How to Know You're Throwing Money Away for Car Insurance in Spencer

Are you sick and tired of scraping the payment together each month for car insurance? You're in the same situation as many other West Virginia consumers.

With consumers having so many choices of insurance companies, it's nearly impossible to choose the right company.

It's important to shop coverage around before your policy renews since rates are constantly changing. Just because you had the best price a few years ago you may be paying too much now. Forget all the misinformation about car insurance because you're about to learn the proper way to find the best coverage while lowering your premiums.

This information will let you in on how to effectively get price quotes. If you currently have a car insurance policy, you will most likely be able to lower your premiums substantially using this strategy. But West Virginia car owners do need to know the way companies sell insurance online and apply this information to your search.

Comparison of Car Insurance in Spencer

Most major insurance companies give coverage price quotes on their websites. Getting quotes is fairly simple as you just type in as detailed in the form. Behind the scenes, their rating system will obtain credit information and your driving record and gives you a price quote based on these and other factors. This streamlines rate comparisons, but the process of having to visit several different sites and type in the same information is repetitive and time-consuming. But it's very important to have as many quotes as possible in order to get better car insurance pricing.

A less time-consuming method to lower your car insurance bill is to use a quote form that gets price quotes from several different companies. The form is fast, eliminates form submissions, and makes quoting online much easier to do. As soon as you send your information, your coverage is rated and you can choose any or none of the returned quotes.

If one or more price quotes are lower than your current rates, you can click and sign and purchase the new policy. This process takes 15 minutes at the most and may result in a nice savings.

To find out what other companies charge, click here to open in new window and enter your information. If you currently have coverage, we recommend you type in the insurance coverages identical to your current policy. This way, you will receive comparison quotes based on similar coverages.

Tips to Get Lower Spencer Rates

It's important that you understand the different types of things that go into determining your car insurance rates. When you know what positively or negatively controls the rates you pay empowers consumers to make smart changes that may reward you with much lower annual insurance costs.

Listed below are a few of the "ingredients" used by your company to calculate rates.

Bump up deductibles to save - Physical damage coverage, termed comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy, is used to repair damage to your car. A few examples of covered claims are running into the backend of another car, damage from fire, and rolling your vehicle. Deductibles for physical damage are how much you are willing to pay in the event of a claim. The higher the amount you have to pay, the less your company will charge you for insurance.
Claim-free discounts can add up - If you tend to file frequent claims, you can definitely plan on either policy cancellation or increased premiums. Car insurance companies in West Virginia award discounts to people who do not file claims often. Your insurance policy is meant to be used in the event of major claims that would cause financial hardship.
What type of vehicle do you drive? - The make and model of the car you own makes a big difference in how high your rates are. The cheapest insurance rates tend to be for small economy passenger cars, but the final cost of insurance is determined by many other factors.
Tickets mean higher rates - Your driving citation history has a big impact on rates. Drivers who don't get tickets tend to pay less for car insurance than bad drivers. Even one ticket can bump up the cost by twenty percent. Drivers who have serious citations like DUI or reckless driving may need to submit a SR-22 form with their state motor vehicle department in order to continue driving.
Consolidate policies to earn discounts - Most insurers will give a discount to policyholders who consolidate policies with them, otherwise known as a multi-policy discount. Even though this discount sounds good, it's in your best interest to shop around to verify if the discount is saving money. You may still be able to find better rates by buying insurance from more than one company.
Little extras can really add up - There are many extra bells and whistles that you can buy on your policy. Things like rental car reimbursement, towing coverage and additional equipment coverage may be costing you every month. They may seem like a good idea when talking to your agent, but now you might not need them so remove them from your policy.
Pay less if you're married - Having a spouse can actually save you money on your policy. It translates into being more mature than a single person it has been statistically shown that drivers who are married are more cautious.
Drive a safer car and pay less - Vehicles with high crash test scores can get you lower premiums. These vehicles protect occupants better and fewer injuries translates into fewer and smaller insurance claims passed on to you as lower rates.

These discounts can lower your rates

Insuring your vehicles can cost a lot, buy you may qualify for discounts that you may not even be aware of. Certain discounts will be applied when you quote, but less common discounts must be manually applied prior to getting the savings.

Homeowners Pay Less - Owning a house in Spencer can help you save on car insurance because owning a home is proof that your finances are in order.
Employee of Federal Government - Simply working for the federal government could cut as much as 10% off with select insurance companies.
Early Signing - Select companies give a discount for switching to them before your current policy expires. This can save 10% or more.
Theft Prevention Discount - Cars that have factory anti-theft systems are stolen less frequently and therefore earn up to a 10% discount.
Lower Rates for Military - Being on active duty in the military could mean lower rates.
Driver's Ed - Require your teen driver to complete a driver education course in school.
Drive Less and Save - Driving fewer miles can earn discounted rates on garaged vehicles.
Passive Restraints and Air Bags - Factory air bags can receive discounts of more than 20%.
Payment Discounts - If you pay your entire premium ahead of time rather than paying monthly you could save up to 5%.

Consumers should know that most discount credits are not given to the entire cost. Most only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like liability, collision or medical payments. Just because it seems like adding up those discounts means a free policy, companies don't profit that way. But all discounts will help reduce the cost of coverage.

For a list of companies offering car insurance discounts in West Virginia, click here to view.

Much more information about car insurance in West Virginia can be found on the website for the West Virginia Insurance Commission. Click here for link. Consumers can report car insurance fraud, download brochures, learn about specific coverages, and file complaints about a company.

Other useful links include this page for West Virginia car insurance and this page for help finding agents in Spencer, WV.

Final considerations

Discount car insurance is available from both online companies as well as from independent agents in Spencer, and you should compare price quotes from both to have the best rate selection. Some car insurance companies don't offer online quoting and most of the time these regional insurance providers sell through independent agents.

You just learned some good ideas how you can lower your car insurance rates. The key thing to remember is the more rate comparisons you have, the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. Consumers may even find the lowest rates come from a smaller regional carrier. Smaller companies may often insure only within specific states and give getter rates than the large multi-state companies such as .