10 Discounts Cottondale Drivers Forget when Comparing Car Insurance

Paying for high-priced car insurance can empty your checking account and force you to make sacrifices. Comparison shopping is free, only takes a few minutes, and is a good way to reduce premiums and put more money in your pocket.

Drivers have so many to buy insurance from, and even though it's nice to have a choice, too many choices makes it more difficult to compare rates.

It's important to compare prices yearly since rates are constantly changing. If you had the best price six months ago you may be paying too much now. Ignore everything you know about car insurance because we're going to demonstrate one of the easiest ways to find the best coverage while lowering your premiums.

Where Can I Get Cheap Cottondale Car Insurance?

The are a couple different ways to get quotes from local Cottondale car insurance companies. The recommended way to compare insurance prices is to perform an online rate comparison. 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 is a comparison rater form (click to open form in new window). This easy form eliminates the need for boring form submissions to each individual car insurance company. A single, simple form will return price quotes from all major companies.

A more time consuming way to shop for car insurance online consists of visiting each company website and request a quote. For example, we'll pretend you want comparison quotes from , and . To find out each rate you need to visit each site to enter your coverage information, and that's why the first method is more popular.

For a list of links to companies insuring cars in Cottondale, click here.

It's up to you which method you use, but make sure you use identical deductibles and coverage limits with every price quote. If you have different values for each quote it will be very difficult to find the best deal in Cottondale. Quoting even small variations in coverages can result in a big premium difference. And when comparing car insurance rates, know that comparing a large number of companies helps locate better pricing.

Policy discounts you shouldn't miss

Companies offering auto insurance don't always advertise every available discount very clearly, so we took the time to find both the well known and the harder-to-find savings tricks you should be using.

Good Student Discount - Getting good grades can be rewarded with saving of up to 25%. This discount can apply up to age 25.
Save with a New Car - Buying coverage on a new vehicle can save up to 30% due to better safety requirements for new cars.
Pay Upfront and Save - If you pay your entire premium ahead of time rather than paying monthly you could save up to 5%.
Resident Student - Kids in college who attend school more than 100 miles from home without a vehicle on campus can receive lower rates.
Life Insurance - Companies who offer life insurance give a discount if you purchase auto and life insurance together.
Club Memberships - Being a member of a qualifying organization is a good way to get lower rates on your policy.
Lower Rates for Military - Being on active duty in the military can result in better rates.
Government Employees - Simply working for the federal government may qualify you for a discount with certain companies.
Passive Restraints and Air Bags - Vehicles with factory air bags or automatic seat belts may earn rate discounts of 20% or more.
Senior Citizens - Older drivers can possibly qualify for a small decrease in premiums.

A little note about advertised discounts, most discount credits are not given to your bottom line cost. Some only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like medical payments or collision. So even though they make it sound like all those discounts means the company will pay you, you won't be that lucky.

For a list of providers with the best car insurance discounts in Florida, click here to view.

Insurance agents can help

When it comes to choosing the right insurance coverage for your personal vehicles, there isn't really a "best" method to buy coverage. Everyone's situation is unique so your insurance should reflect that For example, these questions can help discover whether your personal situation might need an agent's assistance.

Should I buy only the required Florida minimum liability coverage?
Who is covered when they drive my vehicle?
What can I do if my company won't pay a claim?
Do I pay less if my vehicle is kept in my garage?
What happens if I owe more than my vehicle is worth?
Are rental cars covered under my policy?
Am I covered when delivering products for my home-based business?

If you're not sure about those questions but a few of them apply, you may need to chat with an insurance agent. If you don't have a local agent, fill out this quick form or click here for a list of car insurance companies in your area.

Even more information can be found at the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation website. Visitors are able to file complaints about a company, file complaints about an insurance agent or broker, view a list of available companies, and read enforcement actions against agents and companies.

Do the work, save more money

We just covered some good ideas how you can lower your car insurance rates. The key concept to understand is the more you quote, the better your chances of lowering your rates. You may even discover the lowest rates come from a smaller regional carrier. Smaller companies may cover specific market segments cheaper compared to the large companies like .

As you restructure your insurance plan, it's very important that you do not reduce needed coverages to save money. There have been many cases where consumers will sacrifice physical damage coverage only to discover later that they should have had better coverage. Your goal should be to find the BEST coverage for the lowest price, not the least amount of coverage.