Scraping up a payment for high-priced car insurance can empty your bank account and force you to make sacrifices. Doing a rate comparison is a smart way to cut your insurance bill.
Online insurance companies like Geico, 21st Century and Progressive all claim big savings with ad campaigns and it is difficult to ignore the flying pigs and cute green geckos and do the work needed to find the best deal.
It’s important to check car insurance prices yearly because prices tend to go up over time. If you had the best rates at your last renewal you will most likely find a better premium rate today. Block out anything you think you know about car insurance because you’re about to find out the things you must know in order to get good coverage at a lower rate.
How car insurance companies determine prices
Many different elements are considered when you get a price on insurance. Some are obvious such as traffic violations, although others are more obscure such as whether you are married or your commute time.
- File a policy claims and pay more – Auto insurance companies in Tennessee award the lowest premiums to people who are not frequent claim filers. If you are a frequent claim filer, you can expect higher premiums or even policy non-renewal. Auto insurance is meant to be used in the event of the large, substantial claims.
- Your car’s features help determine prices – Selecting a car model with a theft deterrent system can help lower your rates. Anti-theft features like OnStar, LoJack tracking, and tamper alarms can thwart vehicle theft.
- Your spouse saves you money – Having a spouse may earn you lower rates on your car insurance bill. It means you’re more mature and insurance companies reward insureds because drivers who are married are more cautious.
- Lower deductibles cost more – The deductibles you choose are the amount of money you are willing to pay before a claim is paid by your company. Insurance for physical damage to your car, commonly called comprehensive (or other-than-collision) and collision coverage, insures against damage to your car. Some examples of claims that would be covered are rearending another vehicle, fire damage, and damage from wind. The more money you have to pay, the less your company will charge you for insurance.
- Safer cars save money – Vehicles with good safety scores cost less to insure. The safest vehicles protect occupants better and any reduction in injury severity translates into savings for insurance companies and lower rates for you.
- Expect high rates for teens – Youthful drivers in Tennessee are statistically proven to get distracted easily with other occupants in the car and because of this, their car insurance rates are much higher. Parents adding a inexperienced driver to your car insurance policy can increase premiums substantially. Older people are more responsible, are lower risk to insure , and are generally more financially stable.
- Stress out and pay more – Jobs like judgespolice officers and miners have higher premiums than the average policyholder in part from high stress levels and incredibly demanding work hours. Other careers like professors, historians and homemakers get better rates.
- Gender impacts prices – Statistics demonstrate women tend to be less risk to insure than men. However, don’t assume that men are worse drivers. Both genders cause fender benders in similar percentages, but guys have costlier accidents. Men also tend to have more aggressive citations like DWI (DUI) or reckless driving.
Quote Winchester car insurance online
All the larger car insurance companies allow consumers to get prices on their websites. Getting online rates is pretty painless as you simply enter your required coverages into a form. Once you submit the form, their quoting system automatically orders reports for credit and driving violations and returns pricing information. Quoting online makes it a lot easier to compare rates but the time required to go to many different websites and type in the same information can get tiresome after awhile. But it’s also necessary to do this if you are searching for the best price possible.
The quickest way to compare rates uses just one form that gets price quotes from several different companies. It’s a real time-saver, requires much less work on your part, and makes quoting online a lot less work. As soon as the form is sent, your coverage is rated and you can choose your choice of the resulting price quotes. If the quotes result in lower rates, you simply finish the application and purchase coverage. The whole process only takes a few minutes and could lower your rates considerably.
If you want to find out how much you’re overpaying now, click here and enter your information. If you have coverage now, it’s recommended you enter just like they are on your policy. This way, you will receive an apples-to-apples comparison for the exact same coverage.
Car insurance rates and discounts
Insurance can cost an arm and a leg, but there could be significant discounts to cut the cost considerably. Some discounts will apply when you get a quote, but a few must be asked about prior to receiving the credit.
- Memberships – Participating in specific professional or occupational memberships or organizations could earn you a nice discount on your policy.
- ABS Braking Discount – Cars that have anti-lock braking systems can avoid accidents so you can save 10 percent or more.
- Discounts for Safe Drivers – Accident-free drivers could pay up to 40% less than drivers with accidents.
- Multi-line Discount – Companies who offer life insurance give better rates if you take out some life insurance too.
- Student Driver Training – Cut your cost by having your teen driver sucessfully take a drivers education course if it’s offered in school.
