Nobody that owns a car anticipates paying for car insurance, in particular when they could find better rates elsewhere. Multiple car insurance companies compete to insure your vehicles, so it can be very hard to choose a company and get the best coverage at the cheapest price
Get lower-cost Henderson car insurance with discounts
Buying car insurance is not cheap, but there could be available discounts that you may not even be aware of. Most are applied at the time of quoting, but once in a while a discount must be asked about before you will receive the discount. If they aren’t giving you every credit you deserve, you’re just leaving money on the table.
- Government Employee Discount – Being employed by or retired from a federal job could provide a small rate reduction with certain companies.
- Defensive Driver Discounts – Completing a defensive driver class could save 5% or more and also improve your driving technique.
- Good Students Pay Less – Excelling in school may save you up to 25%. Most companies allow this discount until age 25.
- Pay Early and Save – If you pay your bill all at once instead of paying each month you can avoid monthly service charges.
- Save over 55 – If you qualify as a senior citizen, you can possibly qualify for reduced rates.
- Air Bags and Passive Restraints – Vehicles equipped with air bags or automatic seat belts can get savings of 20 to 30 percent.
Discounts reduce rates, but you should keep in mind that some of the credits will not apply to the entire cost. A few only apply to the cost of specific coverages such as liability, collision or medical payments. So despite the fact that it appears it’s possible to get free car insurance, car insurance companies aren’t that generous.
Popular car insurance companies and their possible discounts include:
- State Farm offers discounts for anti-theft, defensive driving training, accident-free, passive restraint, safe vehicle, driver’s education, and multiple policy.
- Farmers Insurance may include discounts for early shopping, good student, homeowner, business and professional, youthful driver, multi-car, and distant student.
- Geico includes discounts for membership and employees, daytime running lights, air bags, emergency military deployment, and multi-policy.
- American Family offers premium reductions for good driver, early bird, Steer into Savings, mySafetyValet, accident-free, good student, and bundled insurance.
- Nationwide policyholders can earn discounts including anti-theft, good student, Farm Bureau membership, defensive driving, multi-policy, and accident-free.
- Progressive has discounts for multi-policy, online signing, good student, multi-vehicle, homeowner, continuous coverage, and online quote discount.
When comparing rates, check with every company to apply every possible discount. Savings might not apply in your state. To view car insurance companies with significant discounts in North Carolina, click here.
There are several ways of comparing rate quotes from different companies. The recommended way to comparison shop is to perform an online rate comparison. This is very easy and can be done in several different ways.
- One of the simplest ways to get quotes would be an industry-wide quote request form like this one (opens in new window). This type of form eliminates the need for multiple quote forms for every car insurance company. One form will return price quotes from multiple companies.
- A more time consuming way to get comparison quotes is spending the time to visit each company’s website and repeat the quote process again and again. For example, let’s assume you want comparison quotes from Geico, Safeco and Progressive. In order to compare rates, you need to spend time going to each site individually and enter your policy data, which is why most consumers use the first method. For a list of companies in Henderson, click here.
- The least recommended method to get price estimates is driving around to insurance agents’ offices. The ability to buy insurance online can eliminate the need for a local agent unless you prefer the professional abilities that you can only get from talking to an agent. It is possible to price shop your coverage online but purchase the actual policy in an agency.
Whichever method you choose, make sure you are using the exact same quote information for each price quote. If you are comparing unequal deductibles or liability limits it’s impossible to truly determine the lowest rate in Henderson. Even a minor difference in insurance coverages or limits may cause a big price difference. Just keep in mind that obtaining a wide range of quotes provides better odds of finding a lower rate. Not every company does online rate quotes, so it’s important to also get price quotes on coverage from those companies, too.
Coverages available on your car insurance policy
Having a good grasp of a car insurance policy can be of help when determining appropriate coverage for your vehicles. The coverage terms in a policy can be ambiguous and reading a policy is terribly boring. Shown next are the usual coverages offered by car insurance companies.
Liability auto insurance
Liability insurance provides protection from injuries or damage you cause to people or other property by causing an accident. It consists of three limits, bodily injury per person, bodily injury per accident and property damage. Your policy might show liability limits of 100/300/100 which means $100,000 in coverage for each person’s injuries, a total of $300,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident, and $100,000 of coverage for damaged propery. Alternatively, you may have a combined limit which limits claims to one amount without having the split limit caps.<img class="alignright" style="padding-top:15px" src="https://www.carinsurancediy.com/wp-content/uploads/ci175-81.jpg" alt="lower rates in North Carolina” />
Liability can pay for claims like repair bills for other people’s vehicles, emergency aid, medical expenses and loss of income. How much liability should you purchase? That is a decision to put some thought into, but it’s cheap coverage so purchase higher limits if possible. North Carolina requires minimum liability limits of 30,000/60,000/25,000 but drivers should carry better liability coverage.
Collision protection
This coverage pays for damage to your vehicle resulting from colliding with a stationary object or other vehicle. A deductible applies and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.
Collision insurance covers things such as crashing into a building, hitting a parking meter and rolling your car. This coverage can be expensive, so analyze the benefit of dropping coverage from vehicles that are older. Drivers also have the option to raise the deductible in order to get cheaper collision rates.
Medical costs insurance
Medical payments and Personal Injury Protection insurance kick in for immediate expenses such as funeral costs, hospital visits, pain medications, ambulance fees and EMT expenses. They are often used in conjunction with a health insurance policy or if there is no health insurance coverage. It covers you and your occupants in addition to if you are hit as a while walking down the street. PIP coverage is only offered in select states and may carry a deductible
Comprehensive or Other Than Collision
This covers damage OTHER than collision with another vehicle or object. A deductible will apply then the remaining damage will be covered by your comprehensive coverage.
Comprehensive coverage protects against things like damage from flooding, damage from getting keyed and vandalism. The maximum payout your car insurance company will pay is the actual cash value, so if the vehicle’s value is low consider dropping full coverage.
UM/UIM Coverage
Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage provides protection when other motorists either have no liability insurance or not enough. It can pay for injuries to you and your family as well as your vehicle’s damage.
Since a lot of drivers carry very low liability coverage limits (North Carolina limits are 30/60/25), their limits can quickly be used up. That’s why carrying high Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage is important protection for you and your family. Most of the time these coverages are set the same as your liablity limits.
Quote often and quote early
Cheap car insurance can be bought from both online companies and from local agencies, and you should compare rates from both in order to have the best price selection to choose from. Some insurance providers do not provide internet price quotes and these small, regional companies only sell coverage through independent agents.
We just covered quite a bit of information on how to reduce car insurance premium rates online. The key concept to understand is the more companies you get prices for, the better likelihood of getting . Consumers may even find the lowest premium rates come from a small local company. These smaller insurers often have lower prices on specific markets than their larger competitors like State Farm, Geico and Nationwide.
As you shop your coverage around, make sure you don’t skimp on critical coverages to save a buck or two. There are many occasions where an insured dropped physical damage coverage only to find out that it was a big error on their part. Your strategy should be to buy the best coverage you can find for the lowest price and still be able to protect your assets.