United States
United States
There is no special secret to getting the best auto insurance rates. The simple truth is you need to shop around and compare auto insurance quotes. Many insurance companies advertize how much the average driver saves by choosing them, but be aware that the "average driver" is a statistical calculation. Your rate is based on your own individual characteristics and circumstances, which may vary considerably from the average. The only way to find out how much it will cost you is to obtain a personalized quote.
Obtaining quotes from several different insurance companies can be a time consuming process. We can help minimize the effort required by proving quotes from multiple companies, but we can’t stress enough how important it is to shop around. You may be stunned at how much auto insurance rates can vary between companies.
Be sure to perform an even comparison with regard to the level of coverage you want. Asking one insurer to provide you with a quote based on a deductible of $250, but asking another company for a quote with a $500 deductible is not going to give you a proper indication of which one is actually cheaper. You can always amend your choices before you make you final purchase, but it is always a good idea to start with an even comparison.
Sometimes you may find it easy to choose an insurance company, but you still can’t decide on how much coverage to obtain. This comes down to your personal situation and what you can afford. More coverage is always better from a financial security standpoint, but you will need to balance that out with how much you can afford.
Remember what you can afford to pay in premiums now and what you could afford to pay if you cause an accident are two different things and both require consideration. In particular, you should ensure you have adequate liability coverage for bodily injury and property damage. You state may only require a minimum of $20,000 in property damage coverage, but what will you do if you hit and total an $80,000 Mercedes?
You do need to be sensible when choosing your deductible. For example, let’s say you obtain a quote on the basis of a $500 deductible and decide to purchase the policy. During the purchase process, the agent tells you that you can lower your deductible to $250 for an additional premium of "only" $250. In this situation, it would be foolish to choose the lower deductible because the additional cost is equivalent to the extra benefit you would receive if you made a claim. Unless you are planning on making more than one claim during the policy period (which hopefully you’re not!), you are better off taking the chance that you won’t need to make any claims at all. Even if you did make one claim, you wouldn’t be any worse off than if you paid for the policy with the lower deductible to start with.
This is perhaps an extreme example, and it shouldn’t cost you an additional $250 for a $250 reduction in your deductible. But even if the cost was only $200 for a $250 reduction in deductible you would have to question whether it was worth the additional cost based on the probability of needing to make a claim.
