Some vehicle insurers offer a discount of around 5% when a customer decides to buy a policy well in advance of their current policy renewal date. Advance purchase car insurance discount is one of the less-known and hardly advertised savings that is available from many companies. This saving is not available in every state and motorists are normally required to decide on buying or renewing a policy at least 7 days in advance and pay either the full premium or the first installment.
The best way of getting this discount is to shop around well in advance of your renewal date. Companies send the renewal quotes around 30 days before the car insurance policy expiry date. And it really doesn’t take long to get a few quotes and see where your current insurer stands this time around in terms of competitiveness.
Once you find the best coverage and price and decide on the company, it is worth checking if they would offer an advance purchase vehicle insurance discount. If you cannot find any reference to it in their website, it may be worth calling them. Companies usually don’t advertise this offering but it is a known practice and some companies do advertise it.
For example, purchasing a policy 10 days in advance with Allstate can qualify you for a 10% Early Bird vehicle insurance discount. Other companies offering this discount are Farmers, USAA, Travelers, Auto-Owners, Erie, Nationwide and Progressive. Usually the earlier the better and motorists may need to purchase automobile insurance between 7 to 14 days in advance to qualify for the savings.
This would work better if you have several companies in a similar price range. Then, one of them offering a little bit more discount for signing on and paying earlier than the renewal date can swing the pendulum in their favor.
The beauty of doing your shopping in advance is that you have plenty of time to consider all your options. In that case, an advance purchase auto insurance discount may not be the only one you can qualify for. Many companies offer savings when the premium is paid in full, as well as signing up for the policy online and setting up automatic payments.
Although you may not be able to get all of the discounts together due to limitations, you can reduce costs with minimum effort when you look into your options.
Everything starts with shopping early and comparing your options. That is why it is also called Early Bird auto insurance discount. You need to get a few quotes from various companies and see which one offers you the best rates. Then, you know you already have a very good price and you are trying to bring it down even further. If you skip this process, you may be wasting your time with your expensive current insurer.
If a company is expensive, getting a 5% discount for early signing won’t make much of a dent on their prices. That is why, the first thing to do is to find the lowest priced company and then you can approach them for further savings.
Vehicle insurance companies are so different in the way they determine their prices and offer discounts. Also, state rules may limit the offers. Often, motorists come across saying that premiums are non-negotiable. Nevertheless, there are so many ways of sweetening a deal and often it isn’t much different than negotiating. Nearly always there are ways of lowering premiums even further after finding the cheapest price car insurance.
Even large companies like Progressive, State Farm, Allstate and GEICO offer several further discounts. For example, motorists may be able to lower their premiums further by signing the policy online, paying the premium in full, going paperless and accepting the quote in advance of renewal. In effect, they are not much different than negotiation as long as you are willing to comply with the qualification requirements. It is a process of give and take at the end.