Nobody that owns a car rejoices having to buy auto insurance, especially knowing the cost is too high. With so many options when it comes to auto insurance, it can be hard to pick the lowest price auto insurance provider.
It’s a great practice to do price comparisons on a regular basis because prices are adjusted regularly by insurance companies. Even if you got the best deal for CLK320 insurance a couple years back there is a good chance you can find better rates now. Block out anything you think you know about auto insurance because you’re going to learn the tricks you need to know to properly buy coverages and cut your premium.
Most major insurance companies allow consumers to get prices on the web. Getting prices online doesn’t take a lot of time as all you need to do is type in your coverage information as detailed in the form. Upon sending the form, their rating system sends out for credit information and your driving record and generates a price based on many factors. Online price estimates simplifies rate comparisons, but having to visit many different websites and complete many quote forms is repetitive and time-consuming. Unfortunately, it is important to do this if you want to find the best price possible.
The easiest way to find cheaper rates uses just one form to return rates from a lot of companies. This type of form saves time, reduces the work, and makes online price comparison much more enjoyable. As soon as you send your information, it is rated and you can choose any one of the pricing results.
If the quotes result in lower rates, you can click and sign and buy the new coverage. The entire process only takes a few minutes and you’ll know if lower rates are available.
If you want to fill out one form to compare multiple rates now, click here to open in a new tab and fill out the form. If you have a policy now, it’s recommended that you enter deductibles and limits as close as possible to your current policy. This makes sure you are getting comparison quotes for similar insurance coverage.
You may qualify for discounts
Companies offering auto insurance don’t always list every disount available in a way that’s easy to find, so we took the time to find some of the more common and the more hidden discounts that may be available. If you aren’t receiving every discount available, you’re just leaving money on the table.
- Drivers Ed for Students – Teen drivers should successfully complete driver’s ed class if it’s offered in school.
- Own a Home and Save – Simply owning a home may earn you a small savings since home ownership requires personal responsibility.
- No Claim Discounts – Drivers with accident-free driving histories can save substantially in comparison to accident-prone drivers.
- Seat Belt Usage – Requiring all passengers to use a seat belt may be able to save a few bucks off the personal injury premium cost.
- Buy New and Save – Adding a new car to your policy can cost up to 25% less due to better safety requirements for new model year vehicles.
One last thing about discounts, some credits don’t apply the the whole policy. The majority will only reduce individual premiums such as comp or med pay. Even though the math looks like you would end up receiving a 100% discount, it’s just not the way it works.
A list of companies and their offered discounts are outlined below.
- State Farm has discounts for anti-theft, driver’s education, accident-free, defensive driving training, and multiple autos.
- Farmers Insurance may include discounts for business and professional, early shopping, teen driver, pay in full, good student, youthful driver, and bundle discounts.
- GEICO may have discounts that include military active duty, multi-policy, five-year accident-free, membership and employees, air bags, anti-lock brakes, and seat belt use.
- American Family offers discounts for mySafetyValet, early bird, accident-free, defensive driver, air bags, TimeAway discount, and multi-vehicle.
- Nationwide offers premium reductions for good student, business or organization, easy pay, multi-policy, anti-theft, Farm Bureau membership, and defensive driving.
- Progressive offers discounts including homeowner, good student, multi-policy, online signing, online quote discount, and multi-vehicle.
Check with all companies you are considering how many discounts you can get. Depending on the company, some discounts might not be offered in your state. To see a list of insurers that offer many of these discounts, follow this link.
Auto insurance savings promises
Consumers can’t get away from ads that promise big savings by 21st Century, Allstate and State Farm. All the companies advertise the message that people will save just by moving your auto insurance coverage to their company.
That’s great but how can every company offer you a better deal?
Auto insurance companies provide the lowest rates for the type of driver that will be a good risk. One example of a profitable risk profile could possibly be between 30 and 50, owns their home, and the vehicle is rated for pleasure use. Someone who matches those parameters will get low car insurance rates and will save a lot of money.
Potential customers who don’t measure up to these stringent criteria may be forced to pay a higher rate and this results in the customer buying from someone else. Company advertisements say “drivers that switch” not “all people who quote” will save that much if they switch. That is how insurance companies can claim big savings.
This really emphasizes why you need to compare many company’s car insurance rates. It is just not possible to predict with any certainty which company will have better rates than you’re paying now.
Auto insurance coverage considerations
Knowing the specifics of your policy aids in choosing appropriate coverage and proper limits and deductibles. Policy terminology can be ambiguous and nobody wants to actually read their policy. These are the usual coverages available from auto insurance companies.
Uninsured and underinsured coverage
This coverage provides protection from other motorists when they either have no liability insurance or not enough. Covered losses include hospital bills for your injuries as well as damage to your Mercedes-Benz CLK320.
Due to the fact that many drivers have only the minimum liability required by law, their limits can quickly be used up. So UM/UIM coverage is important protection for you and your family. Usually these limits are similar to your liability insurance amounts.
Auto liability insurance
Liability coverage will cover damage that occurs to people or other property that is your fault. This coverage protects you against claims from other people. Liability doesn’t cover your own vehicle damage or injuries.
Coverage consists of three different limits, bodily injury per person, bodily injury per accident and property damage. You might see values of 50/100/50 that means you have $50,000 bodily injury coverage, a total of $100,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident, and property damage coverage for $50,000. Alternatively, you may have a combined limit which limits claims to one amount and claims can be made without the split limit restrictions.
Liability coverage pays for things like medical expenses, medical services and pain and suffering. How much liability coverage do you need? That is your choice, but buy as large an amount as possible.
Coverage for medical payments
Med pay and PIP coverage reimburse you for immediate expenses like hospital visits, surgery, nursing services, EMT expenses and funeral costs. The coverages can be used to cover expenses not covered by your health insurance policy or if you are not covered by health insurance. Medical payments and PIP cover both the driver and occupants and will also cover being hit by a car walking across the street. Personal Injury Protection is not an option in every state and may carry a deductible
Comprehensive coverages
This pays to fix your vehicle from damage that is not covered by collision coverage. A deductible will apply and then insurance will cover the rest of the damage.
Comprehensive can pay for claims like hitting a deer, damage from flooding and hail damage. The maximum payout your auto insurance company will pay is the cash value of the vehicle, so if the vehicle’s value is low it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.
Collision protection
This coverage pays for damage to your CLK320 resulting from colliding with an object or car. You have to pay a deductible and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.
Collision coverage pays for things such as damaging your car on a curb, hitting a mailbox, colliding with a tree, scraping a guard rail and crashing into a building. Collision coverage makes up a good portion of your premium, so consider removing coverage from vehicles that are 8 years or older. Drivers also have the option to choose a higher deductible to bring the cost down.
A little work can save a LOT of money
The cheapest Mercedes-Benz CLK320 insurance is definitely available from both online companies and also from your neighborhood agents, and you need to comparison shop both to have the best selection. Some companies don’t offer the ability to get a quote online and most of the time these smaller providers sell through independent agents.
We just covered quite a bit of information on how to shop for Mercedes-Benz CLK320 insurance online. The key concept to understand is the more companies you get car insurance rates for, the higher your chance of finding . Consumers could even find that the biggest savings come from some of the lesser-known companies. Some small companies may have significantly lower car insurance rates on certain market segments as compared to the big name companies such as GEICO and State Farm.
