No sane person likes buying car insurance, particularly when they could find better rates elsewhere. Due to the fact that there are so many online and local companies to choose from, it can be hard to pick a more affordable car insurance company.
It’s smart to compare premium rates yearly because insurance prices trend upward over time. If you had the lowest rate a few years ago the chances are good that you can find a lower premium rate today. Forget anything you know (or think you know) about car insurance because we’re going to demonstrate one of the best ways to find the best coverage while lowering your premiums.
Buying affordable coverage in Breaux Bridge can be fairly easy. If you are insured now or are shopping for new coverage, you can learn to reduce the price you pay while maintaining coverages. Louisiana drivers only need an understanding of the tricks to buy car insurance on the web.
Do you qualify for discount car insurance?
Insurance can be prohibitively expensive, but there could be significant discounts that can drop the cost substantially. A few discounts will automatically apply when you get a quote, but once in a while a discount must be specifically requested before you will receive the discount.
- Organization Discounts – Participating in qualifying employment or professional organizations could trigger savings when getting a .
- ABS Braking Discount – Cars, trucks, and SUVs that have anti-lock braking systems prevent accidents and therefore earn up to a 10% discount.
- Breaux Bridge Homeowners Discount – Just owning your own home can save a few bucks because of the fact that having a home requires personal responsibility.
- Drivers Education – Have your child successfully complete driver’s ed class in school.
- Sign Online – A handful of insurance companies will give you a small discount for completing your application over the internet.
- Early Signing – A few larger companies allow discounts for switching to them prior to your current policy expiring. This discount can save up to 10%.
- Waiver for an Accident – Not really a discount, but some companies like Allstate and State Farm will forgive one accident without raising rates if your claims history is clear prior to being involved in the accident.
- College Student – Kids living away from home attending college and leave their car at home may be insured at a cheaper rate.
- Save over 55 – Seniors may be able to get a discount up to 10%.
You can save money using discounts, but most discounts do not apply to the entire cost. Most only cut the price of certain insurance coverages like collision or personal injury protection. So when the math indicates you would end up receiving a 100% discount, nobody gets a free ride.
A few popular companies and a selection of discounts include:
- American Family offers discounts for defensive driver, air bags, early bird, good driver, and multi-vehicle.
- Farm Bureau has discounts for 55 and retired, renewal discount, multi-vehicle, safe driver, youthful driver, multi-policy, and good student.
- State Farm may include discounts for driver’s education, multiple autos, passive restraint, multiple policy, Steer Clear safe driver discount, and defensive driving training.
- Travelers includes discounts for save driver, driver training, student away at school, payment discounts, early quote, multi-policy, and multi-car.
- The Hartford may have discounts that include driver training, air bag, bundle, anti-theft, vehicle fuel type, good student, and defensive driver.
- Geico has savings for five-year accident-free, defensive driver, emergency military deployment, good student, seat belt use, and federal employee.
- Progressive offers premium reductions for online signing, good student, multi-vehicle, homeowner, multi-policy, and online quote discount.
Check with each company or agent how you can save money. Some discounts listed above might not be available to policyholders in your state. 
Finding a better price on car insurance is actually quite simple. You just need to invest a little time comparing to find out which insurance company has . Price comparisons can be done in several different ways.
The first (and easiest) way to compare a lot of rates at once is a comparison rater form click to view form in new window. This form eliminates the need for separate quotes to each individual car insurance company. One quote request will get you price quotes from many national carriers.
A different way to get quotes online is spending the time to visit each company website to complete their respective quote request forms. For instance, we’ll pretend you need rates from State Farm, Esurance and American Family. You would be required to navigate to each company’s site to input your insurance information, and that explains why we recommend the first method. To view a list of companies in Breaux Bridge, click here.
Whichever way you use, try to keep nearly identical coverage limits and deductibles with every price quote. If you have different values for each quote it will be very difficult to find the best deal in Breaux Bridge.
Learn how to buy car insurance cheaper
Many different elements are used in the calculation when you get a price on insurance. Most are fairly basic like a motor vehicle report, but other criteria are less apparent like where you live or your financial responsibility.
The following are most of the major factors utilized by car insurance companies to help set your rates.
- Age of drivers – More mature drivers are more cautious drivers, cost insurance companies less in claims and get fewer tickets.Young drivers are proven to be careless and easily distracted when driving so car insurance rates are higher.
- Battle of the sexes – Over time, data shows that females take fewer risks when driving. Now that doesn’t mean males are worse at driving than females. Both genders cause auto accidents in similar percentages, but men tend to have higher claims. Men also get ticketed for serious violations such as reckless driving. Male teenagers are most likely to cause an accident so it costs more to insure them.
- Cheaper rates with high coverage deductibles – Insurance for physical damage to your car, also called comprehensive and collision insurance, is used to repair damage to your car. Some coverage claims are a broken windshield, flood damage, and damage from a fallen tree branch. Physical damage deductibles define how much you are required to spend out-of-pocket if a claim is determined to be covered. The more expense you pay before a claim is paid (deductible), the lower your rates will be.
- Add-on coverages that aren’t used – There are a lot of extra add-on coverages that sound like a good idea at the time on your car insurance policy. Add-on coverages like rental car reimbursement, accidental death, and extra equipment coverage are some examples. They may seem like a good idea at first, but if you have no use for them remove them from your policy.
- Poor credit history equals high costs – Your credit score will be a significant factor in determining premium rates. Therefore, if your credit history can be improved, you may save money insuring your vehicle if you clean up your credit. Insureds with high credit scores tend to be better risks to insure than those with lower ratings.
- Get a ticket, pay higher rates – Having a clean driving record can have a huge impact on auto insurance premiums. Drivers who don’t get tickets have lower premiums compared to drivers with tickets. Getting just one speeding ticket may increase your cost by twenty percent. Drivers who have received severe violations like DUI, reckless driving or excessive speeding may find they need to file a SR-22 to the state department of motor vehicles in order to continue driving.
- Safer vehicles lower car insurance rates – Cars with five star safety ratings tend to be cheaper to insure. Safe vehicles have better occupant injury protection and fewer injuries means your insurance company pays less and lower rates for you. If your vehicle is rated at least an “acceptable” rating on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety website or four stars on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website it may cost less to insure.
- More traffic equals higher premiums – Residing in a rural area has it’s advantages when talking about car insurance. Fewer drivers on the road means less chance of accidents in addition to fewer liability claims. Urban drivers regularly have more road rage incidents and more severe claims. More time commuting means more chances of being involved in an auto accident.
A tidy conclusion
As you restructure your insurance plan, it’s a bad idea to buy lower coverage limits just to save a few bucks. There are too many instances where someone sacrificed full coverage and learned later that a couple dollars of savings turned into a financial nightmare. The goal is to get the best coverage possible at the best possible price while not skimping on critical coverages.
Lower-priced car insurance is attainable from both online companies and with local Breaux Bridge insurance agents, so you should be comparing quotes from both to have the best chance of lowering rates. Some companies do not offer online price quotes and these regional carriers prefer to sell through independent insurance agencies.
Read more about Louisiana car insurance
Much more information about car insurance in Louisiana is located on the found here. Consumers can read consumer alerts, learn about specific coverages, and get help finding coverage.
Also read more on FindNewCarInsurance.com and this page on QuoteClickInsure.com.