6 Top Tips to Cut Car Insurance Costs in Palouse, WA

Finding better rates for Palouse car insurance is difficult for beginners to buying insurance online. People have so many companies to choose from that it can be a big hassle to compare prices in Palouse.

It's important to compare prices before your policy renews since rates are constantly changing. Just because you found the best deal six months ago the chances are good that you can find a lower rate today. So forget all the misinformation about car insurance because we're going to show you the only way to find lower rates on car insurance.

More discounts equal less premium

Car insurance can cost a lot, but you can get discounts that you may not know about. Certain discounts will be applied when you get a quote, but lesser-known reductions have to be requested specifically before you will receive the discount.

  • Air Bag Discount - Vehicles with factory air bags can receive discounts of 20% or more.
  • No Accidents - Claim-free drivers can earn big discounts compared to bad drivers.
  • Homeowners Pay Less - Being a homeowner can save you money because maintaining a house requires personal responsibility.
  • Good Students Pay Less - A discount for being a good student can save 20 to 25%. The discount lasts up until you turn 25.
  • Life Insurance Discount - Companies who offer life insurance give a break if you buy life insurance from them.
  • E-sign - Some insurance companies may give you up to $50 for buying your policy online.

As a disclaimer on discounts, some of the credits will not apply to the entire cost. Most only apply to the cost of specific coverages such as medical payments or collision. So when it seems like you would end up receiving a 100% discount, car insurance companies aren't that generous. Any amount of discount will help reduce your premiums.

To see a list of providers with discount car insurance rates in Washington, click here.

Washington car insurance

How to Compare Palouse Car Insurance Rates

Most companies provide coverage prices directly from their websites. Getting quotes is quite simple as you simply enter into the quote form. Once you submit the form, the system will obtain reports for credit and driving violations and returns a price quote.

This helps simplify price comparisons, but the time required to go to each company's website and repetitively fill out multiple forms is repetitive and time-consuming. Unfortunately, it is important to do this if you want to find a lower rate.

The preferred way to lower your car insurance bill is to use a quote form that analyzes rates from a bunch of companies at once. It's a real time-saver, helps eliminate reptitive entry, and makes quoting online much more enjoyable. Once the form is submitted, it gets priced with multiple companies and you can pick any or none of the price quotes you receive.

If the quotes result in lower rates, you can simply submit the application and purchase the new policy. The whole process takes just a few minutes to complete and you'll know if lower rates are available.

To find out how much you're overpaying now, click here and enter your information. If you have a policy now, it's recommended you duplicate your coverages identical to your current policy. This makes sure you will receive comparison quotes based on the exact same insurance coverage.

Switch companies and save? Really?

Companies like State Farm and Allstate consistently run ads in print and on television. All the ads have a common claim about savings if you change to their company. But how can every company claim to save you money?

Different companies can use profiling for the driver that is profitable for them. An example of a preferred risk might be between the ages of 30 and 50, is a homeowner, and has a high credit rating. Any new insured that hits that "sweet spot" is entitled to the best price and therefore will save a lot of money.

Drivers who do not match this ideal profile will be charged higher premiums and this can result in the customer not buying. Company advertisements say "people who switch" not "everyone that quotes" save that much. That's why companies can truthfully state the savings.

That is why drivers must get quotes from several different companies. It's just too difficult to predict the company that will have the lowest rates.

Final considerations

We just covered a lot of techniques to compare car insurance prices online. It's most important to understand that the more you quote, the higher your chance of finding lower rates. You may be surprised to find that the lowest rates come from a company that doesn't do a lot of advertising.

Drivers leave their current company for many reasons like poor customer service, high rates after DUI convictions, lack of trust in their agent or high prices. It doesn't matter why you want to switch finding the right car insurance provider is actually quite simple.

Cheap car insurance can be sourced both online and also from your neighborhood Palouse agents, and you should compare price quotes from both to have the best chance of lowering rates. Some insurance companies may not provide the ability to get a quote online and many times these smaller companies only sell through independent insurance agents.

Additional information is available on the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner website through this link. Visitors are able to find out industry alerts, read industry bulletins, and report car insurance fraud.

Additional helpful sites include NAIC.org's Understanding your Policy and this directory of Palouse insurance agents.