Expensive car insurance can drain your personal savings and put the squeeze on your family’s finances. Comparing price quotes is a smart way to make sure you’re not throwing money away.
Companies like State Farm, Progressive and GEICO constantly blast consumers with ad campaigns and it can be hard to see past the geckos and flying pigs and effectively compare rates to find the best deal.
Car insurance companies do not list all available discounts very well, so here is a list some of the more common as well as the least known discounts you could be receiving.
It’s important to note that most credits do not apply to the overall cost of the policy. Most only apply to specific coverage prices like liability and collision coverage. Just because it seems like adding up those discounts means a free policy, companies don’t profit that way.
For a list of companies offering insurance coverage discounts, click here.
There are a lot of ways you can shop for auto insurance but one way is less time-consuming than others. You could spend the better part of a day discussing policy coverages with insurance agencies in your area, or you could save time and use online quoting to quickly compare rates.
Most of the larger companies belong to a marketplace that enables customers to only type in their quote data once, and each company returns a competitive quote based on that data. This system prevents you from having to do form submissions for every auto insurance company.
To find out how much you can save on auto insurance click here to open in new window.
The one downside to pricing coverage this way is that consumers can’t choose which companies to get quotes from. If you wish to select from a list of companies to request quotes from, we put together a list of the cheapest auto insurance companies in your area. Click to view list.
However you get your quotes, double check that you are using apples-to-apples coverages for each price quote. If the quotes have different liability limits you can’t possibly determine the lowest rate for your Mercedes-Benz 190-Class. Quoting even small variations in coverages can mean a large discrepancy in price. And when quoting auto insurance, remember that obtaining a wide range of quotes provides better odds of finding a lower rate.
When it comes to buying proper insurance coverage for your personal vehicles, there isn’t really a “best” method to buy coverage. Everyone’s needs are different so your insurance should reflect that For example, these questions may help highlight whether your personal situation might need an agent’s assistance.
If it’s difficult to answer those questions, you might consider talking to an insurance agent. If you don’t have a local agent, complete this form or go to this page to view a list of companies.
Having a good grasp of insurance helps when choosing which coverages you need and proper limits and deductibles. The coverage terms in a policy can be difficult to understand and reading a policy is terribly boring. Below you’ll find typical coverage types offered by insurance companies.
Coverage for medical payments – Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage kick in for immediate expenses like funeral costs, dental work, ambulance fees and surgery. They can be used to fill the gap from your health insurance program or if you are not covered by health insurance. They cover all vehicle occupants in addition to being hit by a car walking across the street. PIP coverage is not universally available and may carry a deductible
Uninsured and underinsured coverage – Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage gives you protection when other motorists do not carry enough liability coverage. It can pay for hospital bills for your injuries as well as damage to your 1992 Mercedes-Benz 190-Class.
Since a lot of drivers only purchase the least amount of liability that is required, their liability coverage can quickly be exhausted. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage should not be overlooked.
Coverage for liability – Liability coverage provides protection from damage or injury you incur to people or other property in an accident. It protects YOU against other people’s claims, and doesn’t cover your own vehicle damage or injuries.
It consists of three limits, bodily injury for each person injured, bodily injury for the entire accident and a property damage limit. Your policy might show policy limits of 25/50/25 which stand for $25,000 in coverage for each person’s injuries, a limit of $50,000 in injury protection per accident, and a limit of $25,000 paid for damaged property.
Liability coverage pays for claims like court costs, attorney fees and medical expenses. How much liability coverage do you need? That is a personal decision, but you should buy as high a limit as you can afford.
Collision – Collision coverage pays for damage to your 190-Class from colliding with another car or object. You will need to pay your deductible then your collision coverage will kick in.
Collision insurance covers things such as driving through your garage door, sideswiping another vehicle, rolling your car and colliding with another moving vehicle. This coverage can be expensive, so consider removing coverage from lower value vehicles. You can also bump up the deductible to save money on collision insurance.
Comprehensive coverages – Comprehensive insurance coverage covers damage caused by mother nature, theft, vandalism and other events. You need to pay your deductible first and then insurance will cover the rest of the damage.
Comprehensive can pay for things like theft, damage from getting keyed, hail damage and a broken windshield. The highest amount you’ll receive from a claim is the ACV or actual cash value, so if it’s not worth much more than your deductible consider dropping full coverage.
When buying insurance coverage, it’s very important that you do not sacrifice coverage to reduce premiums. There are many occasions where someone sacrificed uninsured motorist or liability limits and learned later that they should have had better coverage. Your focus should be to purchase plenty of coverage for the lowest price, not the least amount of coverage.
Budget-conscious 1992 Mercedes-Benz 190-Class insurance can be bought from both online companies and also from your neighborhood agents, and you need to comparison shop both to have the best chance of lowering rates. There are still a few companies who may not provide online price quotes and many times these small, regional companies only sell through independent insurance agents.
You just learned a lot of techniques to shop for insurance online. The key concept to understand is the more companies you get rates for, the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. Drivers may discover the best price on car insurance is with an unexpected company. Smaller companies may have significantly lower rates on certain market segments than the large multi-state companies such as Progressive and GEICO.