No one in their right mind likes having to buy auto insurance, particularly when the price is too high. Because you have many choices of insurance companies, it is very difficult to choose the most affordable insurance company.
It’s a good idea to compare prices yearly since insurance rates are constantly changing. Even if you think you had the lowest price last year you can probably find a better price now. There is a lot of bad advice regarding auto insurance online, so we’re going to give you some good information on how to reduce your auto insurance bill.
Get Cheaper Rates by Understanding Pricing
Smart consumers have a good feel for the different types of things that go into determining the price you pay for auto insurance. Understanding what impacts premium levels empowers consumers to make smart changes that could result in better auto insurance rates.
Listed below are a partial list of the pieces used by your company to calculate premiums.
- Don’t let your coverage lapse – Not having insurance is a misdemeanor and your next policy will cost more because you let your insurance expire. And not only will your rates increase, but being ticketed for driving with no insurance may earn you a hefty fine and possibly a revoked license.You may then be required to prove you have insurance by filing a SR-22 with the Oklahoma DMV.
- Your car’s features help determine rates – Driving a car with an alarm system can get you a discount on your auto insurance. Anti-theft features such as tamper alarm systems, vehicle immobilizer technology and General Motors OnStar all hinder car theft.
- Teen drivers pay high rates – Older insureds are more responsible, tend to file fewer claims and are safer drivers. Young drivers tend to be more careless when behind the wheel and because of this, their auto insurance rates are much higher.
- Your credit rating is important – Credit score is a large factor in determining your rates. Therefore, if your credit score is lower than you’d like, you could pay less to insure your by improving your rating. Drivers with excellent credit tend to file fewer claims and have better driving records than those with poor credit.
Policy discounts you shouldn’t miss
The cost of insuring your cars can be expensive, but there could be available discounts that you may not know about. A few discounts will automatically apply at the time of purchase, but some may not be applied and must be asked for before you will receive the discount. If you don’t get every credit possible, you are paying more than you should be.
- Homeowners Discount – Simply owning a home may trigger a auto insurance policy discount because maintaining a house is proof that your finances are in order.
- Student in College – Children living away from home attending college and do not have access to a covered vehicle may qualify for this discount.
- Multi-policy Discount – When you have multiple policies with one company you will save at least 10% off all policies.
- Drivers Education – Require your teen driver to successfully complete driver’s ed class if it’s offered in school.
- Senior Citizens – If you’re over the age of 55, you may be able to get a small decrease in premiums.
- Accident Waiver – Some insurance companies allow you one accident before your rates go up so long as you haven’t had any claims for a set time period.
- Passive Restraint Discount – Vehicles with factory air bags or automatic seat belts may earn rate discounts up to 30%.
- Sign Online – A handful of insurance companies give back up to $50 simply for signing digitally online.
- Fewer Miles Equal More Savings – Driving fewer miles could qualify for a substantially lower rate.
As a disclaimer on discounts, most credits do not apply to your bottom line cost. A few only apply to the cost of specific coverages such as comprehensive or collision. So when it seems like it’s possible to get free car insurance, it just doesn’t work that way. Any amount of discount will reduce the amount you have to pay.
To see a list of companies offering auto insurance discounts in Ponca City, click here.
What happened to insurance agents?
Some consumers prefer to sit down with an agent. Professional agents can help determine the best coverages and help submit paperwork. One of the great benefits of getting online price quotes is that you can obtain the best rates and still choose a local agent. And providing support for local insurance agencies is important particularly in Ponca City.
For easy comparison, once you complete this short form, your coverage information is instantly submitted to agents in your area who will give you bids for your insurance coverage. There is no need to visit any agencies because quoted prices will be sent immediately to your email address. Now that’s easy!
Ponca City car insurance agents come in two flavors
If you’re trying to find an insurance agent, you must know there are a couple types of insurance agents from which to choose. Agencies in Ponca City are categorized either independent (non-captive) or captive. Both insure your vehicles, but it’s worth mentioning the difference between them since it may influence the selection process.
