I can’t think of a single person who looks forward to buying car insurance, especially when they know they could lower their rates if they shopped around.
With vehicle owners having so many companies to choose from, it can be challenging to pick the most affordable insurer.
Choosing the best insurance company for you is not rocket science. Just about every driver who is required by state law to have insurance most likely will be able to cut their insurance bill. But consumers need to have an understanding of how companies market insurance on the web.
Some insurance providers do not list all their discounts in an easy-to-find place, so the following is a list of both the well known as well as the least known credits available to bring down your rates.
As is typical with insurance, many deductions do not apply to the entire policy premium. Most only cut specific coverage prices like physical damage coverage or medical payments. Just because you may think all those discounts means the company will pay you, you aren’t that lucky.
Larger insurance companies and the discounts they provide are outlined below.
When quoting, ask each company or agent how many discounts you can get. Some discounts listed above may not apply to policyholders in your state. To find insurers that provide some of the discounts listed above, click this link.
Most larger insurance companies allow consumers to get pricing from their websites. Doing online quotes can be done by anyone as you simply enter the coverages you want into the quote form. After you submit the form the quote system collects credit information and your driving record and quotes a price based on the information you submitted. Quoting online makes it simple to compare prices but the process of having to visit several different sites and type in the same data is repetitive and time-consuming. Unfortunately, it is important to get many rate quotes in order to get lower prices.
There is a better way!
A quicker way to lower your rates uses one simple form to return rates from several companies at one time. This type of form saves time, requires much less work on your part, and makes rate comparisons much simpler. Immediately after you send the form, it is quoted and you can select your choice of the quotes that you receive. If you find a better price it’s easy to complete the application and buy the new coverage. The whole process takes 15 minutes at the most and you will find out if you’re overpaying now.
To fill out one form to compare multiple rates now, click here and submit your coverage information. If you have a policy now, it’s recommended you input the limits and deductibles exactly as they are listed on your policy. This helps ensure you will have rate quotes based on identical coverages.
Consumers need to have an understanding of some of the things that go into determining your premiums. If you have some idea of what impacts premium levels, this helps enable you to make changes that will entitle you to lower premium levels. Multiple criteria are part of the calculation when quoting car insurance. A few of the factors are predictable such as your driving record, but other criteria are more obscure like where you live or your vehicle rating.
The following are just a few of the factors used by companies to determine your rates.
When buying the best insurance coverage for your vehicles, there isn’t really a one size fits all plan. Every situation is different so your insurance needs to address that. These are some specific questions can aid in determining whether or not you would benefit from an agent’s advice.
If you can’t answer these questions but you think they might apply to your situation, you may need to chat with a licensed agent. If you don’t have a local agent, simply complete this short form or you can also visit this page to select a carrier
Understanding the coverages of a insurance policy can be of help when determining appropriate coverage at the best deductibles and correct limits. Policy terminology can be confusing and coverage can change by endorsement. Shown next are typical coverages found on most insurance policies.
Medical payments coverage and PIP
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage pay for bills for things like surgery, funeral costs, dental work, rehabilitation expenses and nursing services. The coverages can be utilized in addition to your health insurance policy or if you do not have health coverage. It covers both the driver and occupants as well as getting struck while a pedestrian. PIP is only offered in select states but can be used in place of medical payments coverage
Collision insurance
Collision insurance covers damage to your V70 resulting from a collision with another car or object. You first must pay a deductible and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.
Collision can pay for claims like backing into a parked car, damaging your car on a curb, hitting a parking meter, colliding with another moving vehicle and sideswiping another vehicle. Paying for collision coverage can be pricey, so you might think about dropping it from vehicles that are 8 years or older. Drivers also have the option to bump up the deductible in order to get cheaper collision rates.
Liability coverage
Liability coverage protects you from damage or injury you incur to people or other property by causing an accident. It protects you from claims by other people. Liability doesn’t cover damage to your own property or vehicle.
It consists of three limits, bodily injury for each person injured, bodily injury for the entire accident and a property damage limit. You might see policy limits of 50/100/50 which means $50,000 bodily injury coverage, $100,000 for the entire accident, and a limit of $50,000 paid for damaged property.
Liability can pay for things like pain and suffering, funeral expenses, bail bonds and medical expenses. How much liability should you purchase? That is a decision to put some thought into, but you should buy as high a limit as you can afford.
Comprehensive coverage
This will pay to fix damage that is not covered by collision coverage. You need to pay your deductible first then your comprehensive coverage will pay.
Comprehensive coverage protects against things such as falling objects, hitting a bird, hitting a deer, damage from getting keyed and hail damage. The most a insurance company will pay at claim time is the ACV or actual cash value, so if your deductible is as high as the vehicle’s value it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage
Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage protects you and your vehicle when other motorists do not carry enough liability coverage. Covered claims include injuries to you and your family and also any damage incurred to your Volvo V70.
Since many drivers only purchase the least amount of liability that is required, it only takes a small accident to exceed their coverage. That’s why carrying high Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage is a good idea.
In this article, we covered a lot of information how to lower your 2001 Volvo V70 insurance rates. The key thing to remember is the more providers you compare, the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. You may be surprised to find that the lowest priced insurance comes from a small mutual company. Some small companies often have lower car insurance rates on specific markets than their larger competitors like Allstate and Progressive.
While you’re price shopping online, do not reduce coverage to reduce premium. There are a lot of situations where someone dropped liability coverage limits only to regret that their decision to reduce coverage ended up costing them more. The goal is to find the BEST coverage for the lowest cost, but don’t skip important coverages to save money.
Much more information about insurance is located on the following sites: