Having to pay for overpriced car insurance can dwindle your savings account and make it hard to pay other bills. Doing a price comparison is a smart way to make sure you’re not throwing money away.
You have multiple car insurance companies to pick from, and although it’s a good thing to have a selection, so many choices can make it hard to compare rates and cut insurance costs.
Finding affordable coverage in Lafayette is not rocket science. Basically, everyone who carries car insurance will more than likely be able to lower their premiums. But Indiana drivers must learn how companies sell insurance online and take advantage of how the system works.
Lower the Price of Insurance with These Tips
Consumers need to have an understanding of the different types of things that help determine car insurance rates. Knowing what impacts premium levels helps enable you to make changes that could result in big savings.
- Save money with special equipment – Owning a car that has an advanced theft prevention system can help bring down rates. Theft prevention devices like tamper alarm systems, vehicle immobilizer technology and General Motors OnStar can help prevent auto theft.
- Where you live – Residing in a small town has it’s advantages when it comes to car insurance. Lower population translates into fewer accidents. City drivers have to deal with congested traffic and longer commute times. More time on the road means higher likelihood of an accident.
- Type of vehicle determines base rates – The make and model of the vehicle you own makes a huge difference in how high your rates are. Lower performance four cylinder passenger cars generally have the cheapest insurance rates, but there are many factors that impact the final cost.
- Women pay lower rates – The statistics show women tend to be less risk to insure than men. However, this does not mean women are BETTER drivers than men. Women and men cause accidents in similar numbers, but the male of the species have costlier accidents. Men also tend to receive more costly citations like reckless driving and DUI. Young males tend to get in the most accidents and therefore have the most expensive car insurance rates.
- Liability coverage is cheap – The liability section of your policy provides coverage in the event that you are found liable for causing damage or personal injury in an accident. It will provide legal defense starting from day one. Liability is cheap compared to insuring for physical damage coverage, so drivers should carry high limits.
- Never allow your policy to lapse – Allowing your car insurance policy to lapse is a fast way to trigger a rate increase. And not only will insurance be more expensive, but being ticketed for driving with no insurance may earn you a steep fine or even jail time.You may then be required to file a SR-22 with the Indiana DMV.
- Do you work long hours in a high stress job? – Did you know that where you work can have an impact on rates? Careers like lawyers, business owners and financial analysts tend to pay higher average rates due to job stress and lengthy work days. Conversely, jobs such as actors, engineers and performers have the lowest average rates.
Finding Car Insurance in Lafayette, IN
Comparing car insurance rates can take hours if you aren’t aware of the easiest way. You could spend your day talking to local insurance agents in Lafayette, or you could save time and use the web to get the quickest rates.
Many insurance companies belong to a marketplace that enables customers to complete one form, and at least one company then returns a price quote determined by their information. This system prevents you from having to do quotation requests for each company.
To find out how much you’re overpaying now click here to open in new window.
One minor caviat to comparing rates this way is buyers cannot specifically choose the insurers you want pricing from. If you prefer to choose specific insurance companies to receive pricing from, we have a listing of the cheapest car insurance companies in Indiana. View list of Indiana insurance companies.
Which method you use is up to you, but compare the exact same coverages with every price quote. If you have differing limits it will be impossible to truly determine the lowest rate in Lafayette. Slightly different coverage limits may result in large price differences. Just keep in mind that obtaining a wide range of quotes gives you a better chance of getting the best offered rates.
Save $445 a year. For real?
State Farm and Allstate consistently run television and radio advertisements. All the companies make an identical promise about savings if you change your policy. How does each company make the same claim? This is how they do it.
Insurance companies have a preferred profile for the type of driver that makes them money. For instance, a preferred risk could be between 30 and 50, is a homeowner, and drives less than 10,000 miles a year. Any driver who fits that profile gets the lowest rates and is almost guaranteed to save a lot of money.
Drivers who are not a match for these standards must pay higher rates and ends up with business not being written. Company advertisements say “customers who switch” not “everybody who quotes” save that kind of money. That’s the way companies can truthfully state the savings. This illustrates why it’s extremely important to quote coverage with many companies. It’s impossible to know the company that will have the lowest rates.
Policy discounts you shouldn’t miss
Auto insurance companies don’t always advertise every discount in a way that’s easy to find, so the following is a list of some of the best known and the more hidden ways to save on car insurance.
- Use Seat Belts – Requiring all passengers to wear their seat belts could save 15% on the medical payments or PIP coverage costs.
- Discount for Life Insurance – Larger companies have better rates if you take out life insurance from them.
- Military Discounts – Having a deployed family member can result in better rates.
- Memberships – Affiliation with certain professional organizations could trigger savings on car insurance.
- Defensive Driver – Successfully completing a driver safety course can save you 5% or more depending on where you live.
- One Accident Forgiven – A few companies permit an accident without raising rates so long as you haven’t had any claims for a particular time prior to the accident.