Independent Agencies or Brokers
Independent agents are not employed by any specific company so they have the ability to put coverage amongst many companies enabling the ability to shop coverage around. To transfer your coverage to a different company, an independent agent can move your coverage without you having to go to a different agency. When shopping rates, we recommend you contact at least one independent agent to get the best comparison.
The following is a short list of independent insurance agencies in Ponca City that can give you rate quotes.
Larry Murphy Insurance – 400 E Central Ave # 303 – Ponca City, OK 74601 – (580) 767-1520
Myers Agency – 214 S 4th St – Ponca City, OK 74601 – (580) 762-6363
Larry Weems Insurance – 713 N 14th St – Ponca City, OK 74601 – (580) 762-1672
Wetzel Agency Inc – 410 E Grand Ave – Ponca City, OK 74601 – (580) 765-5566
Agency Captives
Captive agencies work for only one company and examples are State Farm, AAA and Liberty Mutual. These agents are not able to place coverage with different providers so they are skilled at selling on more than just price. Captive agents are well schooled on their products and sales techniques and that can be a competitive advantage.
Listed below are Ponca City captive insurance agencies that are able to give price quotes.
Shelter Insurance – 2128 N 14th St # 4 – Ponca City, OK 74601 – (580) 767-1276
Oklahoma Farm Bureau – 1312 Princeton Ave – Ponca City, OK 74601 – (580) 762-4211
State Farm Insurance – 923 E Highland Ave – Ponca City, OK 74601 – (580) 762-1362
For a complete listing of captive insurance agencies in Ponca City, please click here.
Selecting an insurance agent shouldn’t rely on just the bottom line cost. Some important questions to ask are:
- Do clients work directly with the agent or are most inquiries handled by a CSR?
- Are they properly licensed to sell insurance in Oklahoma?
- Do they have adequate Errors and Ommissions coverage? This protects you if they make a mistake.
- What is the agency’s Better Business Bureau rating?
- Who is covered by the car insurance policy?
- Are claims handled at the agent’s location?
- If you have an accident, will your rates go up?
Upon receiving satisfactory answers to your questions and an affordable coverage quote, chances are good that you have found an insurance agency that is a good match to provide auto insurance coverage.
Do auto insurance companies bend the truth?
Consumers in Oklahoma can’t ignore all the ads for car insurance savings from companies such as Geico, State Farm and Progressive. All the companies say the same thing about savings if you switch your policy.
How can each company claim to save you money? It’s all in the numbers.
Different companies are able to cherry pick for the type of customer they prefer to insure. For example, a desirable insured could possibly be between the ages of 30 and 50, has no prior claims, and has excellent credit. Any new insured who matches those parameters gets the lowest rates and therefore will save a lot of money.
Consumers who don’t qualify for the “perfect” profile must pay a more expensive rate and ends up with the driver buying from a lower-cost company. The ads say “people who switch” not “everybody who quotes” save that much money. That is how companies can truthfully state the savings.
This illustrates why you need to get as many quotes as possible. Because you never know which auto insurance company will fit your personal profile best.
Additional information can be read on the website for the Oklahoma Insurance Department found here. Visitors are able to learn about insurance regulations, find disaster information, view a list of available companies, and read state legal mandates and laws.
Additional helpful sites include QuoteClickInsure.com and this page on QuoteClickInsure.com.
A little work can save a LOT of money
While you’re price shopping online, it’s a bad idea to buy less coverage just to save a little money. There are a lot of situations where an insured cut physical damage coverage and discovered at claim time that it was a big error on their part. The ultimate goal is to purchase a proper amount of coverage at the best price while not skimping on critical coverages.
Lower-priced auto insurance can be purchased on the web and with local Ponca City insurance agents, and you need to comparison shop both in order to have the best chance of saving money. Some companies do not offer the ability to get a quote online and these small insurance companies work with independent agents.
Throughout this article, we presented many ways to get a better price on auto insurance. The key thing to remember is the more quotes you get, the higher your chance of finding lower rates. Consumers may even find the lowest priced auto insurance comes from some of the lesser-known companies. Smaller companies may cover specific market segments cheaper compared to the large companies like Progressive and Geico.