Paying attention to details when buying car insurance can make sure you are protected better against future losses, have peace of mind in the meantime and save money. There are several coverage options, many discount opportunities and plenty of companies to consider. One of the first things motorists should do is to figure out what they need, how much they can pay and what is their risk tolerance. So, here are some of the details you should pay attention to.
COVERAGE OPTIONS TO CONSIDER
The first question you should answer is what coverage you should include. While doing that you should think about what level of protection you need and forget about the costs for now because you buy it to defend yourself against claims and safeguard assets from various perils. First you should see if you can get the coverage you need at a price you can afford. There are several ways of achieving this objective.
You should know that the premium difference between poor and good coverage would be only a few dollars. There are many ways to save on car insurance but cutting corners shouldn’t be one of them.
Liability coverage: Most experts would recommend $100,000/$300,000/$100,000 level of liability limits to start with. Many companies offer similar levels as standard. So, people should check to make sure they have good liability coverage. You know how much you can lose with your car but nobody can predict the value of a car you may crash onto. That is why liability coverage is important to protect your assets.
The next step is to make sure your own automobile is insured, especially if you have a loan on it or it is fairly new. There are a few cheap full coverage policies that allow adding collision and comprehensive coverage to liability at a reasonable cost.
Accident Forgiveness: If you have a good driving history and qualify for accident forgiveness coverage, you should check to see if you can add it at a reasonable price. Actually, some companies may offer this free of charge to qualifying motorists. It is a good idea to protect your good driving history.
Deductibles: Companies set their lowest deductible levels with the policies they offer. Ideally, you want it to be as low as possible to avoid paying too much out of pocket in case of a claim. Nevertheless, you may consider increasing deductibles if your aim is to save as much money as possible and if it reduces auto insurance premiums enough.
Some of the other coverage options to consider are Rental Car Reimbursement, Uninsured Motorist Coverage, Personal Injury Protection and Towing, depending on their cost, your other insurance policies and memberships.
DON’T MISS OUT ON DISCOUNTS
There are many discounts motorists can qualify for and each one of them affects the bottom line. If you have a good driving record, you can apply to many companies and get cheap car insurance. Even if you don’t have a clean history, you may have a good credit score to boost and you could aim to make the most of it. Being aware of your risk profile helps in making the most of your strong points.
Even if motorists are considered high-risk, they may still be able to stay with mainstream insurers, who would offer one or two discounts. On the other hand, non-standard insurers would just charge them high rates and don’t offer discounts.
Furthermore, there are many discounts people can qualify for just for the way they pay their premiums or buy policies. Once you find the best prices, you may start looking for additional discounts to lower the premiums further. For example, you can check to see which company would offer you the highest discount for paying the premium in full. This is a further discount on the quoted premiums. People can get as much as 14% for just paying the premium in full.
If this is not possible, some companies offer discounts for setting up automatic payment for installments. All you need is to set a direct automatic payment from your bank to their bank.
Advance Purchase is another very simple and effective discount available to everyone. All you need to do is to shop around as early as possible. Once you decide on the company, you can approach them and ask if they would offer savings if you purchase the policy well in advance of your renewal date. Companies often offer around 5% savings for this.
PRICE ALWAYS MATTERS
Not only should you try to get all the discounts you qualify for but also you should aim to get the largest savings for it. And the only way of achieving this is by getting several quotes and seeing which companies offer competitive quotes. If you can get a cluster of insurers offering similarly low premiums you can afford to eliminate one or two and choose the most desirable insurer. That is why it is important to get as many quotes as possible.
There is no need to kid ourselves as we have to make choices due to budgetary constraints everyday. If we spend X amount of money on item A it can mean that we cannot afford item B anymore. That is why motorists should never buy car insurance without shopping around for the best prices.
When shopping for auto insurance, the trick is to get the same or better coverage at a cheaper price and not to trade coverage for lower premiums.
It is not much to ask to get good value for money. Wanting a cheaper vehicle insurance policy doesn’t mean you are going to accept an inferior one. Every company price risks differently and that is one of the key reasons for price differences between companies.
One of the secrets of shopping for auto insurance is that larger companies are more competitive and therefore people should start getting their quotes from companies like State Farm, GEICO, Progressive, Nationwide and Allstate and get quotes from some of the smaller but competitive companies like Amica and Auto-Owners. They have a better chance of getting lower vehicle insurance rates and many discounts from them and they would not object to being insured by any one of them, if the price is right.
COMPANY PREFERENCE
The secret to choosing the right auto insurance company is to make sure you get many quotes and end up with several options at the end. Having a handful of companies to choose from allows people to consider them and pick the one that matches their personal preferences.
One mistake people should avoid when buying car insurance is to start choosing the company before getting quotes. This is the wrong way of going about it because you don’t even know if those companies are competitive. Even if this is the way you want to go about choosing a carrier, you should still get several quotes from other brands.
Taking a few minutes longer and getting properly informed allows you to compare all the options properly and make a good choice as a result. So, always start the search early to allow yourself plenty of time to choose the right policy, insurer and get the best price.
Large numbers of motorists keep putting off searching for alternative quotes until they end up auto-renewing with their existing carrier even though they are not fully satisfied with it. Auto-renewal option is there to avoid having a lapse and shouldn’t be used as an excuse for being lazy.