Professional Methods to Lower South Bend, IN Auto Insurance
Are you sick and tired of trying to scrape together enough money to insure your vehicles every month? You’re in the same situation as many other Indiana drivers. Drivers have so many insurers to choose from, and although it’s a good thing to have a selection, too many choices makes it more difficult to compare company pricing.
It’s smart to do rate comparisons occasionally due to the fact that insurance rates trend upward over time. Just because you had the best price a couple years back a different company probably has better rates today. There is too much inaccurate information about auto insurance online but I’m going to show you some tested techniques to slash your auto insurance rates.
Do you qualify for discounts?
Insuring your vehicles can cost a lot, but companies offer discounts to help offset the cost. Larger premium reductions will be automatically applied at the time of quoting, but some may not be applied and must be manually applied prior to getting the savings. If you don’t get every credit you deserve, you’re paying more than you need to.
- Drivers Ed for Students – Make teen driver coverage more affordable by requiring them to complete a driver education course if it’s offered in school.
- Passive Restraints – Cars that have air bags can qualify for discounts up to 30%.
- Auto/Home Discount – If you insure your home and vehicles with the same insurance company you may earn 10% to 20% off each policy.
- Safe Drivers – Insureds without accidents may receive a discount up to 45% less than their less cautious counterparts.
- Life Insurance Discount – Some companies give lower rates if you buy life insurance.
- Anti-theft System – Cars that have factory anti-theft systems help deter theft and therefore earn up to a 10% discount.
- Defensive Driving Course – Successfully completing a course in driver safety can save you 5% or more depending on where you live.
- Lower Rates for Military – Being deployed with a military unit could be rewarded with lower premiums.
Drivers should understand that most discounts do not apply to your bottom line cost. The majority will only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like collision or personal injury protection. So even though they make it sound like you could get a free auto insurance policy, auto insurance companies aren’t that generous. But any discount will bring down the amount you have to pay.
Compare Quotes for South Bend Auto Insurance
Cutting your auto insurance rates is not rocket science. You just have to spend a little time to get quotes from different insurance companies. This can be accomplished in just a few minutes using one of these methods.
- The first (and easiest) way to compare a lot of rates at once would be an industry-wide quote request form like this one (opens in new window). This easy form eliminates the need for repetitive form entry for every auto insurance company. Completing one form gets you coverage quotes from several companies.
- Another way to find lower rates requires a visit to each company website to request a price quote. For instance, we’ll assume you want to compare Nationwide, 21st Century and Progressive. To get each rate you have to take the time to go to each site and enter your policy data, which is why the first method is more popular. For a list of links to companies insuring cars in South Bend, click here.
Whichever method you choose, ensure you are comparing apples-to-apples coverage information for each price quote. If each company quotes mixed coverages you will not be able to truly determine the lowest rate in South Bend.
Keep this in mind
As you go through the steps to switch your coverage, it’s not a good idea to reduce needed coverages to save money. Too many times, someone dropped full coverage to discover at claim time they didn’t purchase enough coverage. The ultimate goal is to purchase plenty of coverage for the lowest price.
Lower-priced auto insurance is possible on the web in addition to many South Bend insurance agents, so you should be comparing quotes from both in order to have the best chance of saving money. Some companies do not provide online quoting and many times these small insurance companies only sell through independent insurance agents.