2005 Pontiac Vibe Insurance Cost

Trying to find lower insurance rates for your Pontiac Vibe? Pretty sure you bought an underperforming, overpriced insurance policy? Believe me, many consumers are feeling buyer’s remorse and feel like there’s no way out.

You have so many insurance companies to insure vehicles with, and although it’s a good thing to have multiple companies, more choices can make it harder to find the best rates.

The purpose of this post is to familiarize you with the best way to quote coverages and some tricks to saving. If you are paying for car insurance now, you should be able to reduce your rates substantially using these techniques. But consumers must know the way insurance companies determine prices and apply this information to your search.

How to buy insurance

Most companies provide coverage price quotes directly from their websites. Getting prices online is fairly straightforward as you simply enter your required coverages into the form. Upon sending the form, the system pulls your driving record and credit report and generates pricing information based on these factors. Online quotes makes it simple to compare prices but the process of having to visit each company’s website and repetitively enter the same data into a form gets old quite quickly. But it’s necessary to compare as many rates as possible in order to find better insurance pricing.

The easiest way to find cheaper rates is to use a quote form to get prices from a lot of companies. It’s a real time-saver, eliminates form submissions, and makes rate comparisons much more enjoyable. Immediately after you send the form, it is quoted and you are able to buy any one of the quotes returned.

If a lower price is quoted, you simply finish the application and purchase the new policy. This process can be completed in less than 10 minutes and may result in a nice savings.

In order to find out how much you can save on insurance, click here to open in a new tab and submit your coverage information. To compare your current rates, we recommend you duplicate exactly as they are listed on your policy. This guarantees you will have rate comparison quotes using the exact same coverages.

Find hidden discounts on auto insurance

Some providers don’t necessarily list every possible discount in a way that’s easy to find, so here is a list a few of the more common and also the more inconspicuous discounts you could be receiving when you buy insurance online. If you are not receiving all the discounts possible, you could be getting lower rates.

  • Organization Discounts – Being a member of a civic or occupational organization is a good way to get lower rates when shopping for auto insurance.
  • Multi-car Discount – Buying coverage for several vehicles with one company could earn a price break for each car.
  • Air Bag Discount – Factory options such as air bags or motorized seat belts can qualify for discounts of more than 20%.
  • Accident-Free Discounts – Drivers who stay claim-free get the best auto insurance rates in comparison to drivers with a long claim history.
  • Military Discounts – Having a family member in the military can result in better auto insurance rates.
  • Bundled Policy Discount – If you can bundle your home and auto insurance with the same insurance company you could save up to 20% and get you cheap insurance.
  • Paperwork-free – A few companies may give you up to $50 shop insurance on your computer.

Just know that most discounts do not apply to your bottom line cost. Most cut specific coverage prices like liability, collision or medical payments. So when it seems like adding up those discounts means a free policy, it doesn’t quite work that way.

Companies and their offered discounts are outlined below.

  • State Farm discounts include student away at school, multiple policy, Steer Clear safe driver discount, multiple autos, good driver, anti-theft, and driver’s education.
  • Liberty Mutual offers premium reductions for newly retired, exclusive group savings, newly married, preferred payment discount, and new move discount.
  • American Family includes discounts for Steer into Savings, defensive driver, mySafetyValet, multi-vehicle, good driver, bundled insurance, and accident-free.
  • Progressive may offer discounts for multi-vehicle, continuous coverage, online signing, multi-policy, and good student.
  • Farmers Insurance offers discounts including switch companies, early shopping, good student, electronic funds transfer, mature driver, multi-car, and youthful driver.
  • Auto-Owners Insurance offers discounts for air bags, safe vehicle, teen driver, mature driver, and paperless.
  • SAFECO has discounts for multi-car, drive less, accident prevention training, teen safe driver, anti-theft, bundle discounts, and teen safety rewards.

If you need inexpensive insurance quotes, ask each company or agent what discounts are available to you. Some credits may not apply in your area.

Tailor your insurance coverage coverage to you

When it comes to choosing proper insurance coverage for your vehicles, there really is no perfect coverage plan. Your needs are not the same as everyone else’s so this has to be addressed. These are some specific questions can help discover if your insurance needs may require specific advice.

  • Do I benefit by insuring my home with the same company?
  • Are rental cars covered under my policy?
  • Can I still get insurance after a DUI?
  • Is my teen driver covered when they drive my company car?
  • Should I rate my 2005 Pontiac Vibe as pleasure use or commute?
  • What are the best liability limits?
  • Should I carry comprehensive and collision coverage?
  • Should I get collision insurance on every vehicle?
  • Do I need more liability coverage?

If you’re not sure about those questions but you think they might apply to your situation, you might consider talking to a licensed insurance agent. If you don’t have a local agent, complete this form or you can go here for a list of companies in your area.

How to lower your insurance costs

One of the most helpful ways to save on insurance is to to have a grasp of some of the factors that are used to determine the level of your policy premiums. If you understand what determines base rates, this helps enable you to make changes that could result in lower insurance prices.

