Are you tired of trying to scrape together enough money each month for car insurance? You are no different than the majority of other car owners.
Companies like Allstate, Liberty Mutual and State Farm continually bombard you with ads and it is difficult to ignore the promise of big savings and do the work needed to find the best deal.
It’s a great practice to take a look at other company’s rates at least once a year since rates fluctuate regularly. Even if you think you had the lowest rates on Freestar coverage a couple years back you can probably find a lower rate today. There is a lot of bad advice regarding auto insurance on the internet, so I’m going to show you some tested techniques to put money back in your pocket.
Companies don’t always publicize every discount in an easy-to-find place, so the following is a list of some of the best known as well as the least known discounts you could be receiving.
Keep in mind that most discounts do not apply to all coverage premiums. Some only reduce specific coverage prices like comp or med pay. So when the math indicates you would end up receiving a 100% discount, auto insurance companies aren’t that generous.
For a list of insurers offering auto insurance discounts, click this link.
When it comes to buying the right insurance coverage, there is no cookie cutter policy. Everyone’s situation is unique and your policy should reflect that. For instance, these questions can help discover whether you might need an agent’s assistance.
If it’s difficult to answer those questions but you know they apply to you, you may need to chat with a licensed insurance agent. To find an agent in your area, fill out this quick form or you can go here for a list of companies in your area.
Knowing the specifics of your car insurance policy can be of help when determining the right coverages and the correct deductibles and limits. The terms used in a policy can be difficult to understand and even agents have difficulty translating policy wording. Shown next are typical coverages offered by car insurance companies.
Coverage for uninsured or underinsured drivers
Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage protects you and your vehicle from other drivers when they either are underinsured or have no liability coverage at all. It can pay for medical payments for you and your occupants as well as your vehicle’s damage.
Since a lot of drivers have only the minimum liability required by law, it only takes a small accident to exceed their coverage. So UM/UIM coverage is a good idea.
Collision insurance
Collision insurance will pay to fix damage to your Freestar caused by collision with another vehicle or an object, but not an animal. You will need to pay your deductible and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.
Collision can pay for claims such as scraping a guard rail, damaging your car on a curb, crashing into a ditch and sustaining damage from a pot hole. Collision coverage makes up a good portion of your premium, so you might think about dropping it from vehicles that are older. It’s also possible to bump up the deductible to get cheaper collision coverage.
Comprehensive car insurance
Comprehensive insurance coverage covers damage that is not covered by collision coverage. You first must pay your deductible then the remaining damage will be covered by your comprehensive coverage.
Comprehensive coverage pays for claims like hail damage, damage from flooding, rock chips in glass, vandalism and theft. The highest amount your car insurance company will pay is the ACV or actual cash value, so if the vehicle’s value is low it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.
Coverage for medical expenses
Medical payments and Personal Injury Protection insurance pay for immediate expenses for things like funeral costs, prosthetic devices and hospital visits. They are often used to fill the gap from your health insurance policy or if you do not have health coverage. Medical payments and PIP cover all vehicle occupants as well as any family member struck as a pedestrian. Personal Injury Protection is not universally available and gives slightly broader coverage than med pay
Liability car insurance
Liability coverage can cover damage that occurs to a person or their property in an accident. This coverage protects you from claims by other people, and 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 policy limits of 50/100/50 that means you have $50,000 in coverage for each person’s injuries, a per accident bodily injury limit of $100,000, and a limit of $50,000 paid for damaged property.
Liability can pay for things like repair costs for stationary objects, attorney fees and structural damage. How much liability should you purchase? That is up to you, but you should buy as high a limit as you can afford.
Cost effective 2005 Ford Freestar insurance is possible online as well as from independent agents, so you should be comparing quotes from both to have the best chance of lowering rates. Some insurance providers don’t offer online price quotes and most of the time these smaller companies sell through independent agents.
In this article, we covered many tips how you can compare insurance prices online. The key concept to understand is the more rate comparisons you have, the better your comparison will be. Consumers may even find the biggest savings come from a company that doesn’t do a lot of advertising. Some small companies can often insure niche markets at a lower cost than their larger competitors like Progressive and Geico.