Having to pay for overpriced car insurance can eat up your savings and require stricter spending habits. Performing a price comparison is a smart way to lower your monthly bill.
Multiple auto insurance companies compete for your business, and because of this it can be hard to compare auto insurance companies to discover the definitive lowest rate possible.
You need to price shop coverage yearly because car insurance prices go up and down regularly. Despite the fact that you may have had the lowest rates for Pilot insurance a year ago you can probably find a better premium rate now. There is too much inaccurate information about car insurance on the web, but we’re going to give you the best ways to stop overpaying for insurance.
Shopping for lower car insurance rates can take hours if you don’t understand the most efficient way to do it. You could spend the better part of a day talking about coverages with agents in San Antonio, or you can utilize the internet to quickly compare rates.
Most of the larger companies take part in a program where prospective buyers enter their policy data once, and each company can give them a price determined by their information. This prevents consumers from doing quote forms to each individual car insurance company.
To compare rates using this form now click here (opens in new window).
The one disadvantage to using this type of system is buyers cannot specifically choose which companies you want pricing from. So if you want to choose specific insurance companies to compare rates, we have a page of car insurance companies in Texas. Click to view list.
Which method you use is up to you, but do your best to use identical quote information on every quote you get. If the quotes have different values for each quote it’s not possible to make a fair rate comparison in San Antonio.
These discounts can lower your car insurance rates
Companies don’t always publicize the entire discount list in a way that’s easy to find, so the list below contains some of the more common in addition to some of the lesser obvious discounts that may be available.
- Sign Early and Save – Select car insurance companies give a discount for switching to them prior to the expiration date on your current policy. This discount can save up to 10%.
- Good Students Pay Less – Excelling in school can save 20 to 25%. Most companies allow this discount up to age 25.
- Paper-free Discount – Some of the larger companies will give you a small discount on the web.
- More Vehicles More Savings – Purchasing coverage when you have multiple cars with the same car insurance company can reduce rates for all insured vehicles.
- Discounts for Seat Belt Usage – Requiring all passengers to use a seat belt could cut 10% or more off the personal injury premium cost.
- Accident Forgiveness Coverage – This one isn’t a discount, but a few companies such as State Farm and GEICO permit an accident before your rates go up if you have no claims for a specific time period.
- Distant Student – who live away from home at college and don’t have a car can receive lower rates.
- Passive Restraints – Factory air bags or motorized seat belts may earn rate discounts of 20 to 30 percent.
- Claim Free – Drivers who don’t have accidents pay less when compared with frequent claim filers.
Drivers should understand that most discounts do not apply to all coverage premiums. Some only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like liability, collision or medical payments. So even though they make it sound like you can get free auto insurance, it’s just not the way it works.
A few of the larger companies and a partial list of their discounts can be found below.
- GEICO discounts include emergency military deployment, defensive driver, multi-policy, seat belt use, anti-theft, and air bags.
- Travelers may have discounts that include driver training, hybrid/electric vehicle, multi-policy, payment discounts, multi-car, early quote, and new car.
- Farm Bureau may offer discounts for renewal discount, 55 and retired, multi-policy, youthful driver, and good student.
- Liberty Mutual has discounts for multi-policy, hybrid vehicle, safety features, new move discount, exclusive group savings, and preferred payment discount.
- American Family includes discounts for Steer into Savings, good driver, multi-vehicle, accident-free, and defensive driver.
- Progressive may include discounts for online signing, online quote discount, multi-vehicle, homeowner, and good student.
Before you buy a policy, ask all companies you are considering how many discounts you can get. Some credits might not be available to policyholders in your area. To see a list of insurers that offer multiple discounts in San Antonio, click this link.
For more Texas car insurance information
More tips and info about car insurance is located at the Texas Department of Insurance website. Consumers can read industry bulletins, find disaster information, and learn about specific coverages.
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