Paying for high-priced car insurance can deplete your savings account and force you to cut corners elsewhere. Doing a rate analysis is free, only takes a few minutes, and is a good way to cut your insurance bill.
There are many insurers to choose from, and although it’s a good thing to have multiple companies, so many choices can make it hard to compare rates.
You should make it a habit to do price comparisons periodically because prices are rarely the same from one policy term to another. If you had the best price six months ago there may be better deals available now. You can find a lot of wrong information about car insurance on the internet, but in this article, you’re going to get some excellent ideas to slash your car insurance rates.
Verify you’re receiving every discount
Properly insuring your vehicles can get expensive, but companies offer discounts that can help lower your rates. Certain discounts will be applied when you get a quote, but lesser-known reductions have to be requested specifically before they will apply. If you don’t get every credit you qualify for, you may be paying too high a price.
- Good Grades Discount – Being a good student can earn a discount of 20% or more. The discount lasts well after school through age 25.
- Pay Now and Pay Less – If paying your policy premium upfront instead of making monthly payments you could save 5% or more.
- Theft Deterent System – Anti-theft and alarm system equipped vehicles help deter theft and will save you 10% or more.
- Federal Government Employee – Employees or retirees of the government could cut as much as 10% off with some car insurance companies.
- Own a Home – Owning a home in Republic may trigger a policy discount on car insurance because owning a home requires personal responsibility.
- Defensive Driver – Taking a defensive driving course can save you 5% or more depending on where you live.
- Active Service Discounts – Being deployed in the military may qualify for rate reductions.
- No Claim Discounts – Drivers who don’t have accidents have much lower rates compared to bad drivers.
- Fewer Miles Equal More Savings – Maintaining low annual mileage may enable drivers to earn substantially lower car insurancerates.
As a disclaimer on discounts, some credits don’t apply to all coverage premiums. A few only apply to individual premiums such as collision or personal injury protection. Even though it appears all the discounts add up to a free policy, it just doesn’t work that way.
Popular car insurance companies and a partial list of their discounts can be found below.
- State Farm may offer discounts for multiple autos, anti-theft, Steer Clear safe driver discount, multiple policy, and good driver.
- Farmers Insurance has discounts for electronic funds transfer, alternative fuel, homeowner, teen driver, and mature driver.
- Geico has savings for defensive driver, driver training, multi-vehicle, daytime running lights, seat belt use, multi-policy, and federal employee.
- American Family includes discounts for early bird, accident-free, multi-vehicle, TimeAway discount, defensive driver, good driver, and Steer into Savings.
- Nationwide offers discounts for family plan, business or organization, accident-free, Farm Bureau membership, easy pay, and defensive driving.
- Progressive may include discounts for good student, online quote discount, multi-vehicle, online signing, and continuous coverage.
Before buying, ask each insurance company to apply every possible discount. Some discounts may not be offered in your state. If you would like to choose from a list of companies who offer free car insurance quotes in Missouri, follow this link.
Shop online but buy locally
A small number of people still prefer to talk to a local agent and that is OK! Most agents can help determine the best coverages and help file insurance claims. One of the benefits of comparing car insurance online is you may find cheap rate quotes but also keep your business local.<img class="alignright" style="padding-top:15px;" src="https://www.carinsurancediy.com/wp-content/uploads/ci175-45.jpg" alt="Republic Missouri auto insurance“/>
By using this short form, your insurance coverage information is sent to insurance agents in Republic who can give free rate quotes and help you find cheaper coverage. You never need to contact an agency because prices are sent to the email address you provide. If you wish to get a price quote from a specific company, just go to their quote page to submit a rate quote request.
Choosing an insurance company requires more thought than just a low price. A good agent will have answers to these questions.
- How experiences are they in personal risk management?
- Is there a 24/7 contact number?
- Will a damage claim use OEM or aftermarket replacement parts?
- How will an accident affect your rates?
- Where would your vehicle be repaired?
In order to help you find an insurance professional in your neighborhood, visit this list of Republic insurance agents.
Car insurance advertisements
Consumers can’t get away from ads for car insurance savings from the likes of Progressive, Geico, Allstate and State Farm. All the companies try to convey promises that drivers will save a bundle if you get a free and switch your car insurance coverage to their company.
How can each company charge you less for auto insurance? Just pay attention to how they say it.
Insurance providers have underwriting criteria for the type of insured that will add to their bottom line. For example, a preferred risk may be over the age of 40, insures multiple vehicles, and drives less than 5,000 miles a year. A driver who matches those parameters receives the best auto insurance rates and have a good chance to save when they switch companies.
Potential insureds who don’t measure up to this ideal profile will get higher prices which usually ends up with the customer not buying. The wording the ads use say “people who switch” but not “all drivers who get quotes” save the amount stated. That is how insurance companies can advertise the way they do. Because of this risk profiling, it’s extremely important to compare as many as you can. Because without a comparison, you cannot know which car insurance company will have the best premium rates for your profile.
More tips and info about car insurance is available at the Missouri Department of Insurance website. Visitors are able to read state legal mandates and laws, discover disciplinary actions, and view a list of available companies.
You can find cheaper coverage
When searching for , do not skimp on critical coverages to save a buck or two. There have been many situations where someone dropped collision coverage only to regret that their decision to reduce coverage ended up costing them more. Your aim should be to purchase plenty of coverage at the best possible price, but do not skimp to save money.
Lower-priced car insurance can be bought online and from local agencies, and you should compare rates from both to have the best selection. Some car insurance companies do not provide online quoting and these small insurance companies provide coverage only through independent agencies.
In this article, we presented some good ideas how to reduce car insurance rates online. The key concept to understand is the more you , the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. You may be surprised to find that the biggest savings come from a smaller regional carrier. They may have significantly lower auto insurance rates on certain market segments than their larger competitors like Allstate, Geico and Progressive.