No one looks forward to paying for insurance coverage, especially knowing the price is too high. Popular companies such as Allstate and Progressive constantly bombard you with advertising and it is difficult to see past the corporate glitz and take the time to shop coverage around.
The price of auto insurance can be rather high, but you may find discounts to help offset the cost. Some trigger automatically when you quote, but less common discounts must be manually applied prior to receiving the credit. If they aren’t giving you every credit you deserve, you’re paying more than you need to.
Consumers should know that most discount credits are not given to your bottom line cost. Some only apply to the cost of specific coverages such as collision or personal injury protection. Just because it seems like it’s possible to get free car insurance, it doesn’t quite work that way. Any qualifying discounts will bring down the cost of coverage.
To see a list of companies who offer insurance discounts, click here.
When it comes to choosing coverage, there really is not a cookie cutter policy. Each situation is unique and a cookie cutter policy won’t apply. For instance, these questions can help discover if you may require specific advice.
If you’re not sure about those questions but one or more may apply to you, you might consider talking to a licensed insurance agent. To find lower rates from a local agent, simply complete this short form or you can go here for a list of companies in your area. It only takes a few minutes and can provide invaluable advice.
Understanding the coverages of your policy helps when choosing the right coverages at the best deductibles and correct limits. Policy terminology can be impossible to understand and coverage can change by endorsement. Shown next are the normal coverages found on the average insurance policy.
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage reimburse you for bills for things like pain medications, prosthetic devices, EMT expenses, X-ray expenses and rehabilitation expenses. They can be used to cover expenses not covered by your health insurance policy or if there is no health insurance coverage. Medical payments and PIP cover all vehicle occupants as well as being hit by a car walking across the street. Personal injury protection coverage is only offered in select states and may carry a deductible
This will pay to fix damage to your Cougar resulting from colliding with another vehicle or an object, but not an animal. You have to pay a deductible then your collision coverage will kick in.
Collision can pay for things such as scraping a guard rail, backing into a parked car and hitting a parking meter. This coverage can be expensive, so you might think about dropping it from lower value vehicles. It’s also possible to raise the deductible to get cheaper collision coverage.
Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage gives you protection when the “other guys” either have no liability insurance or not enough. Covered claims include hospital bills for your injuries and also any damage incurred to your Mercury Cougar.
Because many people 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. Usually these coverages do not exceed the liability coverage limits.
Comprehensive insurance coverage will pay to fix damage that is not covered by collision coverage. You first have to pay a deductible and the remainder of the damage will be paid by comprehensive coverage.
Comprehensive coverage pays for claims such as a tree branch falling on your vehicle, hail damage and falling objects. The most you can receive from a comprehensive claim is the actual cash value, so if the vehicle is not worth much it’s not worth carrying full coverage.
This coverage protects you from damage that occurs to other people or property. It protects you against claims from other people. Liability doesn’t cover damage sustained by your vehicle in an accident.
Liability coverage has three limits: per person bodily injury, per accident bodily injury, and a property damage limit. As an example, you may have values of 25/50/25 which means a limit of $25,000 per injured person, $50,000 for the entire accident, and $25,000 of coverage for damaged propery. Alternatively, you may have one limit called combined single limit (CSL) which provides one coverage limit with no separate limits for injury or property damage.
Liability coverage protects against things like repair bills for other people’s vehicles, repair costs for stationary objects and legal defense fees. The amount of liability coverage you purchase is up to you, but it’s cheap coverage so purchase as large an amount as possible.
When trying to cut insurance costs, you should never buy lower coverage limits just to save a few bucks. There are a lot of situations where drivers have reduced liability coverage limits only to find out that their decision to reduce coverage ended up costing them more. Your goal should be to purchase a proper amount of coverage at the best price while not skimping on critical coverages.
Low-cost 2000 Mercury Cougar insurance is attainable on the web and also from your neighborhood agents, and you should compare price quotes from both in order to have the best price selection to choose from. A few companies may not provide the ability to get a quote online and usually these small insurance companies provide coverage only through local independent agents.
We just covered quite a bit of information on how to shop for insurance online. The most important thing to understand is the more times you quote, the better your comparison will be. You may even find the lowest premiums are with some of the smallest insurance companies. They may only write in your state and offer lower rates as compared to the big name companies such as Allstate, GEICO and Progressive.
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