Expensive auto insurance can drain your checking account and make it impossible to make ends meet. Comparison shopping is free, only takes a few minutes, and is a good way to reduce premiums and put more money in your pocket.
Multiple insurance companies compete for your insurance dollar, so it can be very hard to choose a insurer and uncover the absolute lowest price
It’s important to price shop coverage quite often due to the fact that insurance rates are adjusted regularly by insurance companies. Just because you found the best price last year you will most likely find a better rate today. You can find a lot of wrong information about auto insurance online, so I’m going to show you some of the best ways to buy auto insurance cheaper.
Smart Consumers Save More
An important part of buying insurance is that you know the factors that go into determining the rates you pay for auto insurance. When you know what positively or negatively influences your rates enables informed choices that will entitle you to better auto insurance rates.
Listed below are a few of the “ingredients” auto insurance companies consider when setting prices.
- Don’t let your coverage lapse – Allowing your auto insurance policy to lapse will be a sure-fire way to bump up your auto insurance costs. Not only will you pay more, but being ticketed for driving with no insurance will get you a license revocation or jail time.
- Pay less after the wedding – Being married helps lower the price on auto insurance. It usually means you are more responsible and statistics show married couples file fewer claims.
- Traffic violations increase rates – A bad driving record has a big impact on rates. Drivers who don’t get tickets get better rates than people who have multiple driving citations. Even one moving violation can bump up the cost by twenty percent. If you have severe violations like DUI or reckless driving may find they need to file a proof of financial responsibility form (SR-22) to the state department of motor vehicles in order to drive a vehicle legally.
- Pleasure use saves money – The more miles you rack up on your car each year the more you’ll pay to insure your vehicle. The majority of insurers rate vehicles based on their usage. Vehicles that are left in the garage receive lower rates than those used for commuting. Verify your auto insurance policy is rated on how each vehicle is driven, because improper ratings can cost you money.
- Males pay more for insurance – Statistics have proven that women are safer drivers than men. That doesn’t necessarily mean that men are WORSE drivers than women. Men and women cause accidents in similar numbers, but the men cause more damage. Men also statistically get cited for more serious violations such as reckless driving. Male drivers age 16 to 19 tend to get in the most accidents and therefore have the most expensive auto insurance rates.
- Extra add-on coverages are wasting money – There are a ton of extra coverages that you can get tricked into buying on your auto insurance policy. Coverages for rental car reimbursement, accidental death and additional equipment coverage may be wasting your money. They may seem like a good idea at first, but now you might not need them so eliminate them to save money.
- Younger drivers pay higher rates – More mature drivers tend to be more responsible, statistically cause fewer accidents and get fewer tickets. Youthful drivers are known to be less responsible when driving therefore auto insurance rates are much higher.
How to Get Malden Auto Insurance Comparison Quotes
All major auto insurance companies quote pricing online. Getting online quotes is pretty painless as you just enter your coverage information as requested by the quote form. Behind the scenes, the system automatically orders information on your driving record and credit history and returns a price quote. Online price quotes makes it a lot easier to compare rates but the process of having to visit multiple sites and enter the same data into a form can get tiresome after awhile. But it is imperative to perform this step in order to get lower prices.
A less time-consuming method to lower your auto insurance bill makes use of a single form that gets prices from a bunch of companies at once. This type of form saves time, requires much less work on your part, and makes online price comparison much more efficient. As soon as the form is sent, it gets priced and you are able to buy any or none of the price quotes you receive.
If one or more price quotes are lower than your current rates, you simply finish the application and purchase the new policy. This process takes just a few minutes to complete and could lower your rates considerably.
To quickly compare rates using this form now, simply click here to open in new window and fill out the form. If you have your current policy handy, we recommend that you enter the limits and deductibles exactly as shown on your declarations page. This helps ensure you will have a fair comparison based on identical coverages.
These discounts can slash auto insurance rates
Insuring your fleet can be pricey, but companies offer discounts that can drop the cost substantially. Certain discounts will be triggered automatically at the time of quoting, but a few need to be manually applied prior to getting the savings.
- Student in College – Children living away from home attending college and don’t have a car may qualify for this discount.
- Drive Safe and Save – Drivers who don’t get into accidents can get discounts for up to 45% lower rates than less cautious drivers.
