No sane person enjoys paying for car insurance, especially when they could lower their rates if they shopped around. Consumers have many auto insurance companies to pick from, and although it’s a good thing to have a choice, too many choices makes it more difficult to find the best rates for your vehicles.
It’s a great practice to shop coverage around before your next renewal due to the fact that insurance rates are usually higher with each renewal. Just because you found the best rate on Escape coverage a few years ago you can probably find a lower rate today. Block out anything you think you know about car insurance because I’m going to let you in on the secrets to one of the quickest ways to save money, get proper deductibles and limits, all at the lowest rate.
How to get free car insurance quotes online
To get , there a variety of ways to compare quotes from car insurance companies in your area. The easiest way to do a complete rate comparison is simply to get online rate quotes. It’s really quite simple and can be done in a couple of different ways.
- Probably the best way consumers can make multiple comparisons is a comparison rater form like this one (opens in new window). This method saves time by eliminating repetitive form submissions for every car insurance company. A single, simple form gets prices estimates from multiple companies.
- A slightly less efficient method to analyze rates requires a trip to the website of each company and request a quote. For sake of this example, we’ll pretend you need rates from Progressive, GEICO and Travelers. To find out each rate you need to go to each individual site to enter the same coverage data repeatedly, which can be really labor intensive.
To view a list of companies in Austin, click here.
You can use whichever method you prefer to find lower rates, just be sure to compare the same deductibles and coverage limits on every quote you get. If you compare mixed coverages you will not be able to determine which company has the best rates in Austin. Just slight variations in coverage limits can result in a big premium difference. And when comparison shopping, comparing more rates from different companies helps improve the odds of finding the best offered rates.
Discount Austin car insurance rates
Car insurance is not cheap nor is it fun to buy but you might already qualify for some discounts that you may not even know about. Certain discounts will be applied at the time of quoting, but some need to be asked about before you get the savings.
- 55 and Retired – Older drivers may receive a small discount on rates on Escape coverage.
- Discounts for Multiple Vehicles – Buying coverage for more than one vehicle with the same company can get a discount for every vehicle.
- Discount for Good Grades – Performing well in school can save 20 to 25%. This discount can apply up until you turn 25.
- Paperwork-free – A few insurance companies will discount your bill up to fifty bucks for buying your policy on the web.
- Sign Early and Save – Select car insurance companies give a discount for buying a new policy before your current coverage expires. It could save around 10% when you .
- New Car Discount – Buying a new car model may earn a small discount because new vehicles keep occupants safer.
- Active Service Discounts – Having an actively deployed family member may qualify for rate reductions.
- Drive Less and Save – Driving less could qualify for lower premium rates on the low mileage vehicles.
- Air Bags and Passive Restraints – Options like air bags or automatic seat belts could see savings of 20 to 30 percent.
- Discount for Multiple Policies – When you have multiple policies with one insurance company you could save as much as 10 to 15 percent.
Discounts save money, but please remember that most of the big mark downs will not be given to your bottom line cost. Some only reduce specific coverage prices like medical payments or collision. So when the math indicates all the discounts add up to a free policy, it doesn’t quite work that way.
Popular car insurance companies and some of their more popular discounts are outlined below.
- State Farm discounts include multiple autos, Steer Clear safe driver discount, Drive Safe & Save, anti-theft, passive restraint, safe vehicle, and accident-free.
- Progressive offers premium reductions for online quote discount, homeowner, continuous coverage, multi-policy, online signing, multi-vehicle, and good student.
- Progressive may offer discounts for online signing, good student, continuous coverage, multi-vehicle, multi-policy, and online quote discount.
- MetLife may have discounts that include good student, accident-free, multi-policy, good driver, claim-free, defensive driver
- Farm Bureau offers discounts for good student, multi-vehicle, renewal discount, youthful driver, safe driver, driver training, and multi-policy.
- GEICO has discounts for anti-theft, five-year accident-free, driver training, multi-policy, air bags, membership and employees, and anti-lock brakes.
- SAFECO may include discounts for anti-lock brakes, accident prevention training, homeowner, teen safe driver, anti-theft, and drive less.
Check with all the companies the best way to save money. Some of the discounts discussed earlier might not be available to policyholders everywhere. To see a list of providers with discount rates in Austin, click here to view.
Choices You Make Can Impact Your Insurance Prices
Multiple criteria are taken into consideration when you get a price on insurance. Most are fairly basic like your driving record, but other factors are not quite as obvious such as your credit history or how financially stable you are. The best way to find cheaper car insurance is to take a look at the factors that come into play when calculating the price you pay for car insurance. If you have some idea of what positively or negatively impacts your premiums, this empowers consumers to make smart changes that may result in big savings.
- Save miles driven and save money – The more miles you rack up on your Ford every year the more you’ll pay to insure it. Almost all companies apply a rate based upon how you use the vehicle. Vehicles that do not get driven very much receive better premium rates than those used for commuting. Double check that your car insurance declarations sheet correctly shows the correct driver usage, because improper ratings can cost you money. Having the wrong rating on your Escape can result in significantly higher rates.
- City traffic equals higher prices – Residing in a rural area can be a good thing when shopping for auto insurance. Less people corresponds to lower accident rates and lower theft and vandalism rates. City drivers regularly have more aggressive driving styles and more severe claims. More time behind the wheel means a statistically higher chance of an accident.
- Is your vehicle theft-ready? – Driving a car with anti-theft technology or alarm system can help bring down rates. Systems that thwart theives such as LoJack tracking devices, vehicle tamper alarm systems or GM’s OnStar system can help prevent your vehicle from being stolen.
- Tickets increase prices – Drivers with clean records get better rates as compared to those with violations. Even a single ticket can bump up the cost by as much as twenty percent. Drivers who have received multiple tickets such as hit and run, DWI or reckless driving convictions are required to maintain a SR-22 with their state DMV in order to legally drive a vehicle.
- No policy lapses saves money – Driving any period of time without insurance is against the law and car insurance companies will penalize you for letting your coverage cancel without a new policy in place. Not only will you pay higher rates, not being able to provide proof of insurance could earn you fines and jail time.
Cheaper car insurance is a realistic goal
While you’re price shopping online, don’t be tempted to sacrifice coverage to reduce premiums. There are a lot of situations where someone sacrificed full coverage only to regret that saving that couple of dollars actually costed them tens of thousands. The aim is to buy enough coverage at the best possible price, not the least amount of coverage.
Budget-conscious Ford Escape insurance can be bought both online and also from your neighborhood Austin agents, so you should be comparing quotes from both in order to have the best price selection to choose from. Some car insurance companies don’t offer the ability to get a quote online and these small, regional companies only sell coverage through local independent agents.
More detailed Texas car insurance information is located at the Texas Department of Insurance website. Visitors are able to find out which companies have the most complaints, find disaster information, report car insurance fraud, and get help finding coverage.
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