Tightwads Tips for Saving on Kenai Car Insurance

Are you tired of scraping the payment together each month for car insurance? Your situation is no different than the majority of other car owners in Alaska.

You have so many to buy insurance from, and although it's nice to have multiple companies, lots of choices makes it harder to compare rates.

It's important to price shop coverage once or twice a year due to the fact that insurance rates are constantly changing. Even if you think you had the best rates two years ago a different company probably has better rates today. There is a lot of bad information regarding car insurance online, so I'm going to show you some great ways to find cheap car insurance.

Are you getting all your discounts?

Insuring your vehicles can cost a lot, buy you may qualify for discounts to help bring down the price. Certain discounts will be triggered automatically at quote time, but some may not be applied and must be specially asked for in order for you to get them.

Homeowners Pay Less - Owning a house in Kenai can save you money because maintaining a house demonstrates responsibility.
Drivers Education - Make teen driver coverage more affordable by requiring them to complete a driver education course if offered at their school.
Drive Less and Save - Low mileage vehicles could qualify for a substantially lower rate.
Sign Online - A handful of insurance companies may give you up to $50 for buying your policy over the internet.
Senior Citizens - If you qualify as a senior citizen, you may receive a discount up to 10%.
Pay Now and Pay Less - By paying your policy upfront instead of monthly or quarterly installments you could save 5% or more.

A little note about advertised discounts, some of the credits will not apply to the entire cost. Most only cut individual premiums such as liability, collision or medical payments. So despite the fact that it appears having all the discounts means you get insurance for free, you won't be that lucky. Any amount of discount will bring down the cost of coverage.

Learn How to Buy Car Insurance Cheaper

Smart consumers have a good feel for the factors that play a part in calculating the rates you pay for car insurance. Knowing what impacts premium levels helps enable you to make changes that may reward you with big savings.

Being married is a good thing - Getting married helps lower the price on car insurance. It usually means you are more responsible and it's proven that drivers who are married are more cautious.
Lower rates with optional equipment - Driving a car with an alarm system can get you a discount on your car insurance. Theft prevention devices like vehicle immobilizer systems, General Motors OnStar and LoJack tracking systems all hinder auto theft.
Do you need the policy add-ons? - There are quite a few extra bells and whistles that you can buy when buying car insurance. Coverages for rental car reimbursement, towing coverage and membership fees are some examples. These may sound like a good investment when you first buy your policy, but your needs may have changed so eliminate them to save money.
Men are more aggressive - The statistics show that women are safer drivers than men. Now that doesn't mean men are WORSE drivers than women. They both are in accidents at a similar rate, but the males tend to have more serious accidents. They also get more serious tickets like DUI and reckless driving.
Safe vehicles cost less to insure - Vehicles with good safety scores get lower rates. These vehicles have better occupant injury protection and any reduction in injury severity translates into fewer and smaller insurance claims and thus lower rates.
Older drivers pay less - Youthful drivers in Alaska have a tendency to be more careless in a vehicle so they pay higher car insurance rates. Mature drivers are viewed as being more responsible, file fewer claims and get fewer tickets.
Multi-policy discounts can save money - Some insurance companies will give a discount to insureds who consolidate policies with them in the form of a multi-policy discount. Even if you're getting this discount you still need to compare other company rates to confirm you are receiving the best rates possible. Drivers may still find better rates by insuring with multiple companies.

How can State Farm, GEICO and Progressive save drivers who switch?

Car insurance companies such as State Farm, GEICO and Progressive consistently run ads on television and other media. They all seem to have a common claim about savings if you change your policy. How does each company claim to save you money?

All the different companies can use profiling for the right customer that earns them a profit. A good example of a desirable insured might be between the ages of 40 and 55, has no tickets, and chooses high deductibles. Any driver that hits that "sweet spot" will qualify for the lowest rates and as a result will probably save when switching.

Potential insureds who are not a match for these standards will have to pay more money and this can result in the customer not buying. The ad wording is "customers that switch" not "everybody who quotes" save that kind of money. That's why companies can truthfully state the savings.

Because of the profiling, drivers should get quotes from several different companies. You cannot predict the company that will give you the biggest savings.

More Alaska car insurance information

Additional information can be read on the website for the Alaska Division of Insurance located here. Visitors are able to get help finding coverage, view a list of available companies, discover disciplinary actions, and learn about insurance regulations.

Final considerations

Cheaper car insurance is attainable both online in addition to many Kenai insurance agents, so you should be comparing quotes from both in order to have the best chance of saving money. Some insurance companies do not provide you the ability to get quotes online and most of the time these small insurance companies sell through independent agents.

When buying insurance coverage, never skimp on coverage in order to save money. In many cases, an insured dropped full coverage and found out when filing a claim that their decision to reduce coverage ended up costing them more. Your aim should be to purchase a proper amount of coverage at a price you can afford.