Expensive insurance coverage can overdraw your checking account and put a big crunch on your finances. Doing a price comparison is a great way to tighten up your finances. Many auto insurance companies compete for your insurance dollar, and it can be difficult to compare rates and get the definite cheapest price
Car insurance companies don’t always list every discount very well, so we break down some of the best known and the more hidden savings tricks you should be using. If you don’t get every credit you qualify for, you are throwing money away.
Keep in mind that most credits do not apply to the entire policy premium. Most only apply to the price of certain insurance coverages like collision or personal injury protection. Just because you may think adding up those discounts means a free policy, you’re out of luck.
To see a list of providers offering auto insurance discounts, click this link.
When buying coverage, there really is not a “best” method to buy coverage. Coverage needs to be tailored to your specific needs so your insurance needs to address that. For instance, these questions can aid in determining if you might need an agent’s assistance.
If you can’t answer these questions, you might consider talking to an agent. To find an agent in your area, simply complete this short form or click here for a list of car insurance companies in your area. It’s fast, free and can provide invaluable advice.
Knowing the specifics of a auto insurance policy helps when choosing appropriate coverage for your vehicles. Auto insurance terms can be ambiguous and even agents have difficulty translating policy wording. These are typical coverages offered by auto insurance companies.
Medical payments and PIP coverage
Medical payments and Personal Injury Protection insurance provide coverage for expenses for nursing services, hospital visits and prosthetic devices. They are used to cover expenses not covered by your health insurance policy or if you do not have health coverage. Coverage applies to all vehicle occupants and will also cover any family member struck as a pedestrian. PIP is not an option in every state but it provides additional coverages not offered by medical payments coverage
Liability car insurance
Liability coverage provides protection from damage or injury you incur to other people or property that is your fault. Coverage consists of three different limits, bodily injury per person, bodily injury per accident and property damage. As an example, you may have policy limits of 100/300/100 that means you have a $100,000 limit per person for injuries, a limit of $300,000 in injury protection per accident, and a limit of $100,000 paid for damaged property.
Liability can pay for claims like funeral expenses, attorney fees, court costs, structural damage and bail bonds. How much liability should you purchase? That is a decision to put some thought into, but it’s cheap coverage so purchase higher limits if possible.
Collision coverage protection
This pays to fix your vehicle from damage resulting from a collision with a stationary object or other vehicle. You will need to pay your deductible and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.
Collision coverage protects against things such as backing into a parked car, damaging your car on a curb and scraping a guard rail. This coverage can be expensive, so consider dropping it from vehicles that are 8 years or older. Drivers also have the option to bump up the deductible to bring the cost down.
UM/UIM (Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist) coverage
This coverage protects you and your vehicle when other motorists either are underinsured or have no liability coverage at all. Covered claims include injuries sustained by your vehicle’s occupants as well as your vehicle’s damage.
Since a lot of drivers have only the minimum liability required by law, their liability coverage can quickly be exhausted. For this reason, having high UM/UIM coverages is a good idea.
Comprehensive auto coverage
This will pay to fix damage caused by mother nature, theft, vandalism and other events. You need to pay your deductible first then your comprehensive coverage will pay.
Comprehensive coverage pays for things like hitting a deer, a broken windshield, fire damage, theft and a tree branch falling on your vehicle. The highest amount your auto insurance company will pay is the ACV or actual cash value, so if it’s not worth much more than your deductible consider removing comprehensive coverage.
Cheaper 1992 Chevy C/K 1500 Series insurance is available on the web in addition to many insurance agents, and you need to comparison shop both in order to have the best chance of saving money. Some companies do not provide you the ability to get quotes online and usually these smaller companies provide coverage only through local independent agents.
As you prepare to switch companies, make sure you don’t reduce needed coverages to save money. Too many times, drivers have reduced full coverage only to discover later that the savings was not a smart move. The aim is to buy the best coverage you can find for the lowest price.
You just learned quite a bit of information on how to shop for insurance online. The key concept to understand is the more quotes you get, the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. You may even discover the best price on auto insurance is with some of the smallest insurance companies. Regional companies may have significantly lower rates on certain market segments as compared to the big name companies such as State Farm, Geico and Nationwide.
Additional detailed information can be read at these sites: