If you are new to online price comparisons, by this point your are probably baffled by the large number of insurers all claiming to save you money.
Shopping for cheaper insurance coverage is easy if you know what you’re doing. Essentially everyone who is shopping for insurance should be able to cut their insurance bill. But car owners do need to know the way companies sell insurance online.
One of the most helpful ways to save on insurance is to to have a grasp of the different types of things that play a part in calculating your premiums. If you have a feel for what determines premiums, this allows you to make good choices that may reward you with lower rates.
Most of the larger companies provide insurance quotes direct online. Getting quotes is quite easy because you just enter into a form. Upon sending the form, the system requests your driving record and credit report and returns a price.
Online quotes makes it a lot easier to compare rates but the time required to go to many different websites and enter the same data into a form is a big time waster. But it is imperative to do this if you want to find better car insurance pricing.
Compare rates the easy way
The quickest way to find cheaper rates requires only one form that obtains quotes from several different companies. It saves time, helps eliminate reptitive entry, and makes rate comparisons much easier to do. Once the form is submitted, it is quoted and you can select your choice of the price quotes you receive.
If the quotes result in lower rates, it’s easy to complete the application and purchase coverage. The entire process just takes a couple of minutes and you will know how your current rates stack up.
To find out how much you can save on car insurance, click here to open in new window and submit the form. If you have coverage now, it’s recommended you input the coverages as close as possible to your current policy. This ensures you are getting an apples-to-apples comparison using the same coverage and limits.
Well-known auto insurance companies like State Farm, GEICO and Progressive seem to constantly run ads on television and other media. They all make the point that you can save if you move your auto insurance coverage to their company. How does every company charge you a lower premium? It’s all in how they say it.
Most companies quote the lowest rates for the driver that will add to their bottom line. A good example of a desirable insured could possibly be a married male, owns a home, and insures a new vehicle. Any person who matches those parameters will qualify for the lowest car insurance rates and therefore will pay quite a bit less when switching companies.
Consumers who don’t measure up to these criteria must pay a higher premium and this results in the customer not buying. Company advertisements say “people who switch” not “everyone that quotes” can save as much as they claim. This is how insurance companies can claim big savings.
This illustrates why you should compare price quotes frequently. Because you cannot predict with any certainty which company will have the best car insurance rates at this point in time.
Insurance coverage is not cheap nor is it fun to buy but you can get discounts to reduce the price significantly. Larger premium reductions will be automatically applied at the time of purchase, but once in a while a discount must be specifically requested before you get the savings. If you do not check that you are getting every discount you deserve, you’re just leaving money on the table.
Don’t be shocked that most of the big mark downs will not be given to your bottom line cost. Most only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like medical payments or collision. Just because you may think you would end up receiving a 100% discount, insurance companies wouldn’t stay in business.
A list of insurance coverage companies and a partial list of their discounts include:
When getting a coverage quote, ask every prospective company how many discounts you can get. Discounts may not apply in your area. If you would like to see a list of insurance companies who offer cheap insurance coverage quotes, click this link.
When it comes to choosing adequate coverage for your vehicles, there isn’t really a “best” method to buy coverage. Each situation is unique.
These are some specific questions could help you determine if you might need an agent’s assistance.
If it’s difficult to answer those questions but you know they apply to you, you may need to chat with an insurance agent. To find an agent in your area, fill out this quick form.
Learning about specific coverages of your policy can help you determine appropriate coverage for your vehicles. Policy terminology can be ambiguous and nobody wants to actually read their policy.
Uninsured Motorist or Underinsured Motorist insurance
This coverage gives you protection from other motorists when they either have no liability insurance or not enough. Covered claims include medical payments for you and your occupants and damage to your 1993 Ford Escort.
Because many people only carry the minimum required liability limits, their limits can quickly be used up. For this reason, having high UM/UIM coverages should not be overlooked. Usually these coverages are set the same as your liablity limits.
Collision protection
This pays to fix your vehicle from damage from colliding with another vehicle or an object, but not an animal. A deductible applies then the remaining damage will be paid by your insurance company.
Collision insurance covers claims such as sideswiping another vehicle, driving through your garage door, crashing into a building, damaging your car on a curb and colliding with another moving vehicle. Paying for collision coverage can be pricey, so you might think about dropping it from older vehicles. It’s also possible to bump up the deductible to bring the cost down.
Comprehensive coverage (or Other than Collision)
This coverage covers damage from a wide range of events other than collision. You first must pay your deductible and then insurance will cover the rest of the damage.
Comprehensive coverage protects against things such as hail damage, hitting a bird, fire damage and theft. The maximum amount a insurance company will pay at claim time is the ACV or actual cash value, so if the vehicle is not worth much it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.
Insurance for medical payments
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage kick in for expenses for things like dental work, hospital visits and surgery. They can be utilized in addition to your health insurance program or if there is no health insurance coverage. Coverage applies to you and your occupants as well as getting struck while a pedestrian. PIP is not available in all states but it provides additional coverages not offered by medical payments coverage
Liability coverages
Liability coverage protects you from damage that occurs to other people or property that is your fault. It protects you from claims by other people, and doesn’t cover damage sustained by your vehicle in an accident.
It consists of three limits, bodily injury per person, bodily injury per accident and property damage. You might see policy limits of 25/50/25 which stand for a limit of $25,000 per injured person, a total of $50,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident, and property damage coverage for $25,000. Another option is one number which is a combined single limit which combines the three limits into one amount without having the split limit caps.
Liability coverage protects against claims like repair bills for other people’s vehicles, funeral expenses, pain and suffering, legal defense fees and bail bonds. How much liability coverage do you need? That is a decision to put some thought into, but it’s cheap coverage so purchase as much as you can afford.
People leave their current company for a number of reasons such as policy cancellation, unfair underwriting practices, not issuing a premium refund and policy non-renewal. No matter why you want to switch, finding a new company is easier than you think.
When trying to cut insurance costs, you should never skimp on coverage in order to save money. There are a lot of situations where someone dropped comprehensive coverage or liability limits only to discover later they didn’t have enough coverage. Your objective should be to find the BEST coverage at the best price while still protecting your assets.
We’ve covered some good ideas how to save on 1993 Ford Escort insurance. It’s most important to understand that the more you quote insurance coverage, the better likelihood of getting cheap insurance coverage. Drivers may discover the best price on insurance coverage is with a lesser-known regional company.