- Drive Less and Save – Driving less could earn substantially lower rates.
- Telematics Data Discounts – Insureds that choose to allow data collection to scrutinize when and where they use their vehicle through the use of a telematics system such as Progressive’s Snapshot and State Farm’s In-Drive could see a rate decrease if they have good driving habits.
- Early Payment Discounts – By paying your policy upfront instead of monthly or quarterly installments you can avoid the installment charge.
- Accident Waiver – Not necessarily a discount, but companies like State Farm and Progressive may permit one accident without the usual rate increase if you have no claims for a particular time prior to the accident.
- Mature Driver Discount – Seniors are able to get a discount up to 10%.
A quick disclaimer, most discounts do not apply to your bottom line cost. Most only apply to the cost of specific coverages such as liability, collision or medical payments. So when it seems like all the discounts add up to a free policy, car insurance companies aren’t that generous. Any qualifying discounts will help lower your overall premium however.
To see car insurance companies with discount rates in Winchester, click here.
Compare prices but buy from a local neighborhood Winchester car insurance agent
Some consumers prefer to talk to an insurance agent and that is just fine! Professional insurance agents are highly skilled in risk management and help submit paperwork. A nice benefit of comparing insurance prices online is that you can find cheaper premium rates and still choose a local agent.
By using this short form, your coverage information gets sent to companies in Winchester who will give you bids and help you find cheaper coverage. It simplifies rate comparisons since you won’t have to find an agent due to the fact that quote results will go directly to your email. If you want to get a price quote from a specific insurance company, just visit that company’s website and fill out the quote form the provide.
Deciding on an company shouldn’t rely on just a cheap quote. Any agent should be forthright in answering these questions:
- Will their companies depreciate repairs to your car based on the mileage?
- Do they have 24-hour customer assistance?
- What is the financial rating for the quoted company?
- Is coverage determined by price?
- Are aftermarket or OEM parts used to repair vehicles?
- Will the quote change when the policy is issued?
Do you need an independent or captive car insurance agent?
When searching for a reliable agent, there are a couple of different agency structures and how they work. Car insurance policy providers can be described as either captive or independent agents depending on their company appointments. Both sell car insurance policies, but it’s good to learn how they are different because it may have an impact on the selection process.
Captive Insurance Agents
Captive agencies have only one company to place business with and examples are American Family, State Farm, and Allstate. Captives cannot shop your coverage around so they have no alternatives for high prices. Captive insurance agents are highly trained on what they offer and that can be a competitive advantage.
Listed below are captive insurance agencies in Winchester that are able to give rate quotes.
State Farm Insurance – 1103 Dinah Shore Blvd – Winchester, TN 37398 – (931) 967-2030
Independent Agents
Agents in the independent channel often have many company appointments and that is an advantage because they can write policies with multiple insurance companies enabling the ability to shop coverage around. To move your coverage to a new company, they simply move the coverage in-house and you don’t have to find a new agent.
When shopping rates, you will want to get some free quotes from several independent agencies to get the most accurate price comparison.
Shown below are Winchester independent insurance agencies willing to provide price quote information.
T C Simmons Insurance – 126 N Jefferson St – Winchester, TN 37398 – (931) 967-4586
Hatchett Insurance – 1807 Bypass Rd – Winchester, TN 37398 – (931) 967-7546
To view more insurance agents in Winchester, you can visit this full listing of Winchester, TN car insurance agencies.
More tips and info about car insurance can be read at the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance website. Visitors are able to read industry bulletins, file complaints about a company, and learn about specific coverages.
The articles below may also help you learn more about car insurance in Winchester
- Free Guide to Cutting Costs on Winchester Virginia Auto Insurance Online
- Find Proven Ways to Save on Canal Winchester Auto Insurance
Find cheaper rates by being thorough
Cheap car insurance can be found on the web as well as from independent agents in Winchester, so you should be comparing quotes from both to get a complete price analysis. Some insurance companies may not have the ability to get quotes online and these smaller companies only sell coverage through local independent agents.
Throughout this article, we presented a lot of ways to compare car insurance auto insurance rates online. The most important thing to understand is the more rate quotes you have, the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. Drivers may discover the lowest auto insurance rates come from some of the lesser-known companies. These smaller insurers may only write in your state and offer lower premium rates than the large multi-state companies such as Allstate, Geico and Progressive.