Feel like you’re a prisoner to high-priced car insurance? Believe me, you’re not the only one. Many insurance companies vie for your hard-earned dollar, and it can be difficult to compare rates and get the best coverage at the lowest price
If you currently have car insurance, you will most likely be able to lower your premiums substantially using these techniques. Finding the best rates in Lambertville is easy if you know what you’re doing. Nevertheless, New Jersey drivers must know how the larger insurance companies price insurance differently and apply this information to your search.
When shopping for car insurance there are multiple ways of comparing price quotes from car insurance companies in your area. The quickest method to compare rates is simply to get online rate quotes. This can be done using a couple different methods.
- If you are pressed for time, the simplest way consumers can analyze rates would be an industry-wide quote request form click here to open form in new window. This style of form saves time by eliminating separate forms for every company. Completing one form will get you rate comparisons from several companies.
- A different way to get quotes online requires a trip to the website of each company and get a separate price quote. For example, we’ll pretend you are doing a rate comparison from Nationwide, Farmers and Allstate. You would be required to go to each individual site and punch in your information repeatedly, and that’s why the first method is more popular. For a list of links to insurance companies in Lambertville, click here.
It’s up to you how you get prices quotes, just be certain you are entering equivalent coverage data with every price quote. If the quotes have different values for each quote you can’t possibly make a fair rate comparison in Lambertville. Just slight variations in insurance coverages may result in a large different in cost. It’s important to know that comparing more quotes helps improve the odds of finding a lower rate than you’re paying now. Not every company provides quotes online, so it’s important to compare price estimates from those companies as well.
You may qualify for discounts
Properly insuring your vehicles can get expensive, but you may be missing some discounts to reduce the price significantly. A few discounts will be applied when you purchase, but a few need to be asked for prior to getting the savings.
- Driving Data Discount – Policyholders that allow driving data collection to analyze when and where they use their vehicle by using a small device installed in their vehicle such as Allstate’s Drivewise and State Farm’s In-Drive system may get a rate reduction if they exhibit good driving behavior.
- More Vehicles More Savings – Insuring more than one vehicle on one policy may reduce the rate for each vehicle.
- Multiple Policy Discount – When you have multiple policies and insure them with the same company you could get a discount of at least 10% off all policies.
- Safe Driver Discounts – Accident-free drivers can save as much as half off their rates than drivers with accidents.
- 55 and Retired – If you’re over the age of 55, you could receive reduced rates.
- Federal Employees – Active or former government employment may qualify for a discount when you with select insurance companies.
It’s important to note that some of the credits will not apply to all coverage premiums. Some only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like collision or personal injury protection. So even though they make it sound like all the discounts add up to a free policy, car insurance companies aren’t that generous.
Popular car insurance companies and some of the discounts are detailed below.
- State Farm may offer discounts for good student, student away at school, accident-free, safe vehicle, Steer Clear safe driver discount, Drive Safe & Save, and driver’s education.
- American Family includes discounts for TimeAway discount, bundled insurance, good student, defensive driver, and air bags.
- AAA offers discounts including pay-in-full, multi-policy, good driver, multi-car, education and occupation, anti-theft, and AAA membership discount.
- Geico offers premium reductions for emergency military deployment, multi-policy, five-year accident-free, defensive driver, good student, and military active duty.
- Mercury Insurance discounts include multi-policy, age of vehicle, ease of repair, good student, anti-theft, good driver, and multi-car.
- Farmers Insurance offers discounts for homeowner, distant student, teen driver, business and professional, pay in full, and bundle discounts.
- Progressive may have discounts that include multi-vehicle, online quote discount, online signing, homeowner, continuous coverage, multi-policy, and good student.
When comparing rates, check with every prospective company how many discounts you can get. Some of the discounts discussed earlier might not be offered everywhere. If you would like to choose from a list of companies with discount rates in New Jersey, follow this link.
Detailed coverages of your car insurance policy
Knowing the specifics of a car insurance policy can help you determine appropriate coverage and the correct deductibles and limits. Car insurance terms can be ambiguous and nobody wants to actually read their policy. These are the normal coverages found on the average car insurance policy.
Comprehensive protection – This pays to fix your vehicle from damage OTHER than collision with another vehicle or object. You need to pay your deductible first then the remaining damage will be covered by your comprehensive coverage.
Comprehensive can pay for claims like damage from getting keyed, vandalism, damage from flooding and theft. The maximum payout you can receive from a comprehensive claim is the actual cash value, so if your deductible is as high as the vehicle’s value consider removing comprehensive coverage.
Medical expense coverage – Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage provide coverage for immediate expenses like doctor visits, EMT expenses, prosthetic devices, hospital visits and funeral costs. They can be used to cover expenses not covered by your health insurance policy or if there is no health insurance coverage. Coverage applies to both the driver and occupants and also covers being hit by a car walking across the street. Personal Injury Protection is not an option in every state and may carry a deductible
Liability insurance – This will cover damage or injury you incur to other’s property or people by causing an accident. It protects you from legal claims by others. Liability doesn’t cover your injuries or vehicle damage.
Coverage consists of three different limits, per person bodily injury, per accident bodily injury, and a property damage limit. You might see values of 100/300/100 that translate to a limit of $100,000 per injured person, 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 combines the three limits into one amount with no separate limits for injury or property damage.
Liability coverage pays for things such as loss of income, emergency aid, attorney fees, funeral expenses and medical services. The amount of liability coverage you purchase is up to you, but buy as large an amount as possible. New Jersey state minimum liability requirements are 15,000/30,000/5,000 but it’s recommended drivers buy better liability coverage.
Uninsured or underinsured coverage – This coverage protects you and your vehicle’s occupants from other motorists when they are uninsured or don’t have enough coverage. It can pay for medical payments for you and your occupants and damage to your vehicle.
Because many people have only the minimum liability required by law (which is 15/30/5), their limits can quickly be used up. So UM/UIM coverage should not be overlooked. Normally the UM/UIM limits do not exceed the liability coverage limits.
Collision – Collision insurance pays for damage to your vehicle resulting from a collision with another car or object. You have to pay a deductible then the remaining damage will be paid by your insurance company.
Collision coverage pays for things like rolling your car, driving through your garage door and sustaining damage from a pot hole. Paying for collision coverage can be pricey, so you might think about dropping it from lower value vehicles. It’s also possible to increase the deductible to save money on collision insurance.
More information is located on the found here. New Jersey drivers can view a list of available companies, file complaints about an insurance agent or broker, and find a variety of consumer forms.
Other useful links include Wikipedia and this list of insurance agents in Lambertville.