- Auto/Life Discount – Companies who offer life insurance give a discount if you purchase auto and life insurance together.
- E-sign – Some insurance companies will give a small break simply for signing digitally online.
- Low Mileage – Keeping the miles down could be rewarded with lower rates on the low mileage vehicles.
- Club Memberships – Participating in certain professional organizations is a good way to get lower rates when shopping for auto insurance.
- More Vehicles More Savings – Insuring multiple cars or trucks on one policy can get a discount on all vehicles.
- Accident Free – Claim-free drivers can earn big discounts compared to accident-prone drivers.
- Early Switch Discount – A few companies offer discounts for switching to them prior to your current policy expiration. It’s a savings of about 10%.
- Senior Discount – Older drivers may receive a discount up to 10%.
Drivers should understand that some of the credits will not apply the the whole policy. A few only apply to the price of certain insurance coverages like comp or med pay. So when the math indicates you could get a free auto insurance policy, you’re out of luck. But any discount will cut the amount you have to pay.
To see a list of companies offering auto insurance discounts in Malden, click this link.
Your local neighborhood insurance agent
Some people prefer to buy from a local agent and that is a personal choice. One of the great benefits of price shopping on the web is that you can obtain lower rates and still choose a local agent. And providing support for local businesses is important particularly in Malden.
After filling out this form (opens in new window), your information is emailed to local insurance agents in Malden who will give you bids for your coverage. There is no reason to visit any agencies as quotes are delivered directly to your email. Now that’s easy! You can find the lowest rates and an insurance agent to talk to.
Multiple types of insurance agents in Malden
When researching a good insurance agency, you must know there are a couple types of agencies that you can select. Malden agents are categorized either independent (non-captive) or captive.
Independent Agencies or Brokers
Independent insurance agents are not locked into one company but rather can write business with any number of different companies depending on which coverage is best. To transfer your coverage to a different company, the agent simply finds a different carrier without you having to go to a different agency. When shopping rates, you should always get quotes from at least one independent agent to have the most options to choose from.
The following is a list of independent agencies in Malden who may be able to give you pricing information.
John B Moran Insurance – 23 Spruce St # B – Malden, MA 02148 – (781) 324-1125
Supino Insurance – 1012 Eastern Ave – Malden, MA 02148 – (617) 389-1100
Captive Insurance Agents
These agents have only one company to place business with and examples are American Family, Liberty Mutual and AAA. These agents are not able to give you multiple price quotes so they have no alternatives for high prices. They receive extensive training on their products and sales techniques and that can be a competitive advantage.
Selecting an insurance agent needs to be determined by more than just a cheap price. These are valid questions to ask:
- What are the financial ratings for the companies they represent?
- Are they properly licensed to sell insurance in Massachusetts?
- Are you getting all the discounts the company offers?
- Did they already check your driving record and credit reports?
- What insurance company do they write the most business with?
- Does the agency have a good rating with the Better Business Bureau?
- Do they review policy coverages at every renewal?
- Do they regularly work with personal auto policies?
Once you have good answers for all questions you ask and locked in a price quote, it’s possible that you found an insurance agent that is a good match to adequately provide auto insurance.
Additional information is available on the website for the Massachusetts Division of Insurance located here. Consumers can find disaster information, find out which companies have the most complaints, read industry bulletins, and find a variety of consumer forms.
Other informative sites include this link for Massachusetts coverage information and this page for help finding agents in Malden, MA.
Shop smart and save
As you shop your coverage around, don’t be tempted to reduce needed coverages to save money. There are many occasions where someone sacrificed collision coverage and found out when filing a claim that their decision to reduce coverage ended up costing them more. Your focus should be to buy the best coverage you can find for the lowest price.
Affordable auto insurance is available online and also from your neighborhood Malden agents, and you should compare price quotes from both so you have a total pricing picture. Some companies may not provide online price quotes and many times these small, regional companies only sell through independent insurance agents.
You just learned a lot of tips how to reduce auto insurance prices online. It’s most important to understand that the more quotes you get, the higher your chance of finding lower rates. Consumers may even find the best price on auto insurance is with some of the smallest insurance companies. Smaller companies often have lower prices on specific markets compared to the large companies like Progressive or Geico.