7 Ways to Lower Auto Insurance Premium in Amherst, New Hampshire

Are you sick and tired of being strong-armed to pay your car insurance bill each month? You’re in the same situation as many other New Hampshire drivers.

You have multiple insurers to purchase coverage from, and although it’s a good thing to have multiple companies, so many choices can make it hard to compare rates.

How your Amherst rates are determined

An important part of buying insurance is that you know the rating factors that help determine the price you pay for auto insurance. Knowing what impacts premium levels enables informed choices that will entitle you to much lower annual insurance costs.

  • Frequent auto insurance claims increase rates – If you are a frequent claim filer, you can pretty much guarantee higher rates. Insurance companies in New Hampshire provide better rates to drivers who do not rely on their insurance for small claims. Insurance coverage is meant to be used in the event of the large, substantial claims.
  • Your auto insurance rates can be influenced by your job – Did you know your occupation can influence how much you pay for auto insurance? Careers like real estate brokers, business owners and stock brokers tend to have the highest rates in part from job stress and lengthy work days. On the other hand, occupations like pilots, students and homemakers receive lower rates.
  • Are you male or female? – Statistics demonstrate women are more cautious behind the wheel. Now that doesn’t mean women are BETTER drivers than men. Women and men cause accidents in similar numbers, but the men tend to have more serious accidents. Men also statistically have more aggressive citations like DUI and reckless driving.
  • Performance level impacts rates – The performance of the vehicle you are buying insurance for makes a big difference in determining your rates. Small economy passenger vehicles receive the most favorable rates, but the cost you end up paying is determined by many additional factors.
  • Save money with special equipment – Owning a car with a theft deterrent system can help lower your rates. Anti-theft devices such as GM’s OnStar, tamper alarm systems and vehicle immobilizers can help prevent your car from being stolen.
  • Cautious drivers pay less – Whether or not you get tickets has a lot to do with how much you pay for insurance. Drivers who don’t get tickets get better rates than people who have multiple driving citations. Even a single speeding ticket can bump up the cost by twenty percent. Drivers with severe tickets such as DUI or reckless driving are required to submit a SR-22 form with their state motor vehicle department in order to drive a vehicle legally.

How to Lower Your Auto Insurance Cost in Amherst, New Hampshire

The are a couple different ways of comparing rate quotes from auto insurance companies in your area. One of the best ways to find the cheapest insurance rates consists of obtaining rate quotes online. It is quite easy and can be accomplished in several different ways.

  1. The easiest and least time consuming way to compare a lot of rates at once is to use a rate comparison form like this one (opens in new window). This easy form eliminates the need for repetitive form entry for each company you want a rate for. A single, simple form will get you price quotes from many national carriers.
  2. A less efficient way to shop for auto insurance online requires a visit to each individual company website and request a quote. For instance, we’ll assume you want to compare GEICO, Safeco and GMAC. You would have to visit each site to input your insurance information, which is why the first method is more popular.

    For a list of links to insurance companies in Amherst, click here.

Whichever method you choose, double check that you are using identical quote information for each price quote. If you use different deductibles then you won’t be able to determine the lowest rate in Amherst. Having just a slight variation in coverages could mean much higher rates. Just keep in mind that getting more free quotes helps you find a lower rate.<img class="alignright" style="padding-top:15px;" src="https://www.findnewcarinsurance.com/wp-content/uploads/ci175-63.jpg" alt="New Hampshire insurance quotes“/>

These discounts can lower your rates

Companies that sell car insurance do not list all available discounts in an easy-to-find place, so we took the time to find some of the more common as well as the least known discounts you could be receiving.

  • Payment Discounts – If you pay your bill all at once instead of paying each month you could save 5% or more.
  • Drive Safe and Save – Safe drivers may receive a discount up to 45% less than drivers with accident claims.
  • 55 and Retired – Older drivers may receive a small decrease in premiums.
  • Multiple Cars – Buying insurance for all your vehicles on the same auto insurance policy may reduce the rate for each vehicle.
  • Lower Rates for Military – Being on active duty in the military can result in better rates.
  • Organization Discounts – Affiliation with certain professional organizations could qualify you for a break on your policy.
  • Multiple Policy Discount – When you combine your home and auto insurance with the same company you may earn 10% to 20% off each policy.

It’s important to understand that some of the credits will not apply the the whole policy. Most only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like collision or personal injury protection. So when the math indicates all the discounts add up to a free policy, it just doesn’t work that way.

To see a list of insurance companies offering auto insurance discounts in Amherst, click here to view.

Even more information is available at the New Hampshire Insurance Department website. Visitors are able to read state legal mandates and laws, read consumer alerts, find a variety of consumer forms, and report car insurance fraud.

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lower rates in Amherst

Smart consumers save more

In this article, we presented a lot of information how to save on auto insurance. The key concept to understand is the more companies you get rates for, the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. You may be surprised to find that the biggest savings come from some of the lesser-known companies. These smaller insurers often have lower prices on specific markets compared to the large companies like Progressive or GEICO.

When trying to cut insurance costs, make sure you don’t buy less coverage just to save a little money. There are a lot of situations where drivers have reduced comprehensive coverage or liability limits and found out when filing a claim that their decision to reduce coverage ended up costing them more. The ultimate goal is to buy the best coverage you can find at a price you can afford, not the least amount of coverage.