9 Discounts Belle Shoppers Forget when Shopping for Car Insurance

Did you fall for a flashy sales pitch and buy an underperforming, overpriced car insurance policy? Trust us, there are many Belle consumers feeling the pinch from expensive car insurance.

Insurance companies such as State Farm, Allstate, GEICO and Progressive continually hit you with ads and it is challenging if not impossible to sift through the bull and effectively compare rates to find the best deal.

It's important to take a look at other company's rates every six months since rates are constantly changing. If you had the best deal a year ago there is a good chance you can find better rates now. So block out anything you think you know about car insurance because we're going to show you the proper way to reduce your cost while increasing coverage.

How to Compare Car Insurance in Belle, Missouri

All major car insurance companies provide coverage prices online. Getting quotes is pretty painless as you simply enter the coverages you want into the quote form. After the form is submitted, the system will obtain information on your driving record and credit history and generates a price. Online quotes helps simplify price comparisons, but the time required to go to many different websites and fill out multiple forms is monotonous and tiresome. Unfortunately, it is important to perform this step if you want to find a lower rate.

The preferred way to lower your rates is to use a quote form to return rates from a bunch of companies at once. It's a real time-saver, requires much less work on your part, and makes rate comparisons much simpler. After your information is entered, it gets priced and you are able to buy your choice of the resulting price quotes. If the quotes result in lower rates, you can simply submit the application and buy the new coverage. The whole process only takes a few minutes and you will find out if you're overpaying now.

To find out how much you're overpaying now, click here and submit your coverage information. If you have a policy now, it's recommended you input the insurance coverages as close as possible to your current policy. This makes sure you will have rate quotes for the exact same coverage.

More discounts equal less premium

Companies offering auto insurance don't always advertise every available discount in a way that's easy to find, so here is a list both the well known and the more hidden savings tricks you should be using.

Anti-theft Discount - Cars that have factory anti-theft systems help deter theft and qualify for as much as a 10% discount.
Organization Discounts - Being a member of a civic or occupational organization is a good way to get lower rates on your policy.
Drivers Ed for Students - Cut your cost by having your teen driver take driver's ed class in high school.
Pay Upfront and Save - If you pay your entire premium ahead of time instead of making monthly payments you may reduce your total bill.
Life Insurance - Companies who offer life insurance give better rates if you take out a life insurance policy as well.
Resident Student - Kids in college who live away from home without a vehicle on campus may be able to be covered for less.
Homeowners Discount - Being a homeowner can help you save on car insurance because of the fact that having a home requires personal responsibility.
More Vehicles More Savings - Having multiple cars or trucks with the same company could earn a price break for each car.
No Charge for an Accident - A handful of insurance companies permit an accident before hitting you with a surcharge if you are claim-free prior to the accident.

A little note about advertised discounts, most discount credits are not given to all coverage premiums. A few only apply to the cost of specific coverages such as comprehensive or collision. So even though they make it sound like all the discounts add up to a free policy, you won't be that lucky.

To choose providers with the best car insurance discounts in Belle, click here to view.

Switch companies and save? Really?

Companies like Allstate and Progressive regularly use ads in print and on television. All the ads make an identical promise about savings if you move to their company. How can each company claim to save you money?

All companies are able to cherry pick for the driver that makes them money. An example of a preferred risk might be over the age of 40, has no driving citations, and has excellent credit. Any new insured who meets those qualifications receives the best rates and therefore will save when they switch companies.

Potential insureds who do not match the requirements will be charged more money and ends up with the customer not buying. Company advertisements say "people who switch" not "everyone that quotes" save that much. That's the way companies can truthfully make those claims. That is why you need to get as many quotes as possible. It's just too difficult to predict which car insurance company will have the lowest rates.

Even more information is available at the Missouri Department of Insurance website. Visitors are able to read consumer alerts, find out which companies have the most complaints, download brochures, and view a list of available companies.

Final considerations

While you're price shopping online, it's not a good idea to reduce coverage to reduce premium. Too many times, someone sacrificed liability limits or collision coverage only to find out they didn't purchase enough coverage. The aim is to buy enough coverage at an affordable rate, not the least amount of coverage.

Cheaper car insurance is possible both online and also from your neighborhood Belle agents, and you need to comparison shop both to have the best chance of lowering rates. Some companies may not provide online price quotes and many times these smaller companies only sell through independent insurance agents.