Scraping up a payment for overpriced car insurance can empty your personal savings, especially in this economy. Comparing price quotes is a smart way to make sure you’re not throwing money away.
Big-name insurance companies like Geico, Progressive and Allstate all claim big savings, bombarding you with ads and it is challenging if not impossible to sift through the bull and effectively compare rates to find the best deal.
If you are paying for car insurance now, you should be able to reduce your rates substantially using these methods. Buying car insurance in Williamson is easy if you know what you’re doing. Although West Virginia car owners can benefit from knowing the way insurance companies determine prices because it can help you find the best coverage.
Discounts are great for lower rates
Auto insurance companies don’t necessarily list every discount very well, so the following is a list of both the well known and also the lesser-known discounts you could be receiving.
- Good Student Discount – A discount for being a good student can get you a discount of up to 25%. The discount lasts up until you turn 25.
- Accident Free – Drivers with accident-free driving histories can earn big discounts as compared to frequent claim filers.
- Accident Forgiveness – A handful of insurance companies allow you one accident without raising rates as long as you don’t have any claims for a set time period.
- Passive Restraint Discount – Factory air bags or automatic seat belts can get savings up to 30%.
- Driver’s Ed – Make teen driver coverage more affordable by requiring them to enroll in driver’s education in school.
- Seat Belt Usage – Drivers who require all occupants to buckle their seat belts could save 15% off the personal injury premium cost.
Keep in mind that many deductions do not apply to the entire cost. A few only apply to individual premiums such as comp or med pay. So even though it sounds like you can get free auto insurance, companies don’t profit that way.
To see a list of companies offering car insurance discounts in West Virginia, click this link.
How to Get Cheap Car Insurance in Williamson, WV
To find the best car insurance prices, there are several ways to compare rate quotes from car insurance companies in your area. The best way to find the lowest rates is to get quotes online. It is quite easy and can be accomplished in a couple of different ways.
- The best way to find low rates is a comparison rater form like this one (opens in new window). This method prevents you from having to do boring form submissions to each individual car insurance company. One quote request will get you price quotes from all major companies.
- A slightly less efficient method to compare prices requires visiting the website for each individual company and fill out their own quote form. For example, we’ll assume you want to compare Farmers, Liberty Mutual and Progressive. To get rate quotes you would need to go to every website and enter your information, which is why the first method is quicker.
For a list of links to companies insuring cars in Williamson, click here.
It’s your choice how you get your quotes, but compare identical deductibles and coverage limits for every company. If you have different deductibles it will be next to impossible to decipher which rate is best in Williamson. Having just a slight variation in coverage limits may result in large price differences. Keep in mind that having more price comparisons will increase your chances of finding lower pricing.
Understand what determines the rate you pay
An important part of buying insurance is that you know some of the elements that help determine the price you pay for car insurance. Understanding what controls the rates you pay helps enable you to make changes that can help you get lower car insurance prices.
The following are a partial list of the pieces that factor into your rates.
- Discounts for multiple policies – Many car insurance companies provide better rates to people who have multiple policies with them. It’s known as a multi-policy discount. This can amount to ten or even up to twenty percent in some cases. If you currently are using one company, it’s in your best interest to shop around to ensure the best deal.
- Lower rates with optional equipment – Driving a car with a theft deterrent system can help bring down rates. Theft prevention features such as vehicle immobilizer systems, General Motors OnStar and LoJack tracking systems all hinder your vehicle from being stolen.
- Where you live can impact rates – Residing in less populated areas can save you money when insuring your vehicles. Fewer drivers means reduced accidents and a lower car theft rate. City drivers regularly have traffic congestion and a longer drive to work. Higher commute times means higher likelihood of an accident.
- Proper usage rating affects rates – The more miles you rack up on your car in a year the higher your rates will be. Almost all companies charge to insure your cars based on how the vehicle is used. Cars that are left in the garage receive lower rates as compared to vehicles used primarily for driving to work. Verify your car insurance policy is rated on how each vehicle is driven, because improper ratings can cost you money.
- Your job and insurance rates – Occupations like lawyers, architects and financial analysts have higher average rates due to stressful work requirements and lengthy work days. Conversely, occupations like farmers, engineers and retirees get better rates.
- Better crash test results mean better rates – Vehicles with high crash test scores tend to have better insurance rates. The safest vehicles have better occupant injury protection and fewer injuries means lower claim amounts and lower rates for you.
Are car insurance companies telling the truth?
Car insurance companies such as Allstate, Geico and Progressive regularly use television and radio advertisements. They all seem to make an identical promise of big savings if you move to them. But how can every company make the same claim? It’s all in the numbers.
All companies have a preferred profile for the type of customer that earns them a profit. A good example of a profitable customer could be over the age of 40, is a homeowner, and drives less than 10,000 miles a year. Any driver who matches those parameters will get very good rates and therefore will save quite a bit of money when switching.
Potential customers who don’t meet the “perfect” profile will be charged higher prices which usually ends up with the driver buying from a lower-cost company. Company advertisements say “customers who switch” not “everybody who quotes” save that kind of money. This is how companies can make the claims of big savings. That is why it is so important to compare many company’s rates. It’s impossible to know the company that will have the lowest rates.
Do the work, save more money
When trying to cut insurance costs, it’s not a good idea to sacrifice coverage to reduce premiums. There are too many instances where an insured cut collision coverage and discovered at claim time that their decision to reduce coverage ended up costing them more. Your focus should be to find the BEST coverage for the lowest price while not skimping on critical coverages.
Budget-conscious car insurance is definitely available on the web and also from your neighborhood Williamson agents, and you need to comparison shop both so you have a total pricing picture. Some car insurance companies may not provide online quoting and these regional insurance providers work with independent agents.
Additional detailed information is located at the West Virginia Insurance Commission website. West Virginia drivers can find disaster information, learn about insurance regulations, find out which companies have the most complaints, and file complaints about an insurance agent or broker.
Other useful links include this page for car insurance in West Virginia and this page where you can research Williamson insurance agents.