No one cherishes buying auto insurance, especially knowing the cost is way too high. Popular companies such as GEICO, Farmers Insurance and State Farm increase brand awareness with advertising and it is challenging if not impossible to sift through the bull and do the work needed to find the best deal.
It’s a good idea to do rate comparisons before your policy renews because insurance rates go up and down regularly. Even if you got the lowest price two years ago you may be paying too much now. Ignore everything you know about auto insurance because you’re about to learn the best way to save money, get proper deductibles and limits, all at the lowest rate.
How to Compare Auto Insurance in Alice, TX
Finding a lower price on insurance is a fairly straight forward process. The only requirement is to take the time comparing price quotes from different insurance companies. This is very easy and can be done in a couple of different ways.
- The most efficient way consumers can analyze rates would be an industry-wide quote request form click to view form in new window. This method prevents you from having to do separate quote forms to each individual auto insurance company. One form submission compares rates from several companies.
- A more time consuming way to get comparison quotes is to manually visit the website for every company you want to comare and complete a new quote form. For sake of this example, we’ll assume you want rates from Liberty Mutual, Allstate and American Family. To get each rate you have to take the time to go to each site and enter your policy data, and that’s why the first method is more popular. For a list of links to insurance companies in Alice, click here.
Which method you use is up to you, but make darn sure you compare the exact same quote information for every company. If you enter different liability limits it’s not possible to determine the best price in Alice.
Do you qualify for discounts?
Insuring your vehicles can cost a lot, but companies offer discounts that you may not know about. Most are applied when you quote, but a few must be asked about before being credited. If you aren’t receiving every discount you qualify for, you are throwing money away.
- Payment Discounts – By paying your policy upfront instead of monthly or quarterly installments you may reduce your total bill.
- Discount for Swiching Early – Select companies give a discount for buying a policy before your current expiration date. The savings is around 10%.
- Homeowners Discount – Simply owning a home can save you money because of the fact that having a home is proof that your finances are in order.
- Life Insurance – Select insurance companies reward you with a break if you buy life insurance from them.
- Drivers Ed for Students – Require your teen driver to enroll in driver’s education if it’s offered in school.
- Senior Discount – Mature drivers may be able to get better auto insurance rates.
- Fewer Miles Equal More Savings – Driving fewer miles can qualify you for better rates on cars that stay parked.
- Memberships – Being a member of a civic or occupational organization may earn a discount when shopping for auto insurance.
- Safe Driver Discount – Safe drivers may receive a discount up to 45% less than drivers with accident claims.
- New Vehicle Savings – Adding a new car to your policy can save up to 30% compared to insuring an older model.
Drivers should understand that most discounts do not apply to the entire policy premium. Most only cut individual premiums such as liability, collision or medical payments. So when the math indicates adding up those discounts means a free policy, it just doesn’t work that way. Any amount of discount will reduce your premiums.
Don’t assume everyone needs the same coverage
When it comes to buying adequate coverage, there is no “perfect” insurance plan. Everyone’s situation is a little different so your insurance needs to address that. For instance, these questions could help you determine if your insurance needs would benefit from an agent’s advice.
- Do all my vehicles need collision coverage?
- Do I have coverage when pulling a U-Haul trailer?
- Does liability extend to a camper or trailer?
- Am I covered when driving in Canada or Mexico?
- Does medical payments coverage apply to all occupants?
- How many claims can I have before being cancelled?
If you don’t know the answers to these questions but a few of them apply then you might want to talk to a licensed agent. If you want to speak to an agent in your area, simply complete this short form or you can also visit this page to select a carrier It only takes a few minutes and can help protect your family.
Much more information about auto insurance in Texas can be read on the website for the Texas Department of Insurance found here. Texas consumers can read state legal mandates and laws, file complaints about a company, view agent and company licensing information, and find out industry alerts.
Other informative sites include Auto Insurance 101 and QuoteClickSave.com.
Online plus local equals savings
When trying to cut insurance costs, you should never buy lower coverage limits just to save a few bucks. In too many instances, someone sacrificed full coverage only to find out that the few dollars in savings costed them thousands. Your aim should be to buy the best coverage you can find for the lowest price while not skimping on critical coverages.
We covered a lot of techniques to get a better price on auto insurance. The most important thing to understand is the more rate comparisons you have, the better your chances of lowering your rates. You may even discover the lowest priced auto insurance comes from a lesser-known regional company. Some small companies may have significantly lower rates on certain market segments than the large multi-state companies such as Allstate, GEICO and Progressive.
Lower-priced auto insurance is available both online and with local Alice insurance agents, and you need to price shop both to have the best rate selection. Some auto insurance companies do not offer the ability to get a quote online and these small, regional companies work with independent agents.