Choosing An Affordable Car Insurance Policy

One of the best ways you can lower your car insurance expenses is to choose the right kind of car insurance, to begin with. By understanding the factors that determine a car insurance premium you will be able to save yourself thousands of dollars. In this guide, we’ll take a look at some of the things to consider when it comes to getting the right kind of car insurance.

Car Affects Premium

It’s important to note that your vehicle itself, will play a critical role in how much you pay for insurance. While companies vary in their policies, in general certain companies will cover a used car differently than a new one. The same thing can be said about different brands. For instance, a Tesla vehicle may be covered much better than a Toyota model. As such, it pays to ask your insurance provider about how your vehicle and the current state of it, affects your insurance rates.

Coverage

The first question you should as yourself is the type of coverage that you actually need. Many experts proclaim that you should consider what kind of coverage you should get before you ask for a quote. Every city has its own laws that dictate minimum car insurance requirements. In general, basic coverage consists of liability insurance. It is also commonly referred to as being ‘one-way’ insurance. The main point being is that you should look at what your county/state requires at a minimum and use that to determine what policy limits you want. A good rule of thumb to go by when it comes to lowering insurance expenses is to go for the minimum and select higher limits so that you can protect yourself. In most cases, you’ll want liability and comprehensive coverage.

If you want collision and comprehensive coverage, you will have to let the insurance company know the number of deductible amounts you wish to commit to. When it comes to getting a policy, you should also consider the possibility of adding other types of coverages, which will not come with a standard policy. For instance, some policies may cover you if your safety glass breaks, some policies do not. In a situation like that, you would want to include safety glass breakage coverage if it doesn’t come with your policy by default. Additional coverages to consider, include:

Roadside Assistance – If you’re a member of an auto club, chances are that you get roadside assistance already. If you don’t, you should strongly consider getting it, as this can alleviate the headaches that are associated with your vehicle breaking down on the side of the road.
Rental Reimbursement – This coverage consists of providing you with a vehicle that you can use if you get into an accident and your car has to be fixed in the garage.

Choosing The Right Company

The type of experience you get as an insured driver is highly dependent on the company you work with. Great deals mean nothing if you have to fight your insurance company when something happens. As such, you’ll want to practice your due diligence when it comes to evaluating their financial strength. The important thing to remember is that companies with low financial strength are the ones that will more than likely give you issues when it comes to getting assistance after a collision has occurred. Some companies will also run background checks and factor this into their price. As such, ask the company you choose to work with if they use a background check to determine your rate.

Call Several Companies

Once you’ve gathered a list of potential companies you would want to work with, you should get ready to call them. Before you call them, you’ll need to have certain pieces of information to help make the process fast and informative such as information on any claims you may have had previously, the make and model of your car, driver’s license, and driver’s history. If you already have an insurance company and want to switch to a different one, you can call your current company and ask for a letter which lists your claims history as well. You should also inquire about the possibility of getting a discount. Many companies give discounts, such as: