Every driver needs car insurance but unfortunately most do not fully understand it. When it comes to car insurance do not take things lying down. You will need to be judicious to find the cheapest one amongst all and there are specific ways in which you can achieve this seeming unachievable feat. You must shop around a lot and not restrict your search to those major car insurers only. Many a times it is seen that the smaller insurers that you have never heard of come up with cheaper and better variants of car insurances.
There are dozens of car insurance companies that you will come across, both the large national players as well as the small regional insurers. All of them will be vying for your business but that does not mean any and every one of them is worth it. You must look over and beyond the several tempting and eye glazing collection of policy options and offers that often will make it hard for you to choose.
You should ideally compare different policies of different insures and take time to do enough research before you finally figure out which one is the best suited for your purpose and which one is the cheapest car insurance. Well, this post about cheap car insurance will help you to do exactly that.
Do not make assumptions
When you are looking for best coverage at the best possible rate you should not assume that a specific company is the cheapest. Insurance business is booming and highly competitive which is why most of the insurance companies spend thousands of dollars on commercials. They will put their ads in all possible places and platforms just to convince you that they offer the best and lowest car insurance rates.
- However, prices that you pay for a similar policy may vary significantly from the others paying for it in the same company as yours. That means no single insurer can claim to be the leader for everyone offering low-price insurance.
- It all depends on the location of the driver. An insurance company may be cheapest for a driver residing in state A, while for another driver residing in state B the same insurance company can be the most expensive one.
Therefore, the only best way to ensure that you are getting the best deal is shop around different insurance companies in your state.
You should not ignore the local and regional insurers when you shop around. You never know, these smaller regional insurers may have higher customer satisfaction ratings as compared to the big names when it comes to service and claims. In addition to that in most of the cases it is found that these smaller players often offer lower rates as well.
Check for the discounts
Just like any other product, insurance products too come with discounts. Therefore make it a point that you check for discounts that several insurers may provide while you shop around. Often insurance companies offer price breaks for specific customers such as those who:
- Insure several cars with one single policy
- Roll their car insurance with other policies such as homeowners insurance
- Have a spotless driving record
- Agree to accept documents online
- Pay their full annual or six-month premium at once
- Own a car with better safety features such as certain anti-theft features and are
- Members of specific professional societies or affiliate groups.
However, do not be swayed seeing the long list of likely discounts. Instead, make sure that you compare the final prices that you have to pay from multiple insurance companies.
Pay bills on time
Just like your debts, you must also pay your insurance bills on time and always. You must know that just like your eligibility for a loan, your credit score will be a significant factor when you receive the car insurance quotes in almost all of the states barring a few that do not allow insurance companies to consider their credit score while determining the insurance rates.
Your credit score is also likely to be correlated with the fact and likelihood of filing claims. According to a NerdWallet analysis it is found that:
- Having poor credit can raise the rates of car insurance of people by hundreds of dollars a year as compared with those customers who have good credit and
- Improving your credit helps you to get cheaper insurance rates.
Therefore, make sure that you pay all your utility and loan bills on time and at the same time make sure you monitor your progress by checking your credit score on a regular basis especially when you clear off a particular debt.
Other points to consider
There are a few other points that you should consider so as to make sure that you get the best insurance deal in the end.
- When you buy a car make sure that you consider insurance cost just as you consider the fuel efficiency, repair costs and other factors.
- When you sift through different insurance options always try to skip collision and comprehensive coverage if you have an older car. While collision coverage will pay for the repairs made to your vehicle after an accident, comprehensive coverage will also pay for the repairs due to damage from fire, floods, weather, vandalism and animal crashes as well as car theft. However, in both these options the maximum payout will be limited to the current market value of the car in case it is stolen or totaled.
- Also make it a point that you raise the deductible especially if you consider buying collision or comprehensive coverage as this will save you a lot of money.
- Check out the pay per mile or usage based insurance as well if you are a safe driver and do not drive many miles. You may get possible discounts based on your driving behavior which will once again save a lot of money in the end.
Lastly, if you have to add young drivers, make sure you consider all pros and cons so that you do not lose on the no-claim bonus.
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