There isn’t a single person who enjoys paying for car insurance, in particular when they could find better rates elsewhere. Big companies like Geico and Progressive all claim big savings with ad campaigns and it is difficult to ignore the flashy ads and do the work needed to find the best deal.
It’s a great practice to compare rates occasionally due to the fact that insurance prices change quite often. Just because you had the best price a couple years back you can probably find a lower rate today. There are a lot of ways to save on car insurance on the internet, but in a few minutes you can learn a lot of great tips on how to quit paying high car insurance rates.
Cheaper Missouri car insurance rates with discounts
Companies that sell car insurance do not advertise every possible discount in an easy-to-find place, so the below list has a few of the more common as well as the least known discounts you could be receiving when you .
- Payment Method – If paying your policy premium upfront instead of paying each month you can avoid the installment charge.
- Senior Citizen Discount – If you qualify as a senior citizen, you may be able to get a slight reduction on a .
- Air Bags and Passive Restraints – Vehicles equipped with air bags or motorized seat belts may earn rate discounts of 20 to 30 percent.
- Data Collection Discounts – Insureds who allow driving data submission to scrutinize where and when they drive by using a small device installed in their vehicle like Drivewise from Allstate or In-Drive from State Farm could save a few bucks if their driving habits are good.
- Multi-Vehicle Discounts – Drivers who insure multiple cars or trucks with the same car insurance company can get a discount for every vehicle.
Consumers should know that most discounts do not apply to your bottom line cost. Most only cut the cost of specific coverages such as collision or personal injury protection. If you do the math and it seems like having all the discounts means you get insurance for free, it just doesn’t work that way. Any amount of discount will definitely reduce the cost of coverage.
Larger car insurance companies and some of the discounts are outlined below.
- State Farm policyholders can earn discounts including multiple policy, defensive driving training, good student, Drive Safe & Save, and Steer Clear safe driver discount.
- American Family offers discounts including good driver, air bags, bundled insurance, Steer into Savings, and multi-vehicle.
- Geico offers premium reductions for driver training, good student, anti-theft, five-year accident-free, military active duty, and defensive driver.
- 21st Century has savings for anti-lock brakes, teen driver, automatic seat belts, 55 and older, and homeowners.
- Progressive may have discounts that include good student, online quote discount, multi-vehicle, homeowner, and continuous coverage.
Before purchasing a policy, check with all the companies to give you their best rates. Some credits might not be offered on policies everywhere. To locate companies that provide some of the discounts listed above in Perryville, click here to view.
You may need advice from a local insurance agent
A small number of people just want to sit down and talk to an agent and often times that is recommended Professional agents can help you build your policy and help file insurance claims. A good thing about price shopping on the web is you can get cheap car insurance rates and still have an agent to talk to.
To help locate an agent, after submitting this short form, the quote information is emailed to local insurance agents who will give you bids and help you find cheaper coverage. You won’t need to contact any insurance agencies because quoted prices will be sent to your email. If you want to get a price quote from a particular provider, you just need to navigate to their website to submit a rate quote request.
Finding the right insurance company requires you to look at more than just a cheap quote. These are some valid questions you should ask.
- Do you have coverage for a rental car if your vehicle is in the repair shop?
- If your car is totalled, how to they determine the replacement cost?
- Do the coverages you’re quoting properly cover your vehicle?
- Do they have any clout with companies to ensure a fair claim settlement?
- Do they make recommendations based only on price?
- Are all drivers listed on the coverage quote?
- Does the company use OEM repair parts?
If you want a reputable agency, there are a couple of types of insurance agents that you can select. Agents in Perryville can either be independent or captive depending on the company they work for. Either type can write car insurance policies, but it’s a good idea to understand how they differ since it could factor into the kind of agent you use.
Captive Agents
Captive agencies can only provide pricing for a single company and examples are Allstate, State Farm and Farmers Insurance. Captive agents cannot give you multiple price quotes so they have no alternatives for high prices. Captive insurance agents are usually well trained on their products and sales techniques and that enables them to sell even at higher rates.
Below are Perryville captive agencies that are able to give price quotes.
Shelter Insurance – 519 N Main St # 1 – Perryville, MO 63775 – (573) 547-2501
American Family Insurance – 705 N Kingshighway St – Perryville, MO 63775 – (573) 547-8999
Farm Bureau Insurance – 21 W Saint Joseph St – Perryville, MO 63775 – (573) 547-6343
Independent Agents
Independent agents often have affiliation with several companies so they can insure your vehicles through many companies depending on which coverage is best. If premiums increase, your agent can switch companies and you can keep the same agent.
If you need lower rates, we recommend you include price quotes from several independent insurance agents to get the most accurate price comparison.
