Having to pay for overpriced auto insurance can drain your checking account and put a big crunch on your finances. Shopping your coverage around is a smart way to tighten up your finances. Lots of insurers contend for your business, and because of this it can be hard to compare car insurance companies and get the definite cheapest price
Smart consumers take time to get comparison quotes before your policy renews because rates are adjusted regularly by insurance companies. Even if you got the best deal a few years ago there may be better deals available now. So just ignore everything you know about auto insurance because it’s time to teach you the only way to remove unneeded coverages and save money.
Companies offer discounts so take them!
Companies offering auto insurance do not list every discount very well, so we researched both the well known and the more hidden auto insurance savings. If you don’t get every credit available, you are paying more than you should be.
- Drivers Ed for Students – Require your teen driver to enroll in driver’s education in school.
- Own a Home – Simply owning a home can help you save on auto insurance because maintaining a house demonstrates responsibility.
- Passive Restraints – Factory air bags or automatic seat belts can get savings of 20% or more.
- Braking Control Discount – Vehicles equipped with ABS or steering control can avoid accidents and earn discounts up to 10%.
- Club Memberships – Affiliation with a qualifying organization may earn a discount when buying auto insurance.
- Good Students Pay Less – A discount for being a good student can be rewarded with saving of up to 25%. The good student discount can last well after school through age 25.
- Multi-policy Discount – When you combine your home and auto insurance with one insurance company you will save 10% to 20% off each policy.
- Defensive Driver – Taking part in a defensive driving course could possibly earn you a 5% discount if you qualify.
- No Claims – Drivers who don’t have accidents can earn big discounts as compared to bad drivers.
Drivers should understand that most discounts do not apply to the overall cost of the policy. Some only apply to the cost of specific coverages such as medical payments or collision. Even though it may seem like adding up those discounts means a free policy, it doesn’t quite work that way.
To choose companies with the best auto insurance discounts in Nevada, click this link.
How to Get Cheap Auto Insurance in Sparks
Getting better auto insurance pricing doesn’t have to be difficult. All you need to do is spend a little time to compare quotes from different insurance companies. It is quite easy and can be accomplished using a couple different methods.
- The recommended way to compare a lot of rates at once is an all-inclusive rate comparison click here to open form in new window. This type of form saves time by eliminating a different quote for every auto insurance company. A single form will get you price quotes .
- A less efficient way to get quotes online requires a trip to the website for every company you want to comare and complete a new quote form. For sake of this example, let’s say you want to compare rates from Allstate, Liberty Mutual and Geico. To get each rate you have to take the time to go to each site and enter your policy data, and that’s why the first method is more popular.
For a list of links to companies insuring cars in Sparks, click here.
It’s up to you which method you use, but make darn sure you compare the exact same coverage information with each company. If your comparisons have different values for each quote then you won’t be able to make an equal comparison in Sparks.
What determines how much you pay?
It’s important that you understand the rating factors that go into determining your auto insurance rates. Understanding what determines base rates allows you to make educated decisions that may reward you with much lower annual insurance costs.
Listed below are some of the factors companies use to determine rates.
- Don’t get talked into coverage you don’t need – There are quite a few additional coverages that you can get tricked into buying on your policy. Things like vanishing deductibles, accidental death and additional equipment coverage may be costing you every month. These coverages may sound good initially, but now you might not need them so remove them from your policy.
- Where you live – Choosing to live in small towns and rural areas can be a good thing when it comes to auto insurance. Urban drivers regularly have much more traffic and longer commute times. Less people living in that area means reduced accidents.
- Your occupation can affect rates – Occupations such as lawyers, executives and accountants tend to pay higher rates than average in part from high stress levels and long work days. On the flip side, occupations such as pilots, athletes and the unemployed have the lowest average rates.
- Poor driving leads to higher costs – Your driving record impacts your car insurance rates tremendously. Even a single speeding ticket may increase your cost by twenty percent. Drivers with clean records tend to pay less for car insurance than their less careful counterparts. Drivers who get dangerous violations such as hit and run, DWI or reckless driving convictions may be required to file a SR-22 with their state DMV in order to prevent a license revocation.
Quote more, save more
As you go through the steps to switch your coverage, do not buy lower coverage limits just to save a few bucks. There have been many situations where consumers will sacrifice collision coverage only to regret that a couple dollars of savings turned into a financial nightmare. Your strategy should be to buy enough coverage for the lowest price while not skimping on critical coverages.
We covered a lot of information how to shop for auto insurance online. The key thing to remember is the more providers you compare, the better your comparison will be. You may even find the most savings is with a company that doesn’t do a lot of advertising. Smaller companies may cover specific market segments cheaper as compared to the big name companies such as State Farm and Allstate.
Learn more about auto insurance in Nevada
Even more information is located at the Nevada Division of Insurance website. Consumers can find out which companies have the most complaints, view a list of available companies, and learn about insurance regulations.