Nobody looks forward to paying for car insurance, especially when their premiums are through the roof. Because you have many insurance companies to choose from, it’s nearly impossible to locate the lowest cost insurance company.
It’s a good idea to shop coverage around at least once a year because prices are rarely the same from one policy term to another. Even if you think you had the best price on Brooklands insurance a few years ago you can probably find a lower rate today. So forget all the misinformation about car insurance because you’re going to get a crash course in the things you must know in order to find better rates and still maintain coverage.
Choosing the best insurance company for you is not rocket science. If you currently have a car insurance policy, you will most likely be able to cut costs considerably using these techniques. Drivers only need an understanding of the proper methods to compare rates online.
How to Compare Car Insurance Costs
Most major insurance companies such as State Farm and Allstate provide coverage price quotes directly from their websites. Getting online quotes doesn’t take much effort as you simply enter the amount of coverage you want as requested by the quote form. Once entered, the company’s rating system orders your driving record and credit report and returns a price. This streamlines rate comparisons, but the process of having to visit each company’s website and repetitively type in the same information can get tiresome after awhile. Unfortunately, it is important to get many rate quotes in order to find the lowest car insurance rates.
The preferred way to compare rates uses one form to return rates from many companies. It’s a real time-saver, reduces the work, and makes online shopping a little more enjoyable. After your information is entered, it gets priced and you can select any or none of the price quotes you receive. If you find a better price it’s easy to complete the application and purchase coverage. The whole process only takes a few minutes and may save quite a bit of money.
To save time and find out what other companies charge, click here to open in a new tab and submit the form. If you have your current policy handy, we recommend you copy your coverages exactly as they are listed on your policy. This way, you will get an apples-to-apples comparison for similar coverage.
Specific coverage details
Understanding the coverages of car insurance can help you determine which coverages you need at the best deductibles and correct limits. Policy terminology can be impossible to understand and nobody wants to actually read their policy. These are the normal coverages offered by car insurance companies.
Collision – This pays to fix your vehicle from damage resulting from colliding with a stationary object or other vehicle. You first must pay a deductible and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.
Collision can pay for things such as damaging your car on a curb, crashing into a building, crashing into a ditch and backing into a parked car. This coverage can be expensive, so consider removing coverage from lower value vehicles. It’s also possible to choose a higher deductible to save money on collision insurance.
Med pay and Personal Injury Protection (PIP) – Medical payments and Personal Injury Protection insurance kick in for immediate expenses for things like X-ray expenses, surgery and EMT expenses. They can be utilized in addition to your health insurance policy or if you lack health insurance entirely. Medical payments and PIP cover you and your occupants as well as any family member struck as a pedestrian. PIP coverage is not universally available and may carry a deductible
Coverage for liability – This can cover damages or injuries you inflict on people or other property in an accident. This coverage protects you against other people’s claims. It does not cover your injuries or vehicle damage.
It consists of three limits, bodily injury for each person, bodily injury for the entire accident, and a limit for property damage. As an example, you may have liability limits of 100/300/100 which means $100,000 bodily injury coverage, a per accident bodily injury limit of $300,000, and a total limit of $100,000 for damage to vehicles and property.
Liability coverage protects against things such as medical services, medical expenses, pain and suffering, legal defense fees and bail bonds. How much liability should you purchase? That is your choice, but it’s cheap coverage so purchase as much as you can afford.
Comprehensive insurance – Comprehensive insurance 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 falling objects, hail damage, damage from flooding and a broken windshield. The highest amount you’ll receive from a claim is the cash value of the vehicle, so if the vehicle is not worth much it’s not worth carrying full coverage.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM) – This protects you and your vehicle’s occupants from other drivers when they either have no liability insurance or not enough. Covered losses include injuries to you and your family and also any damage incurred to your Bentley Brooklands.
Since a lot of drivers only carry the minimum required liability limits, their liability coverage can quickly be exhausted. That’s why carrying high Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage should not be overlooked.