Shown below is a list of independent agencies in Perryville who can help you get comparison quotes.
Perry County Insurance – 218 W Sainte Maries St – Perryville, MO 63775 – (573) 547-1035
Emmendorfer Insurance Inc – 625 W Saint Joseph St – Perryville, MO 63775 – (573) 547-6513
For more insurance agents in Perryville, feel free to visit this list of Perryville, MO insurance agencies.
If you receive good responses to any questions you may have and an affordable coverage quote, chances are good that you have found an auto insurance agent that will properly insure your vehicles. Just remember consumers can cancel your coverage whenever you choose to so don’t feel you are locked into a specific agent with no way out.
Car insurance buyers beware
Missouri consumers can’t get away from ads that claim the lowest premium rates from companies such as State Farm, Geico and Progressive. All the ads advertise the message that drivers can save some big amount if you switch your car insurance policy to them.
How do they all save you money?
Different companies quote their cheapest rates for the type of driver that will not have excessive claims. For example, a profitable customer could be a mature driver, has no driving citations, and insures a new vehicle. A customer that matches those criteria will probably get cheap prices and have a good chance to cut their rates if they switch.
People who may not quite match this ideal profile may be required to pay more expensive rates with the end result being the customer buying from someone else. Company advertisements say “customers that switch” not “everyone who quotes” save that kind of money. That is how insurance companies can confidently make claims that they all have the best prices. This illustrates why it is so important to quotes as often as possible. It’s impossible to know the company that will have the lowest rate quotes.
Specific coverage details
Knowing the specifics of a car insurance policy helps when choosing the right coverages and proper limits and deductibles. Policy terminology can be difficult to understand and reading a policy is terribly boring. These are the normal coverages offered by car insurance companies.
UM/UIM (Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist) coverage
Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage provides protection from other drivers when they are uninsured or don’t have enough coverage. Covered losses include medical payments for you and your occupants and also any damage incurred to your vehicle.
Since a lot of drivers only purchase the least amount of liability that is required (25/50/10 in Missouri), their liability coverage can quickly be exhausted. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage is very important.
Liability car insurance
This coverage can cover damage or injury you incur to other’s property or people that is your fault. Liability coverage has three limits: bodily injury for each person, bodily injury for the entire accident, and a limit for property damage. Your policy might show policy limits of 50/100/50 which means a $50,000 limit per person for injuries, a per accident bodily injury limit of $100,000, and property damage coverage for $50,000.
Liability insurance covers claims like legal defense fees, medical expenses, repair bills for other people’s vehicles and court costs. The amount of liability coverage you purchase is up to you, but it’s cheap coverage so purchase as much as you can afford. Missouri requires minimum liability limits of 25,000/50,000/10,000 but it’s recommended drivers buy better liability coverage.
Auto collision coverage
Collision coverage pays to fix your vehicle from damage resulting from a collision with an object or car. You will need to pay your deductible and then insurance will cover the remainder.
Collision coverage pays for things such as crashing into a building, hitting a parking meter, rolling your car, sustaining damage from a pot hole and colliding with another moving vehicle. This coverage can be expensive, so consider dropping it from older vehicles. It’s also possible to raise the deductible to get cheaper collision coverage.
Medical payments and PIP coverage
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage kick in for bills like pain medications, X-ray expenses and ambulance fees. The coverages can be utilized in addition to your health insurance program or if you are not covered by health insurance. It covers all vehicle occupants and also covers being hit by a car walking across the street. PIP coverage is not an option in every state and gives slightly broader coverage than med pay
Comprehensive auto coverage
Comprehensive insurance coverage pays to fix your vehicle from damage caused by mother nature, theft, vandalism and other events. You first must pay your deductible then your comprehensive coverage will pay.
Comprehensive insurance covers things like damage from flooding, a tree branch falling on your vehicle and hitting a bird. The highest amount a car insurance company will pay at claim time is the ACV or actual cash value, so if your deductible is as high as the vehicle’s value it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.
Even more information can be found at the Missouri Department of Insurance website. Consumers can report car insurance fraud, learn about insurance regulations, view a list of available companies, and get help finding coverage.
You can find cheaper coverage
While you’re price shopping online, it’s a bad idea to reduce needed coverages to save money. There have been many cases where consumers will sacrifice full coverage only to find out that they should have had better coverage. Your goal is to purchase a proper amount of coverage at the best price.
We just presented many tips how you can shop for car insurance online. It’s most important to understand that the more you , the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. You may even discover the best price on car insurance is with a smaller regional carrier. Regional companies can often provide lower rates in certain areas compared to the large companies like State Farm and Allstate.