Many a time motorists get lucky and find genuine dirt cheap car insurance. Perhaps a company gets too eager for new customers and blows the competition out of the water. However, there may be a mistake somewhere that results in an inaccurate number. There may also be causes for suspicion as to how one particular carrier can offer a price way below the rest.
You wouldn’t think twice to drop an expensive estimate but it isn’t easy to give up on a huge saving. When you see a quote way below the rest of them you do a few things to ensure that it is acceptable.
- Get Some More Quotations
Sometimes, you may have the impression that it is too good to be true when the it comes after couple of really high ones. You should get a few more and see where they end up. You may feel that you have a fair one if one or two more of them come close enough to the lowest one. You may realize later that the problem isn’t the cheap one but the rest are too expensive. This can happen when you have an adverse record like speeding ticket. While one company can ignore just the one in a long time the others may be overly concerned that it is recent and cannot pass this point over.
- Re-check the Quote
First thing to do is to make sure that you haven’t made any mistake when you are filling out the proposal form. You can fill out the form attentively online again to confirm you did everything right. There is no issues with doing it again. Alternatively, you can call the company and let them run it through on the phone.
- Scrutinize the Coverage
If the second quote matches the first one you can check what is included. Some of them manage to offer cheap full coverage by keeping their policy basic. For example, most of them provide more than basic liability limits and they come with extras on top of Collision and Comprehensive coverage. If it appears to be basic that explains the surprisingly low ball figure.
- Confirm the Conditions Attached
Another way of managing to beat the competition and offering dirt cheap vehicle insurance is limiting the policy with conditions. For example, the coverage in question may be only for the listed drivers and there is no occasional driver provision or there is an age limit to it like over the age of 25.
- Confirm the Deductibles
Reducing the chance of small claims with higher deductibles is a good way of managing costs so that the price can be brought down. If it results in a sizeable reduction it may be acceptable to many motorists. It is a perfect example of give and take. You accept that you cannot claim for most small losses or you pay high deductible if you do. And they agree to lower the premium in exchange.
- Check the Insurer
If everything is fine so far you should start looking into the source. If it is from a well-known name it will be easier for the customer to accept it. But you need to do a little bit of research if you know nothing about them. In addition, you should make sure that the quote is genuine. Some fraudulent agents are so good at pretending to be representing a reputable firm.
- Check the Agent
The next thing you need to be careful is the agent or broker if used them. The actual provider may know nothing about it when an intermediary commits insurance frauds.
Always confirm if the broker is licensed. Both carriers and intermediaries have to be registered with the state authorities and display their license number on their websites, offices and headed papers.
Also, you should be extra careful when you come across unusual demands like cash payment. You should always use common sense no matter how much it is. For example, you should be receiving the proof and policy documents in timely manner. If they are not coming you should follow it up.
- Check the Contact Details
One way of making sure that you are looking at a genuine quote is to get it confirmed by calling the insurer direct. They will be able to either verify it or the agent. Alternatively you can even get it directly from the actual source. Sometimes, there may be slight differences on them depending on the source. But the difference shouldn’t be much.
- Decide What to Do
Everything may look or sound fine. But you can still walk away from it if you don’t feel comfortable. That is the beauty of customer power. Teenagers may grab such aggressively-priced car insurance offers with both hands especially if they buy liability only coverage for an older car and they have no assets to protect. But it wouldn’t be easy to accept it when you have a nice car and you have properties to protect against liability claims. And financially you may not feel hard pressed for a budget policy anyway.
- Be Aware of Renewal Price Bumps
Some insurers may offer really low introductory rates to hook you on. Then, they start pushing them up starting from the next renewal. They apply this strategy because most policyholders get comfortable with them and aren’t keen on switching. You can always check if there is any temporary introductory discount. In any case, watch out for premium increase at renewal after accepting a dirt-cheap vehicle insurance quote and be prepared to switch if you need.
We may desperately need very reasonable rates at times. Considering around 14% of the US motorists ride their luck everyday without coverage, nobody can blame anybody for looking for the bargain basement deals. Trying to find the cheapest automobile insurance companies doesn’t make you susceptible to a bad policy or fraudulent agent. There are many good companies with really low rates and you would be making a mistake if you don’t try to find them. Also, a smart fraudster would rather use the name of a top carrier and try to get as much money as possible from you.
Probably, you have already realized that you should follow the above steps in any case to make sure you are properly protected. It would be too late to find it out when you have a claim.