Learn How to Shop For Brunswick, ME Car Insurance Like a Pro

Paying for high-priced car insurance can overdraw your personal savings and force you to prioritize other expenses. Comparing price quotes is a great way to slash your bill and have more diposable income.

Insurance companies such as GEICO and Progressive increase brand awareness with catchy ads and it is challenging if not impossible to see through the deception and find the best price available.

Educated Consumers Know How to Buy Car Insurance Cheaper

An important part of buying insurance is that you know the rating factors that come into play when calculating your car insurance rates. When you know what positively or negatively impacts premium levels allows you to make educated decisions that will entitle you to much lower annual insurance costs.

The list below includes a partial list of the pieces companies use to determine prices.

• Men are more aggressive – Statistics have proven women are more cautious behind the wheel. However, don’t assume that men are WORSE drivers than women. Both sexes cause accidents in similar numbers, but the men cause more damage and cost insurance companies more money. Men also statistically get more serious tickets like DUI and reckless driving.
• Bundling policies can get discounts – Some companies will award you with lower prices to policyholders who have multiple policies with them. It’s known as a multi-policy discount. Discounts can add up to anywhere from five to ten percent in most cases. If you currently are using one company, you may still want to compare other company rates to make sure you are getting the best deal. Drivers may still find better rates by buying car insurance from a different company.
• Your job and insurance rates – Did you know your job can affect your rates? Careers like real estate brokers, social workers and accountants tend to pay higher rates than average attributed to high stress levels and long work days. On the flip side, jobs such as scientists, athletes and homemakers have the lowest average rates.
• Younger drivers pay higher rates – Older insureds are more responsible, statistically cause fewer accidents and tend to be better behind the wheel. Youthful drivers tend to be less responsible when behind the wheel and because of this, their car insurance rates are much higher.
• Safe vehicles cost less to insure – Cars with high safety ratings are cheaper to insure. Safe vehicles protect occupants better and any reduction in injury severity translates into fewer and smaller insurance claims and lower rates for you.

Are you getting all your discounts?

Companies that sell car insurance don’t always publicize every available discount very well, so we break down both the well known and the more hidden savings tricks you should be using.

• Federal Government Employee – Being employed by or retired from a federal job may qualify you for a discount with certain companies.
• Payment Discounts – If you pay your bill all at once instead of paying each month you could save up to 5%.
• Lower Rates for Military – Being on active duty in the military could be rewarded with lower premiums.
• Life Insurance Discount – Some companies give lower rates if you buy auto and life insurance together.
• Claim Free – Claim-free drivers pay less when compared with accident-prone drivers.
• E-sign – A few companies give back up to $50 for buying a policy and signing up digitally online.
• Good Student Discount – This discount can be rewarded with saving of up to 25%. The good student discount can last up to age 25.
• Braking Control Discount – Anti-lock brake equipped vehicles can reduce accidents and qualify for as much as a 10% discount.
• Passive Restraints – Factory air bags or automatic seat belts can get savings of 20% or more.
• Theft Prevention Discount – Cars that have factory anti-theft systems can help prevent theft and earn discounts up to 10%.

A little note about advertised discounts, most of the big mark downs will not be given to all coverage premiums. Most only apply to individual premiums such as physical damage coverage or medical payments. So even though they make it sound like having all the discounts means you get insurance for free, companies wouldn’t make money that way.<img class="alignright" style="padding-top:15px" src="https://www.findnewcarinsurance.com/wp-content/uploads/ci175-30.jpg" alt="Maine insurance quotes” />

To see a list of insurance companies offering car insurance discounts in Brunswick, click here.

Beware of misleading car insurance ads

Car insurance companies such as GEICO, State Farm and Progressive continually stream television and radio advertisements. They all seem to have a common claim that you’ll save big after switching your coverage to them. How can each company make the same claim? It’s all in the numbers.

Insurance companies can use profiling for the driver that makes them money. An example of a driver they prefer might be profiled as between the ages of 40 and 55, a clean driving record, and has excellent credit. A customer getting a price quote who meets those qualifications receives the best rates and as a result will probably save a lot of money.

Consumers who don’t meet this ideal profile will be quoted more money which leads to business going elsewhere. The ad wording is “people who switch” not “everyone that quotes” save money. That is how companies can truthfully make the claims of big savings. This emphasizes why you need to compare as many rates as you can. It is impossible to predict which company will fit your personal profile best.

More detailed Maine car insurance information is located at the Maine Bureau of Insurance website. Visitors are able to read enforcement actions against agents and companies, read industry bulletins, find out industry alerts, and learn about insurance regulations.

In the end, you save

Cost effective car insurance can be found from both online companies in addition to many Brunswick insurance agents, and you need to price shop both in order to have the best price selection to choose from. Some insurance providers do not provide the ability to get a quote online and most of the time these small, regional companies sell through independent agents.

As you prepare to switch companies, it’s very important that you do not buy less coverage just to save a little money. There are a lot of situations where an insured cut collision coverage and discovered at claim time that it was a big error on their part. The proper strategy is to find the BEST coverage at the best price, not the least amount of coverage.

Throughout this article, we presented a lot of ways to reduce car insurance prices online. The most important thing to understand is the more quotes you get, the better likelihood of reducing your rate. You may be surprised to find that the best prices are with an unexpected company. Regional companies may often insure only within specific states and give getter rates than the large multi-state companies such as Progressive and GEICO.