Cheaper 2010 Volkswagen Passat Insurance Cost

Did you fall for a flashy sales pitch and buy an overpriced car insurance policy? Believe me, there are lots of residents who feel the same.

People have many insurance companies to insure vehicles with, and although it’s nice to be able to choose, more options can take longer to find the lowest rates.

It’s a great practice to get comparison quotes periodically because car insurance prices are adjusted regularly by insurance companies. If you had the lowest quotes for Passat coverage last year you can probably find a better rate now. Forget all the misinformation about car insurance because we’re going to show you the easiest way to lower your annual insurance bill.

Discounts for cheaper insurance coverage rates

Insurance coverage is not cheap nor is it fun to buy but there could be available discounts that could help you make your next renewal payment. Certain credits will be shown when you purchase, but less common discounts must be inquired about before being credited.

  • Defensive Driving Course – Taking time to complete a course in defensive driver could save 5% or more if you qualify.
  • Sign Early and Save – A few insurance companies allow discounts for signing up early. This can save 10% or more.
  • Multi-line Discount – Some insurance coverage companies give a discounted insurance coverage rate on car insurance if you buy auto and life insurance together.
  • Claim-Free Discount – Drivers who don’t have accidents can earn big discounts as opposed to drivers who are more careless.
  • Pay Now and Pay Less – By paying your policy upfront instead of monthly or quarterly installments you can avoid monthly service charges.

It’s important to note that most of the big mark downs will not be given to your bottom line cost. Most only apply to the price of certain insurance coverages like medical payments or collision. So even though they make it sound like you could get a free insurance coverage policy, company stockholders wouldn’t be very happy.

A list of companies and their possible discounts are:

  • GEICO policyholders can earn discounts including federal employee, driver training, multi-policy, emergency military deployment, anti-theft, five-year accident-free, and military active duty.
  • SAFECO offers premium reductions for homeowner, anti-theft, drive less, safe driver, anti-lock brakes, and multi-car.
  • State Farm has discounts for safe vehicle, Drive Safe & Save, student away at school, good driver, defensive driving training, accident-free, and multiple policy.
  • MetLife has savings for good student, good driver, multi-policy, defensive driver, and accident-free.
  • 21st Century discounts include good student, air bags, 55 and older, homeowners, and student driver.
  • Progressive offers discounts including continuous coverage, multi-vehicle, homeowner, multi-policy, online quote discount, and good student.

If you need affordable auto insurance quotes, ask each company or agent how you can save money. Some of the earlier mentioned discounts might not be available to policyholders in your area. To locate insurance coverage companies with the best discounts, follow this link.

Compare car insurance rates

To find low cost auto insurance quotes, there are several ways of comparing price quotes from all the different companies. By far the easiest way to lower the rate you pay for 2010 Volkswagen Passat insurance consists of shopping online. This can be done using a couple different methods.

  1. The fastest way to find low rates is an all-inclusive rate comparison click here to open form in new window. This method prevents you from having to do repetitive form entry for every car insurance company. One quote request gets you price quotes from several companies.
  2. A more difficult way to get quotes online requires you to visit the website of each company and repeat the quote process again and again. For example, let’s assume you want to compare prices for Auto-Owners, Allstate and GEICO. You would be required to go to every website and punch in your information repeatedly, which can get rather old.

    For a list of companies in your area, click here.

  3. The old school way to get rate quotes is physically going to local insurance agencies. Comparing online rate quotes eliminates the middleman unless you want the professional abilities that only a licensed agent can provide. It is possible with some companies price shop online and still use a local agent.

You can use whichever method you prefer to find lower rates, just make sure you compare exactly the same quote information for each price quote. If you compare higher or lower deductibles it will be very difficult to get a fair rate comparison. Quoting even small variations in coverage limits may cause a big price difference. And when quoting car insurance, remember that making a lot of price comparisons helps locate a lower rate than you’re paying now.

Components of your Volkswagen Passat insurance costs

The best way to find cheaper insurance is to take a look at the different types of things that help calculate your insurance rates. When you know what positively or negatively controls the rates you pay, this allows you to make good choices that will entitle you to big savings. Many things are taken into consideration when premium rates are determined. Some are pretty understandable like your driving record, but other factors are not quite as obvious like your vehicle usage or how financially stable you are.

The following are a few of the “ingredients” companies use to determine your premiums.

  • When should you file a insurance claims? – If you tend to file frequent claims, you can look forward to increased rates or even have your policy non-renewed. Companies generally give the best rates to policyholders who only file infrequent claims. Your insurance policy is intended to be relied upon for claims that pose a financial burden.
  • Do you work long hours in a tough job? – Occupations like judgesair traffic controllers and dentists generally pay higher premium rates in part from intense work situations and incredibly demanding work hours. Other careers such as farmers, athletes and performers receive lower rates for Passat coverage.
  • Good credit saves on insurance – Your credit rating is a large factor in determining premium rates. Therefore, if your credit can be improved, you could be paying less to insure your 2010 Volkswagen Passat by improving your credit score. Insureds with very high credit ratings tend to be better risks to insure as compared to drivers with lower credit scores.
  • Is your vehicle theft-ready? – Choosing to buy a car with advanced anti-theft systems can get you a discount on your insurance. Anti-theft devices like OnStar found on GM vehicles, advanced tracking like LoJack, and vehicle immobilization systems all help prevent your vehicle from being stolen.
  • Insure your auto and home with one company – Lots of insurers apply lower prices to people who consolidate policies with them in the form of a multi-policy discount. Discounts can amount to anywhere from five to ten percent in most cases. Even with this discount applied, it’s still a good idea to compare other company rates to guarantee you are still saving the most.
  • Traffic violations mean higher costs – Having a clean driving record has a huge affect on how much you pay. Having a single speeding ticket or other violation can increase the cost of insurance by as much as twenty percent. Attentive drivers tend to pay less for car insurance compared to bad drivers. Drivers with multiple citations like DUI, reckless driving or excessive speeding may be required to complete a SR-22 with their state’s department of motor vehicles in order to prevent their license from being revoked.
  • Your location is important – Choosing to live in less populated areas is a good thing when insuring your vehicles. Lower population translates into fewer accident claims in addition to fewer liability claims. Drivers who live in large cities regularly have more auto accidents and longer commute times. More time on the road translates into higher accident risk.
  • Do you have enough liability insurance? – Liability coverage is the coverage that protects you when you are responsible for personal injury or accident damage. Liability provides legal defense coverage which can cost a lot. This coverage is relatively inexpensive when compared to the cost of physical damage coverage, so do not cut corners here.

