Did a good deal turn into overpriced car insurance? Believe me, many consumers feel financially strained by their car insurance policy.
Consumers have many auto insurance companies to choose from, and although it’s nice to have a selection, so many choices can make it hard to compare rates and find the lowest cost car insurance.
The purpose of this article is to instruct you on the best way to quote coverages. If you have car insurance now, you will be able to save some money using this strategy. But car owners need to learn the methods companies use to compete online.
There are a variety of methods you can shop for insurance but one way is less time-consuming than others. You could spend the better part of a day talking about coverages with insurance companies in your area, or you could save time and use online quoting to get rates in a matter of minutes.
Many of the larger companies participate in an industry program that allows shoppers to enter their policy data once, and each participating company can give them a price based on the submitted data. This eliminates the need for form submissions to each company.
To participate in this free quote system, click to open in new window.
The only drawback to doing it this way is you are unable to specify which providers to get quotes from. If you would rather choose specific providers to compare, we have a listing of low cost insurance companies in your area. Click to view list.
Whichever method you choose, do your best to enter exactly the same information for every quote you compare. If you enter different liability limits it will be impossible to truly determine the lowest rate. Even a minor difference in coverages could skew the results. And when comparing insurance rates, know that getting more free quotes provides better odds of finding better pricing.
Auto insurance can be pricey, but discounts can save money and there are some available that you may not know about. Certain discounts will be applied when you get a quote, but some discounts are required to be specially asked for before you get the savings.
One last thing about discounts, most discount credits are not given to your bottom line cost. Most only apply to the cost of specific coverages such as medical payments or collision. Just because it seems like you would end up receiving a 100% discount, that’s just not realistic.
Companies that may have many of the previously listed discounts include:
It’s a good idea to ask all the companies how many discounts you can get. Some of the earlier mentioned discounts may not be offered in your area. If you would like to choose from a list of insurance companies that can offer you the previously mentioned discounts, follow this link.
It’s important that you understand some of the elements that go into determining your premiums. If you have a feel for what determines base rates, this enables informed choices that can help you get much lower annual insurance costs.
When it comes to buying coverage, there isn’t really a one size fits all plan. Coverage needs to be tailored to your specific needs so your insurance should reflect that For instance, these questions can aid in determining whether you could use an agent’s help.
If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you may need to chat with an agent. If you don’t have a local agent, simply complete this short form or click here for a list of car insurance companies in your area.
Insurance coverage companies such as Progressive, GEICO, Allstate and State Farm consistently run ads on television and other media. All the companies make the point that people will save if you just switch your policy. How is it plausible that every one can make almost identical claims? This is how they do it.
Insurance coverage companies have a certain “appetite” for the type of driver that earns them a profit. For instance, a profitable customer should be over the age of 45, has no tickets, and the vehicle is rated for pleasure use. Anyone that matches those criteria will get low prices and most likely will cut their rates if they switch.
Consumers who cannot meet the “perfect” profile may receive a higher rate which leads to the customer buying from a different company. The ads state “customers who switch” but not “everyone who gets a quote” can save as much as they claim. This is how insurance companies can make claims like that.
This really drives home the point why drivers must get insurance quotes as often as possible. It’s impossible to know which insurance companies will provide you with the cheapest rates.
Learning about specific coverages of a insurance policy helps when choosing which coverages you need for your vehicles. Policy terminology can be impossible to understand and coverage can change by endorsement. Listed below are typical coverages found on the average insurance policy.
Collision – Collision insurance pays for damage to your Sedona resulting from colliding with another car or object. You will need to pay your deductible and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.
Collision can pay for things like sustaining damage from a pot hole, crashing into a building and driving through your garage door. Collision is rather expensive coverage, so analyze the benefit of dropping coverage from lower value vehicles. You can also increase the deductible in order to get cheaper collision rates.
Insurance for medical payments – Med pay and PIP coverage reimburse you for expenses for things like dental work, funeral costs, EMT expenses and surgery. They are used in conjunction with a health insurance policy or if you are not covered by health insurance. It covers all vehicle occupants as well as if you are hit as a while walking down the street. Personal injury protection coverage is not an option in every state but it provides additional coverages not offered by medical payments coverage
Uninsured Motorist or Underinsured Motorist insurance – Your UM/UIM coverage protects you and your vehicle’s occupants from other drivers when they are uninsured or don’t have enough coverage. Covered losses include medical payments for you and your occupants as well as damage to your 2002 Kia Sedona.
Because many people only purchase the least amount of liability that is required, their limits can quickly be used up. For this reason, having high UM/UIM coverages is very important. Normally your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverages do not exceed the liability coverage limits.
Comprehensive coverage (or Other than Collision) – Comprehensive insurance coverage pays to fix your vehicle from damage caused by mother nature, theft, vandalism and other events. You first must pay your deductible then your comprehensive coverage will pay.
Comprehensive can pay for things such as damage from flooding, damage from getting keyed, hitting a bird and damage from a tornado or hurricane. The most a insurance company will pay at claim time is the ACV or actual cash value, so if the vehicle’s value is low it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.
Auto liability insurance – This will cover damage that occurs to other people or property. It protects YOU from legal claims by others. It does not cover your injuries or vehicle damage.
Liability coverage has three limits: bodily injury for each person, bodily injury for the entire accident, and a limit for property damage. As an example, you may have values of 25/50/25 that means you have $25,000 bodily injury coverage, a total of $50,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident, and $25,000 of coverage for damaged propery. Occasionally you may see one limit called combined single limit (CSL) which combines the three limits into one amount rather than limiting it on a per person basis.
Liability insurance covers claims like loss of income, legal defense fees, structural damage, funeral expenses and repair bills for other people’s vehicles. How much liability should you purchase? That is up to you, but buy as much as you can afford.
As you quote insurance, never reduce needed coverages to save money. In many cases, someone sacrificed liability limits or collision coverage only to regret that the few dollars in savings costed them thousands. Your aim should be to find the BEST coverage at the lowest possible cost while not skimping on critical coverages.
We just covered a lot of techniques to shop for 2002 Kia Sedona insurance online. The key thing to remember is the more times you quote, the higher your chance of finding inexpensive insurance. Drivers may discover the lowest car insurance rates are with a small local company. These companies can often provide lower premium rates in certain areas as compared to the big name companies such as Progressive or GEICO.
For more information, take a look at the resources below: