Consumer Tested Strategies to Save on Riverhead Car Insurance

I can't think of a single person who looks forward to paying for car insurance, especially when they are paying too much. Online insurance companies like GEICO and Progressive persitently shower you with fancy advertisements and consumers find it hard to sift through the bull and take the time to shop coverage around.

Tips to Get Lower Riverhead Rates

Consumers need to have an understanding of the factors that go into determining your car insurance rates. Having a good understanding of what impacts premium levels empowers consumers to make smart changes that could result in big savings.

Listed below are a partial list of the pieces used by your company to calculate premiums.

Lower deductibles cost more - The deductibles represent how much money you are willing to pay before your car insurance pays a claim. Physical damage insurance, also known as collision and other-than-collision, is used to repair damage to your car. A few examples of covered claims are colliding with a building, collision with an animal, and windstorm damage. The more you have to pay, the lower your rates will be.
High credit ratings translate to low rates - A driver's credit score is a large factor in determining your rates. If your credit rating is lower than you'd like, you could save money insuring your by improving your credit score. People with excellent credit tend to be more responsible than drivers who have poor credit.
High numbers of claims are not good - If you tend to file frequent claims, you can look forward to higher rates. Auto insurance companies in New York generally give cheaper rates to insureds who do not file claims often. Insurance coverage is meant to be used in the event of larger claims.
Extra add-on coverages are wasting money - There are many additional coverages that you can get tricked into buying on your policy. Insurance for rental car reimbursement, accidental death and additional equipment coverage are some examples. These may sound like a good investment at first, but now you might not need them so eliminate the coverages to reduce your premium.

Riverhead Car Insurance Quote Comparison

All major car insurance companies provide coverage price quotes on the web. Getting quotes is fairly simple as you just enter your coverage preferences as detailed in the form. After the form is submitted, their rating system will obtain reports for credit and driving violations and returns pricing information based on these and other factors. Online quotes streamlines rate comparisons, but the time it takes to visit each company's website and repetitively fill out multiple forms is repetitive and time-consuming. But it's very important to have as many quotes as possible if you want to find better car insurance pricing.

The preferred way to get multiple rate quotes is to use a quote form to get prices from a bunch of companies at once. The form is fast, helps eliminate reptitive entry, and makes quoting online much more efficient. Once the form is submitted, it gets priced and you can choose your choice of the resulting price quotes.

If the quotes result in lower rates, you simply finish the application and purchase coverage. The whole process can be completed in a matter of minutes and you'll know if lower rates are available.

To find out what other companies charge, click here to open in new window and submit the form. If you have coverage now, it's recommended you complete the form with the coverages identical to your current policy. This makes sure you will receive comparison quotes for the exact same coverage.

These discounts can lower your rates

Insurance can cost an arm and a leg, buy you may qualify for discounts that you may not even be aware of. Certain discounts will be applied when you get a quote, but a few must be requested specifically before you will receive the discount. If you aren't receiving every discount you qualify for, you are paying more than you should be.

Multi-car Discount - Buying coverage for more than one vehicle with the same company could earn a price break for each car.
Anti-lock Brakes - Vehicles equipped with ABS or steering control are safer to drive and therefore earn up to a 10% discount.
Air Bag Discount - Vehicles equipped with air bags or motorized seat belts can qualify for discounts of 20% or more.
Federal Employees - Employees or retirees of the government may qualify you for a discount depending on your company.
Theft Prevention System - Vehicles with anti-theft systems help deter theft and qualify for as much as a 10% discount.
Defensive Driver - Taking part in a driver safety course can save you 5% or more if your company offers it.

As a disclaimer on discounts, some credits don't apply to your bottom line cost. Some only apply to the cost of specific coverages such as physical damage coverage or medical payments. So when the math indicates all those discounts means the company will pay you, car insurance companies aren't that generous. Any amount of discount will reduce the cost of coverage.

To choose insurers offering car insurance discounts in Riverhead, click here.

Are you falling for claims of savings?

Consumers can't ignore all the ads for cheaper car insurance from the likes of Allstate, GEICO and Progressive. All the companies have a common claim about savings if you switch your coverage to them.

How can each company make the same claim?

All the different companies have a certain "appetite" for the type of customer that makes them money. For instance, a profitable customer could be between the ages of 30 and 50, owns a home, and has a high credit rating. Any new insured that hits that "sweet spot" will qualify for the lowest rates and as a result will probably save when they switch companies.

Drivers who are not a match for the requirements must pay higher premiums and this can result in business going elsewhere. The ad wording is "people who switch" not "everybody who quotes" save that much money. That is how companies can truthfully state the savings.

This illustrates why you need to get a wide range of price quotes. It's just too difficult to predict which company will have the lowest rates.

Different people need different coverages

When buying the best car insurance coverage for your vehicles, there really is not a "perfect" insurance plan. Each situation is unique and your policy should reflect that. For instance, these questions might point out whether you might need an agent's assistance.

Am I covered when driving on a suspended license?
Does my insurance cover a custom paint job?
Should I drop comprehensive coverage on older vehicles?
Am I covered if I drive in a foreign country?
Does my personal auto insurance policy cover using my vehicle for business use?
Should I have combined single limit or split liability limits?
Do I need to file an SR-22 for a DUI in New York?

If you can't answer these questions but a few of them apply, then you may want to think about talking to an insurance agent. If you want to speak to an agent in your area, fill out this quick form or go to this page to view a list of companies. It is quick, free and can provide invaluable advice.

Additional information is located on the website for the New York Department of Financial Services through this link. Consumers can report car insurance fraud, find out industry alerts, download brochures, and discover disciplinary actions.

In the end, you save

Cheap car insurance is available from both online companies as well as from independent agents in Riverhead, and you should compare price quotes from both to have the best chance of lowering rates. Some insurance companies don't offer online price quotes and usually these small, regional companies provide coverage only through local independent agents.

As you restructure your insurance plan, it's a bad idea to reduce coverage to reduce premium. In too many instances, an insured cut collision coverage and learned later that they should have had better coverage. Your focus should be to get the best coverage possible at an affordable rate while not skimping on critical coverages.

You just learned a lot of ways to compare car insurance prices online. 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 company that doesn't do a lot of advertising. These smaller insurers may have significantly lower rates on certain market segments than the large multi-state companies such as .