  • Male prices may be higher – Over time, data shows that women are safer drivers than men. The data does not necessarily mean that females are better drivers. Women and men cause at-fault accidents in similar percentages, but the males have costlier accidents. In addition to higher claims, males also receive more costly citations such as DWI and reckless driving.
  • Insurance rates in urban areas – Residing in smaller towns and rural areas of the country can save you money when trying to find low car insurance rates. Drivers who live in large cities regularly have traffic congestion and more time behind the wheel. Lower population means fewer accidents in addition to lower liability claims
  • Prices increase with policy add-ons – There are a ton of additional extra coverages that sound like a good idea at the time if you aren’t diligent. Coverage for things like vanishing deductibles, towing coverage, and additional equipment coverage are probably not needed. They may sound like good ideas initially, but if you have no use for them think about removing them and cutting costs.
  • Consolidate policies with the same company – Most major insurance companies give lower prices to clients that buy multiple policies, otherwise known as a multi-policy discount. Even with this discount, it’s in your best interest to comparison shop to help ensure you have the lowest rates. Drivers may still save money by buying from different companies

Can you really save that much by switching?

Car insurance providers like 21st Century, Allstate and State Farm continually stream ads on television and other media. All the companies seem to make the promise about savings if you switch your car insurance coverage to their company. How is it possible that every company can charge you less for auto insurance? You have to listen carefully.

Many companies give the cheapest rates for a prospective insured that will generate a profit. An example of this type of driver might have to be between 25 and 40, has few claims, and does not commute to work. A driver that fits those parameters may get the lowest auto insurance rates and will also save when they switch companies.

Potential insureds who fall short of the “perfect” profile will probably be forced to pay a higher rate which results in the customer not buying. The ad wording is “drivers that switch” not “everybody who quotes” save that kind of money. This is how companies can truthfully make those statements.

This illustrates why it’s extremely important to get insurance quotes as often as possible. Because without a comparison, you cannot know which insurance companies will have the lowest rates.

Coverage specifics

Understanding the coverages of your policy aids in choosing appropriate coverage and the correct deductibles and limits. The coverage terms in a policy can be ambiguous and reading a policy is terribly boring. Listed below are the normal coverages found on most insurance policies.

Comprehensive insurance

This pays to fix your vehicle from damage caused by mother nature, theft, vandalism and other events. A deductible will apply and the remainder of the damage will be paid by comprehensive coverage.

Comprehensive coverage pays for claims like hitting a deer, damage from getting keyed and hail damage. The maximum payout your insurance company will pay is the actual cash value, so if the vehicle is not worth much it’s not worth carrying full coverage.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM)

This coverage provides protection when other motorists are uninsured or don’t have enough coverage. This coverage pays for injuries to you and your family and damage to your 2005 Pontiac Vibe.

Due to the fact that many drivers only carry the minimum required liability limits, it doesn’t take a major accident to exceed their coverage limits. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage should not be overlooked. Frequently the UM/UIM limits are identical to your policy’s liability coverage.

Med pay and Personal Injury Protection (PIP)

Med pay and PIP coverage kick in for short-term medical expenses such as pain medications, X-ray expenses and ambulance fees. They are often used in conjunction with a health insurance policy or if you are not covered by health insurance. They cover not only the driver but also the vehicle occupants and also covers any family member struck as a pedestrian. PIP is only offered in select states but it provides additional coverages not offered by medical payments coverage

Liability car insurance

This coverage will cover damage that occurs to other people or property by causing an accident. It protects YOU against other people’s claims. Liability doesn’t cover your injuries or vehicle damage.

Liability coverage has three limits: bodily injury for each person injured, bodily injury for the entire accident and a property damage limit. You commonly see values of 25/50/25 which stand for a $25,000 limit per person for injuries, a limit of $50,000 in injury protection per accident, and a total limit of $25,000 for damage to vehicles and property. Some companies may use a combined single limit or CSL which limits claims to one amount with no separate limits for injury or property damage.

Liability coverage protects against things such as repair costs for stationary objects, repair bills for other people’s vehicles and pain and suffering. How much liability coverage do you need? That is up to you, but you should buy as large an amount as possible.

Collision protection

This pays to fix your vehicle from damage resulting from a collision with an object or car. You have to pay a deductible and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.

Collision can pay for claims like crashing into a ditch, sustaining damage from a pot hole, backing into a parked car, colliding with another moving vehicle and hitting a mailbox. Paying for collision coverage can be pricey, so consider dropping it from vehicles that are 8 years or older. Drivers also have the option to increase the deductible to bring the cost down.

Final thoughts

Some insurance providers may not offer internet price quotes and most of the time these smaller companies sell through independent insurance agents. Cheaper car insurance is attainable online in addition to many insurance agents, and you need to price shop both to get a complete price analysis.

When trying to cut insurance costs, don’t be tempted to buy poor coverage just to save money. In many instances, drivers have reduced full coverage and learned later that it was a big mistake. Your strategy should be to purchase plenty of coverage at the lowest possible cost while not skimping on critical coverages.

Additional articles