Did you fall for a flashy sales pitch and buy an overpriced car insurance policy? Trust us, many consumers feel financially strained by their car insurance policy. You have so many auto insurance companies to choose from, and although it’s nice to have multiple companies, too many choices makes it more difficult to find the lowest rates.
It’s smart to get comparison quotes occasionally since rates fluctuate regularly. Just because you found the lowest price for RL coverage a year ago you will most likely find a better rate today. So ignore everything you know about car insurance because we’re going to show you the best methods to lower your annual insurance bill.
Finding affordable coverage is quite easy. If you are paying for car insurance now, you will be able to cut costs considerably using these tips. Drivers just need to learn the best way to find the lowest price online.
Companies offering auto insurance don’t list all their discounts very well, so we took the time to find both the well known and the more hidden ways to save on auto insurance. If you don’t get every credit possible, you are paying more than you should be.
It’s important to note that most discounts do not apply to the entire policy premium. Most only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like collision or personal injury protection. So even though they make it sound like you would end up receiving a 100% discount, you’re out of luck.
To see a list of companies who offer auto insurance discounts, click here.
There are a lot of ways you can shop for insurance but there is one way that is less labor-intensive and much quicker. You could waste a few hours talking to local insurance agents in your area, or you can stay home and use online quotes to get rate comparisons in just a few minutes.
The majority of car insurance companies participate in an industry program that allows shoppers to enter their coverage request one time, and each company can give them a price determined by their information. This prevents consumers from doing quote requests to every company.
To enter your information into the quoting system, click to open in new window.
The one disadvantage to doing it this way is that consumers can’t choose the providers you want to price. If you wish to select specific insurance companies to compare, we have a listing of insurance companies in your area. Click here to view list.
It’s your choice how you get your quotes, but compare apples-to-apples coverages for every company. If the quotes have mixed coverages it will be very difficult to truly determine the lowest rate.
An important part of buying insurance is that you know some of the elements that go into determining your insurance rates. Having a good understanding of what impacts premium levels enables informed choices that can help you get lower insurance prices.
Listed below are a few of the “ingredients” insurance companies consider when setting your rates.
When choosing adequate coverage for your personal vehicles, there is no “perfect” insurance plan. Every insured’s situation is different and your policy should reflect that. For example, these questions may help highlight if your insurance needs could use an agent’s help.
If you don’t know the answers to these questions but a few of them apply, you might consider talking to an agent. To find lower rates from a local agent, simply complete this short form or click here for a list of car insurance companies in your area. It’s fast, free and can help protect your family.
Drivers get pounded daily by advertisements for cheaper car insurance by 21st Century, Allstate and State Farm. All the companies make the same claim about savings if you change to their company.
But how can every company say the same thing? This is how they do it.
All the different companies have a preferred profile for the type of customer they prefer to insure. A good example of a driver they prefer might be over the age of 40, insures multiple vehicles, and has great credit. Any driver who fits that profile gets the lowest rates and most likely will cut their rates substantially.
Potential customers who don’t meet the requirements will be charged a higher premium which usually ends up with business going elsewhere. The ads say “drivers who switch” but not “drivers who get quotes” save that much. This is how companies can truthfully advertise the savings. That is why you need to get a wide range of price quotes. It is impossible to predict which insurance companies will provide you with the cheapest Acura RL insurance rates.
Having a good grasp of your policy can help you determine the best coverages and the correct deductibles and limits. The terms used in a policy can be difficult to understand and nobody wants to actually read their policy. These are typical coverage types offered by auto insurance companies.
Comprehensive coverage – This will pay to fix damage OTHER than collision with another vehicle or object. You first have to pay a deductible and the remainder of the damage will be paid by comprehensive coverage.
Comprehensive coverage protects against things such as falling objects, hitting a deer, rock chips in glass, damage from flooding and damage from getting keyed. The maximum amount your auto insurance company will pay is the actual cash value, so if your deductible is as high as the vehicle’s value it’s not worth carrying full coverage.
Liability auto insurance – This protects you from damages or injuries you inflict on a person or their property in an accident. This coverage protects you from legal claims by others, and doesn’t cover your own vehicle damage or injuries.
It consists of three limits, bodily injury for each person injured, bodily injury for the entire accident and a property damage limit. As an example, you may have liability limits of 25/50/25 which stand for $25,000 in coverage for each person’s injuries, $50,000 for the entire accident, and a total limit of $25,000 for damage to vehicles and property.
Liability coverage protects against things such as medical expenses, medical services, repair bills for other people’s vehicles and repair costs for stationary objects. How much liability should you purchase? That is a personal decision, but it’s cheap coverage so purchase as high a limit as you can afford.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage – This provides protection from other motorists when they do not carry enough liability coverage. Covered claims include medical payments for you and your occupants as well as damage to your Acura RL.
Because many people carry very low liability coverage limits, it only takes a small accident to exceed their coverage. So UM/UIM coverage is a good idea.
Collision – This pays for damage to your RL resulting from colliding with another car or object. You have to pay a deductible and then insurance will cover the remainder.
Collision coverage protects against things like colliding with a tree, driving through your garage door and rolling your car. Collision is rather expensive coverage, so you might think about dropping it from vehicles that are older. Drivers also have the option to raise the deductible to get cheaper collision coverage.
Medical payments coverage and PIP – Medical payments and Personal Injury Protection insurance pay for short-term medical expenses like funeral costs, ambulance fees and X-ray expenses. They are often used to cover expenses not covered by your health insurance plan or if you are not covered by health insurance. They cover all vehicle occupants in addition to any family member struck as a pedestrian. Personal Injury Protection is not available in all states and gives slightly broader coverage than med pay
When buying insurance coverage, do not buy less coverage just to save a little money. There have been many cases where an accident victim reduced full coverage to discover at claim time that saving that couple of dollars actually costed them tens of thousands. Your strategy should be to purchase a proper amount of coverage at a price you can afford, not the least amount of coverage.
We just showed you a lot of information how to lower your 2003 Acura RL insurance rates. The most important thing to understand is the more times you quote, the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. Consumers could even find that the lowest priced auto insurance comes from a smaller regional carrier. Some small companies may only write in your state and offer lower rates than the large multi-state companies such as State Farm or Progressive.
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