Tailor your car insurance coverage to you

When buying proper insurance coverage, there is no perfect coverage plan. Your needs are not the same as everyone else’s and your policy should reflect that. Here are some questions about coverages that might help in determining if your insurance needs would benefit from professional advice.

  • What exactly is covered by my policy?
  • Is a new car covered when I drive it off the dealer lot?
  • Is there coverage for injuries to my pets?
  • Is my babysitter covered when using my vehicle?
  • I have health insurance so do I need medical payments coverage?
  • Is my cargo covered for damage or theft?

If it’s difficult to answer those questions but a few of them apply then you might want to talk to an insurance agent. To find lower rates from a local agent, complete this form or go to this page to view a list of companies.

Big names are not always cheapest

Companies like State Farm and Allstate continually stream television, radio, and online ads. They all try to convey promises about how much you will save if you just switch to them. But how can every company lower your prices? This is the trick they use.

Insurance companies give the cheapest rates for the type of customer that will most likely be profitable. An example of this type of driver could possibly be between the ages of 30 and 50, has few claims, and drives less than 5,000 miles a year. Any new insured who meets those qualifications will get a cheap rate quote and have a good chance to pay quite a bit less when switching companies.

Insureds who may not quite match those standards may be forced to pay higher rates and this results in business going elsewhere. The ad wording is “drivers that switch” not “everybody who quotes” can save as much as they claim. That’s the way companies can truthfully make those statements. Because of the profiling, it is so important to get auto insurance quotes from several different companies. It is just not possible to predict which insurance company will give you the biggest savings.

Insurance policy specifics

Learning about specific coverages of your policy can be of help when determining which coverages you need and the correct deductibles and limits. Insurance terms can be difficult to understand and coverage can change by endorsement. These are the normal coverages found on the average insurance policy.

Collision coverage

This pays to fix your vehicle from damage resulting from a collision with a stationary object or other vehicle. You first must pay a deductible and then insurance will cover the remainder.

Collision coverage pays for things like backing into a parked car, sustaining damage from a pot hole, hitting a mailbox and crashing into a ditch. Collision is rather expensive coverage, so analyze the benefit of dropping coverage from vehicles that are 8 years or older. Drivers also have the option to bump up the deductible to get cheaper collision coverage.

Med pay and Personal Injury Protection (PIP)

Med pay and PIP coverage kick in for expenses such as dental work, prosthetic devices, rehabilitation expenses and doctor visits. They are utilized in addition to your health insurance plan or if there is no health insurance coverage. They cover both the driver and occupants and will also cover if you are hit as a while walking down the street. Personal Injury Protection is only offered in select states and gives slightly broader coverage than med pay

Auto liability insurance

This protects you from damage that occurs to people or other property in an accident. This insurance protects YOU against claims from other people. Liability doesn’t cover damage sustained by your vehicle in an accident.

It consists of three limits, per person bodily injury, per accident bodily injury, and a property damage limit. Your policy might show liability limits of 50/100/50 that translate to $50,000 in coverage for each person’s injuries, a limit of $100,000 in injury protection per accident, and $50,000 of coverage for damaged propery.

Liability insurance covers claims such as court costs, repair costs for stationary objects, pain and suffering, bail bonds and funeral expenses. How much liability coverage do you need? That is a decision to put some thought into, but buy higher limits if possible.

Comprehensive insurance

Comprehensive insurance will pay to fix damage that is not covered by collision coverage. A deductible will apply then your comprehensive coverage will pay.

Comprehensive can pay for claims like a broken windshield, a tree branch falling on your vehicle, hitting a bird, damage from a tornado or hurricane and falling objects. The most your insurance company will pay is the market value of your vehicle, so if the vehicle’s value is low it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM)

This gives you protection from other drivers when they either are underinsured or have no liability coverage at all. Covered losses include hospital bills for your injuries and also any damage incurred to your 2010 Volkswagen Passat.

Because many people only carry the minimum required liability limits, it only takes a small accident to exceed their coverage. So UM/UIM coverage should not be overlooked.

Online plus local equals savings

We just covered a lot of tips how to lower your 2010 Volkswagen Passat insurance prices. The key concept to understand is the more providers you compare, the better your comparison will be. You may even discover the lowest priced auto insurance comes from a lesser-known regional company. Some small companies may cover specific market segments cheaper than the large multi-state companies such as Allstate, GEICO and Progressive.

When searching for the cheapest auto insurance quotes, it’s not a good idea to skimp on coverage in order to save money. Too many times, an insured dropped physical damage coverage only to regret at claim time that it was a big mistake. Your focus should be to purchase plenty of coverage at a price you can afford, not the least amount of coverage.

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