Follow These Proven Techniques for Cheaper Fredericksburg Auto Insurance

Are you sick and tired of trying to scrape together enough money each month for car insurance? Your situation is no different than the majority of other car owners in Virginia. Since consumers have many insurance providers from which to choose, it can be hard to pick the lowest cost insurance company.

Consumers should take time to do rate comparisons at least once a year because insurance rates are rarely the same from one policy term to another. If you had the lowest rates last year you may be paying too much now. So forget anything you know (or think you know) about auto insurance because we’re going to show you the right way to find better rates and still maintain coverage.

Don’t miss out on these money-saving discounts

The cost of insuring your cars can be expensive, but there are discounts available that many people don’t even know exist. Some trigger automatically at the time you complete a quote, but lesser-known reductions have to be asked about prior to receiving the credit. If they aren’t giving you every credit you deserve, you are paying more than you should be.

• Memberships – Belonging to a professional or civic organization is a good way to get lower rates on auto insurance.
• E-sign – Some insurance companies will discount your bill up to fifty bucks for buying a policy and signing up online.
• Payment Discounts – By paying your policy upfront rather than paying monthly you could save up to 5%.
• Good Students Pay Less – Getting good grades can be rewarded with saving of up to 25%. This discount can apply well after school through age 25.
• Sign Early and Save – Select companies give a discount for switching policies prior to your current policy expiration. It can save you around 10%.
• Passive Restraints – Cars that have air bags or motorized seat belts may earn rate discounts of more than 20%.
• Multi-policy Discount – When you combine your home and auto insurance with the same company you could get a discount of at least 10% off all policies.
• New Car Discount – Buying coverage on a new vehicle can be considerably cheaper due to better safety requirements for new cars.

Keep in mind that most discounts do not apply to the entire cost. Some only apply to specific coverage prices like collision or personal injury protection. Just because it seems like having all the discounts means you get insurance for free, auto insurance companies aren’t that generous. But any discount will cut your premiums.

Save $425 a year? Really?

Consumers constantly see and hear ads for the lowest price auto insurance by companies like Allstate, GEICO and Progressive. They all make an identical promise about savings if you change to them.

How do they all make the same claim?

All the different companies can use profiling for the right customer that is profitable for them. A good example of a profitable customer could possibly be over the age of 50, a clean driving record, and chooses high deductibles. A customer getting a price quote who matches those parameters receives the best rates and as a result will probably save a lot of money.

Drivers who don’t measure up to this ideal profile will have to pay higher rates which leads to the customer not buying. The ads say “people who switch” not “everybody who quotes” save money. That’s the way insurance companies can confidently make those claims.

Because of the profiling, drivers must get a wide range of price quotes. It’s impossible to know which company will fit your personal profile best.

More information can be read on the website for the Virginia Bureau of Insurance located here. Visitors are able to read industry bulletins, report car insurance fraud, and learn about insurance regulations.

Other useful links include this site for rates in Virginia and CarInsuranceDIY.com.

Buy online or local, you save

Lower-priced auto insurance can be purchased both online and also from your neighborhood Fredericksburg agents, so you should compare both so you have a total pricing picture. Some insurance providers may not provide online price quotes and most of the time these regional insurance providers sell through independent agents.

You just learned quite a bit of information on how to lower your auto insurance rates. The most important thing to understand is the more companies you get rates for, the higher the chance of saving money. You may be surprised to find that the biggest savings come from some of the lesser-known companies. These companies can often insure niche markets at a lower cost compared to the large companies like State Farm and Allstate.