Consumers should know that most of the big mark downs will not be given to all coverage premiums. A few only apply to the price of certain insurance coverages like physical damage coverage or medical payments. So despite the fact that it appears you could get a free car insurance policy, companies wouldn’t make money that way.
To see a list of companies offering car insurance discounts in Lafayette, follow this link.
Shop online but buy locally
Some people just want to buy from a local agent and that is just fine! The best thing about getting online price quotes is the fact that you can find the lowest rates and still have an agent to talk to.
To help locate an agent, after submitting this quick form, your information is instantly submitted to agents in your area who will return price quotes for your business. You never need to leave your house as quotes are delivered immediately to your email address. Now that’s easy! You can find better rates and work with a local agent.
Picking an insurance company shouldn’t rely on just a low price. Ask your prospective agent these questions:
- Do the coverages you’re quoting properly cover your vehicle?
- Are there any discounts that you might be missing?
- How long has their agency been in business in Lafayette?
- Do they specialize in personal lines coverage?
- Who is covered by the car insurance policy?
- If they are an independent agency, which companies do they recommend?
- Will you be dealing directly with the agent or with a Custom Service Representative (CSR)?
- Is working in the agency their full-time job?
Captive and independent Lafayette insurance agencies
When searching for a good insurance agency, you must know there are a couple types of agencies from which to choose. Agents are either captive or independent (non-captive).
Captive Insurance Agents
Captive agencies have only one company to place business with and examples are Allstate, Farmers Insurance or State Farm. These agents are not able to place coverage with different providers so always compare other rates. Captive agencies are well schooled on the products they sell which helps them compete with independent agents.
Shown below are captive insurance agencies in Lafayette willing to provide rate quotes.
State Farm Insurance – 3907 George Washington Rd – Lafayette, IN 47909 – (765) 447-1113
Farmers Insurance Group – 114 S Earl Ave – Lafayette, IN 47904 – (765) 447-6633
Shelter Insurance – 902 Kossuth St # C – Lafayette, IN 47905 – (765) 423-5488
Farm Bureau Insurance – 5 Executive Dr # B1 – Lafayette, IN 47905 – (765) 474-7310
Allstate Insurance – 1824 Salem St – Lafayette, IN 47904 – (765) 447-4774
American Family Insurance – 2140 Sagamore Pkwy N – Lafayette, IN 47904 – (765) 448-4636
Independent Agencies or Brokers
These agents do not work for one specific company so they can insure your vehicles with lots of companies enabling the ability to shop coverage around. To transfer your coverage to a different company, they simply move the coverage in-house and you won’t have to switch agencies. When comparison shopping, you should always contact at a minimum one independent agency for maximum quote selection.
Below is a list of independent agents in Lafayette willing to provide rate quotes.
Don Fairchild Agency – 405 Sagamore Pkwy S # B12 – Lafayette, IN 47905 – (765) 448-9060
De Hahn and Vernon Insurance – 1527 Kossuth St – Lafayette, IN 47905 – (765) 429-1025
Teder Insurance – 3613 S 18th St # E – Lafayette, IN 47909 – (765) 471-0660
Bergstrom Agency Inc – 213 S 18th St # A – Lafayette, IN 47905 – (765) 742-2224
Campbell Agency Inc – – Lafayette, IN 47905 – (765) 449-1022
To view a full list of licensed insurance agents in Lafayette, visit this link.
Upon receiving reasonable responses to all your questions and a good coverage price, you may have just found an insurance agency that is a good match to provide car insurance coverage.
There’s no such thing as the perfect policy
When choosing proper insurance coverage, there really is not a perfect coverage plan. Coverage needs to be tailored to your specific needs so your insurance should reflect that For instance, these questions might point out if you could use an agent’s help.
- How high should my medical payments coverage be?
- Who is covered by my policy?
- What are Indiana no-fault laws?
- Am I covered by my spouse’s policy after a separation?
- Is my teen driver covered when they drive my company car?
- Where can I get insurance after a DUI in Indiana?
- Is rental equipment covered for theft or damage?
- Is Indiana a no-fault state?
- Is my vehicle covered for smoke damage?
If you’re not sure about those questions, then you may want to think about talking to an agent. To find lower rates from a local agent, complete this form or click here for a list of car insurance companies in your area.
Additional detailed information can be read at the Indiana Department of Insurance website. Indiana drivers can file complaints about an insurance agent or broker, learn about specific coverages, view a list of available companies, and report car insurance fraud.
The articles below may also help you learn more about car insurance in Lafayette
Buy online or local, you save
Budget-conscious car insurance is possible from both online companies in addition to many Lafayette insurance agents, and you need to price shop both to have the best rate selection. Some insurance providers do not provide you the ability to get quotes online and most of the time these regional insurance providers sell through independent agents.
As you shop your coverage around, it’s not a good idea to skimp on coverage in order to save money. There are a lot of situations where consumers will sacrifice collision coverage and found out when filing a claim they didn’t purchase enough coverage. The aim is to buy the best coverage you can find at a price you can afford while not skimping on critical coverages.