Shop For Birmingham Alabama Auto Insurance for the Lowest Rate With These Proven Methods

People not familiar with price shopping insurance online will discover buying cheap Birmingham auto insurance quite challenging.

How to Get Birmingham Auto Insurance Comparison Quotes

All the larger auto insurance companies like State Farm, GEICO and Progressive provide coverage price quotes directly from their websites. This process is fairly straightforward as you simply type in your coverage information as detailed in the form. When the form is submitted, their rating system requests credit information and your driving record and generates a price.

Online price quotes makes comparing rates easy, but the time required to go to each company’s website and repetitively enter the same data into a form is repetitive and time-consuming. But it is imperative to perform this step in order to find better prices.

The easiest way to compare rates uses one form that analyzes rates from many companies. It’s a real time-saver, eliminates form submissions, and makes comparison shopping a little more enjoyable. Immediately after you send the form, your coverage is rated and you can select any or none of the resulting price quotes.

If one or more price quotes are lower than your current rates, you simply finish the application and purchase coverage. The whole process takes just a few minutes to complete and can result in significant savings.

To save time and compare rates now, click here to open in a new tab and enter your information. To compare your current rates, we recommend you type in the limits and deductibles just like they are on your policy. This way, you are getting rate quotes based on the exact same insurance coverage.

Verify you’re getting all your discounts

Properly insuring your vehicles can get expensive, but you may find discounts to help offset the cost. Certain discounts will be applied when you complete an application, but less common discounts must be specifically requested in order for you to get them. If you don’t get every credit available, you’re paying more than you need to.

• Pay Upfront and Save – If you pay your bill all at once instead of paying each month you could save up to 5%.
• Student in College – Kids in college who live away from home and don’t have a car can be insured at a reduced rate.
• Sign Online – A few companies give back up to $50 just for signing your application digitally online.
• One Accident Forgiven – A handful of insurance companies permit an accident before raising your premiums as long as you don’t have any claims for a certain period of time.
• Service Members Pay Less – Being on active duty in the military could be rewarded with lower premiums.
• Anti-theft Discount – Vehicles with anti-theft systems are stolen less frequently and qualify for as much as a 10% discount.
• Anti-lock Brake System – Vehicles with anti-lock braking systems can avoid accidents and therefore earn up to a 10% discount.
• Federal Government Employee – Being employed by or retired from a federal job could cut as much as 10% off depending on your company.
• Early Signing – Select companies give a discount for signing up prior to your current policy expiration. This can save 10% or more.
• Discount for Life Insurance – Companies who offer life insurance give a discount if you purchase life insurance.

As a disclaimer on discounts, most of the big mark downs will not be given to your bottom line cost. Some only apply to specific coverage prices like medical payments or collision. So when the math indicates it’s possible to get free car insurance, it just doesn’t work that way. Any qualifying discounts will reduce your premiums.

Lower the Price of Insurance with These Tips

Smart consumers have a good feel for some of the elements that go into determining your auto insurance rates. Understanding what controls the rates you pay enables informed choices that can help you get big savings.

Listed below are a partial list of the pieces auto insurance companies consider when setting your rates.

• Do you know your deductibles? – Coverage for physical damage, termed comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy, protects your car from damage. Some examples of claims that would be covered are colliding with a building, damage caused by hail, and rolling your vehicle. Physical damage deductibles are the amount of money you are required to spend out-of-pocket if you file a covered claim. The more expense the insured has to pay upfront, the less your company will charge you for insurance.
• Bad driving skills means higher rates – Even one moving violation can boost insurance rates forty percent or more. Careful drivers receive lower rates than bad drivers. If you have serious violations like reckless driving, hit and run or driving under the influence may find they need to file a SR-22 with their state DMV in order to continue driving.
• An active claims history can cost you – Companies in Alabama generally give cheaper rates to drivers who file claims infrequently. If you file claims often, you can pretty much guarantee either a policy non-renewal or much higher rates. Your insurance policy is intended to be relied upon for major claims that would cause financial hardship.
• Extra add-on coverages are wasting money – There are many extra bells and whistles that can waste your money on your policy. Coverages for rental car reimbursement, accident forgiveness and additional equipment coverage may be costing you every month. They may seem good initially, but now you might not need them so eliminate them to save money.
• Liability coverage is cheap – The liability section of your policy is the protection if a jury decides you are liable for causing damage or personal injury in an accident. Liability provides legal defense coverage which can be incredibly expensive. Carrying liability coverage is mandatory and cheap compared to insuring for physical damage coverage, so buy as much as you can afford.
• High credit ratings translate to low rates – A driver’s credit history is a important factor in determining your rates. Therefore, if your credit is not that good, you could save money insuring your by spending a little time repairing your credit. People with high credit scores tend to be more responsible than drivers with lower credit scores.
• Safer cars are cheaper to insure – Vehicles with good safety scores tend to have better insurance rates. Safer cars result in less severe injuries and better occupant protection translates into savings for insurance companies and lower rates for you.
• Teen drivers pay high rates – Teenage drivers in Alabama have a tendency to be careless and easily distracted behind the wheel so they pay higher auto insurance rates. If you’ve ever had to add a youthful driver to your policy can be quite pricey. Older drivers are more cautious drivers, file fewer claims and get fewer tickets.

Additional information is available on the Alabama Department of Insurance website found here. Alabama consumers can learn about specific coverages, find a variety of consumer forms, read consumer alerts, and find out industry alerts.

Also read more on NAIC.org’s Understanding your Policy and this page where you can research Birmingham insurance agents.

One last thing about your coverage

Consumers switch companies for a variety of reasons including extreme rates for teen drivers, denial of a claim, being labeled a high risk driver and even delays in paying claims. Regardless of your reason for switching companies, switching companies can be less work than you think.

In this article, we covered quite a bit of information on how to lower your auto insurance rates. It’s most important to understand that the more quotes you get, the better your chances of lowering your rates. Drivers may discover the lowest priced auto insurance comes from the least-expected company.

Cheaper auto insurance is attainable from both online companies in addition to many Birmingham insurance agents, and you need to price shop both so you have a total pricing picture. Some auto insurance companies do not provide you the ability to get quotes online and usually these small, regional companies provide coverage only through local independent agents.