Overpriced car insurance can dwindle your personal savings and force you to prioritize other expenses. Doing a price comparison is free, only takes a few minutes, and is a good way to lower your monthly bill. Insurance companies such as Progressive, State Farm and Geico all claim big savings with advertising and it is difficult to see past the geckos and flying pigs and take the time to shop coverage around.
If you are insured now or need a new policy, you will benefit by learning to find the best rates while maintaining coverages. Choosing the best insurance company for you in Largo is not that difficult. Florida vehicle owners only need to know the best way to compare price quotes online.
Lots of discounts mean lots of savings
Companies that sell car insurance don’t list every available discount very clearly, so the following is a list of both the well known and the harder-to-find discounts you could be receiving. If you’re not getting every credit you deserve, you are throwing money away.
- Use Seat Belts – Drivers who require all occupants to wear their seat belts can save up to 15% off your PIP or medical payments premium.
- Save with a New Car – Insuring a new car can be considerably cheaper because new vehicles have to meet stringent safety requirements.
- Distant Student – Youth drivers living away from home attending college without a vehicle on campus may be able to be covered for less.
- Theft Prevention Discount – Cars that have factory anti-theft systems prevent vehicle theft and qualify for as much as a 10% discount.
- 55 and Retired – Mature drivers may receive a small decrease in premiums.
- Clubs and Organizations – Being a member of certain professional organizations may earn a discount when buying car insurance.
- Braking Control Discount – Cars that have steering control and anti-lock brakes are safer to drive and earn discounts up to 10%.
- Driver Safety – Completing a course in driver safety could save 5% or more if you qualify.
Keep in mind that most discounts do not apply the the whole policy. Most only reduce the cost of specific coverages such as comp or med pay. So when the math indicates you can get free auto insurance, companies wouldn’t make money that way.
To choose providers with the best car insurance discounts in Florida, click here to view.
How to Compare Largo Car Insurance Costs
There are a lot of ways to shop for car insurance, but some are more efficient than others. You can waste a lot of time driving to local insurance agents in Largo, or you can stay home and use the internet to quickly compare rates.
Most of the best insurance companies enroll in a system where prospective buyers complete one form, and at least one company can provide price quotes for coverage. This prevents consumers from doing quote forms to every company. To get comparison pricing now click here (opens in new window).
The only downside to doing it this way is you are unable to specify the companies to receive prices from. So if you want to choose individual companies to compare rates, we have a page of the cheapest car insurance companies in Florida. Click to view list.
It’s up to you which method you use, but make absolute certain that you use identical coverages with each company. If your comparisons have unequal deductibles or liability limits you will not be able to determine the lowest rate in Largo.
Rate influencing factors
Smart consumers have a good feel for the rating factors that help determine the price you pay for car insurance. Knowing what impacts premium levels enables informed choices that will entitle you to better car insurance rates.
The following are a partial list of the pieces car insurance companies consider when setting prices.
- Do you know you’re credit rating? – Credit score is a important factor in your rate calculation. So if your credit rating is lower than you’d like, you could save money insuring your by repairing your credit. Drivers who have high credit scores tend to be better drivers and file fewer claims than drivers with poor credit.
- Don’t get talked into coverage you don’t need – There are quite a few extra coverages that can waste your money if you aren’t careful. Things like personal injury protection, accident forgiveness and motor club memberships are some examples. These may sound like a good investment initially, but if you don’t need them remove them from your policy.
- Safer occupants lowers premiums – Cars with high safety ratings are cheaper to insure. The safest vehicles result in less severe injuries and fewer injuries means lower claim amounts and lower rates for you.
- Save money with special equipment – Driving a car with an alarm system can save you a little every year. Anti-theft devices such as LoJack tracking devices, vehicle tamper alarm systems or GM’s OnStar system all hinder your car from being stolen.
- Men pay higher rates – The statistics show that women are safer drivers than men. Now that doesn’t mean women are better drivers. Men and women cause accidents at about the same rate, but the men tend to have more serious accidents. Men also statistically have more aggressive citations like reckless driving and DUI.
Slick advertising tricks that work
Florida drivers can’t get away from ads for cheaper car insurance from companies such as State Farm, Geico and Progressive. They all make an identical promise that you can save if you move your policy.
How can each company say the same thing? It’s all in the numbers.
Insurance companies have a certain “appetite” for the driver that earns them a profit. For instance, a driver they prefer could be between 30 and 50, is a homeowner, and drives less than 10,000 miles a year. Any driver who fits that profile receives the best rates and most likely will save quite a bit of money when switching.
Consumers who don’t qualify for these standards will be quoted a higher premium which leads to the driver buying from a lower-cost company. Company advertisements say “drivers who switch” not “everybody who quotes” save that much. That is how companies can truthfully make those claims. This emphasizes why you should get quotes from several different companies. It’s just too difficult to predict which insurance companies will provide you with the cheapest rates.
Summing up your car insurance search
As you shop your coverage around, never skimp on coverage in order to save money. There have been many situations where an insured dropped liability coverage limits to discover at claim time that their decision to reduce coverage ended up costing them more. Your aim should be to buy a smart amount of coverage at an affordable rate while still protecting your assets.
We covered quite a bit of information on how to reduce car insurance prices online. The key thing to remember is the more price quotes you have, the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. Consumers may even find the lowest premiums are with the smaller companies. These companies may have significantly lower rates on certain market segments than the large multi-state companies such as Allstate or State Farm.
More Florida car insurance resources
More detailed Florida car insurance information can be found at the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation website. Florida drivers can learn about insurance regulations, read industry bulletins, and find disaster information.