Finding lower premiums on car insurance can be difficult for consumers not familiar with comparison shopping online. Consumers have so many options available that it can easily become more work than you anticipated to locate the lowest price.
Companies offering auto insurance do not list all their discounts in an easy-to-find place, so here is a list both the well known and the harder-to-find savings tricks you should be using.
Keep in mind that many deductions do not apply to the entire cost. Some only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like comp or med pay. So when the math indicates having all the discounts means you get insurance for free, it just doesn’t work that way.
Insurance companies who might offer these discounts may include but are not limited to:
Double check with each company which discounts they offer. Savings may not apply everywhere.
Consumers need to have an understanding of some of the elements that help determine your insurance coverage rates. When you know what positively or negatively impacts premium levels allows you to make educated decisions that could result in big savings.
When it comes to buying proper insurance coverage for your personal vehicles, there is no “best” method to buy coverage. Every insured’s situation is different.
For example, these questions might point out whether your personal situation would benefit from an agent’s advice.
If you can’t answer these questions but a few of them apply, you may need to chat with an agent. To find an agent in your area, complete this form.
Understanding the coverages of a auto insurance policy helps when choosing the best coverages and the correct deductibles and limits. Auto insurance terms can be impossible to understand and even agents have difficulty translating policy wording.
Med pay and Personal Injury Protection (PIP) – Medical payments and Personal Injury Protection insurance reimburse you for bills like prosthetic devices, chiropractic care and nursing services. They can be used to fill the gap from your health insurance program or if you are not covered by health insurance. They cover not only the driver but also the vehicle occupants as well as any family member struck as a pedestrian. Personal injury protection coverage is only offered in select states and may carry a deductible
Collision – Collision coverage pays to fix your vehicle from damage from colliding with a stationary object or other vehicle. You will need to pay your deductible then your collision coverage will kick in.
Collision can pay for things like backing into a parked car, hitting a parking meter, scraping a guard rail, damaging your car on a curb and crashing into a ditch. Collision is rather expensive coverage, so consider removing coverage from older vehicles. It’s also possible to bump up the deductible to save money on collision insurance.
Comprehensive insurance – Comprehensive insurance coverage pays for damage that is not covered by collision coverage. You first must pay your deductible then your comprehensive coverage will pay.
Comprehensive insurance covers claims such as fire damage, hitting a bird, falling objects and a broken windshield. The maximum amount your auto insurance company will pay is the ACV or actual cash value, so if the vehicle is not worth much consider removing comprehensive coverage.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) – Your UM/UIM coverage provides protection when other motorists either have no liability insurance or not enough. It can pay for injuries sustained by your vehicle’s occupants and also any damage incurred to your Volvo V50.
Since many drivers carry very low liability coverage limits, it doesn’t take a major accident to exceed their coverage limits. For this reason, having high UM/UIM coverages is important protection for you and your family.
Liability coverages – Liability insurance protects you from damage that occurs to other people or property. This coverage protects you from legal claims by others. 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. You might see limits of 100/300/100 which means a limit of $100,000 per injured person, $300,000 for the entire accident, and property damage coverage for $100,000.
Liability insurance covers things like court costs, funeral expenses and emergency aid. How much liability should you purchase? That is up to you, but buy as large an amount as possible.
Drivers switch companies for a variety of reasons including delays in paying claims, denial of a claim, extreme rates for teen drivers or poor customer service. It doesn’t matter why you want to switch finding a new company is less work than it seems.
Cost effective 2005 Volvo V50 insurance can be purchased on the web and with local insurance agents, so compare prices from both to have the best chance of lowering rates. There are still a few companies who do not offer you the ability to get quotes online and usually these small, regional companies provide coverage only through local independent agents.
In this article, we presented quite a bit of information on how to get a better price on insurance. It’s most important to understand that the more you quote, the better likelihood of reducing your rate. Consumers could even find that the best prices are with a company that doesn’t do a lot of advertising.