
Additional helpful sites include Auto Insurance 101 and this list of agents in Portage, MI.
The best insurance company isn’t always the cheapest
Throughout this article, we presented many ideas to save on car insurance. The key thing to remember is the more price quotes you have, the better your comparison will be. Consumers may even find the lowest priced car insurance comes from an unexpected company. Smaller companies often have lower prices on specific markets as compared to the big name companies such as Allstate and Progressive.
While you’re price shopping online, do not buy less coverage just to save a little money. In many cases, an accident victim reduced liability limits or collision coverage only to discover later that the savings was not a smart move. The ultimate goal is to buy enough coverage at the best price.
Discount car insurance is attainable online as well as from independent agents in Portage, so you should be comparing quotes from both to get a complete price analysis. Some companies don’t offer online quoting and these small insurance companies work with independent agents.