How to Know You're Throwing Money Away for Car Insurance in Sandy Ridge

Have you had enough of scraping the payment together each month for car insurance? You are no different than many other North Carolina drivers. Numerous battle to insure your vehicles, so it's not easy to compare every to find the lowest price

How to Lower your Car Insurance Rates

Consumers need to have an understanding of the different types of things that come into play when calculating your car insurance rates. Understanding what impacts premium levels empowers consumers to make smart changes that could result in big savings.

The list below includes some of the factors used by your company to calculate premiums.

  • Liability coverage protects you - The liability section of your policy will protect you if you are found to be at fault for personal injury or accident damage. It provides legal defense coverage which can cost thousands of dollars. Carrying liability coverage is mandatory and cheap compared to insuring for physical damage coverage, so do not cut corners here.
  • High numbers of claims are not good - If you are a frequent claim filer, you can definitely plan on higher rates. Auto insurance companies in North Carolina award better rates to insureds who do not file claims often. Insurance coverage is meant to be used in the event of major claims that would cause financial hardship.
  • Lower rates with optional equipment - Driving a car with anti-theft technology or alarm system can save you a little every year. Anti-theft devices like LoJack tracking devices, vehicle tamper alarm systems or GM's OnStar system all hinder car theft.
  • Low deductibles can be expensive - Deductibles for physical damage represent how much money you are required to spend out-of-pocket before a claim is paid by your company. Physical damage coverage, termed comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy, is used to repair damage to your car. A few examples of covered claims are colliding with a building, vandalism, and windstorm damage. The more money you have to pay, the less your company will charge you for insurance.
  • How's your driving record? - Whether or not you get tickets impacts your car insurance rates tremendously. Drivers who don't get tickets tend to pay less for car insurance than people who have multiple driving citations. Even one moving violation can bump up the cost by twenty percent. Drivers with severe tickets such as DUI or reckless driving are required to submit a SR-22 or proof of financial responsibility with their state motor vehicle department in order to drive a vehicle legally.
  • Drive less and save money - The more you drive every year the more you'll pay to insure your vehicle. Almost all companies rate vehicles based upon how you use the vehicle. Cars and trucks not used for work or commuting can get a lower rate compared to those used for work or business. Ask your agent if your car insurance policy is showing the correct driver usage, because it can save money.
  • Rates may be lower depending on your job - Occupations such as doctors, business owners and accountants have higher rates than average in part from high stress levels and lots of time spent at work. On the flip side, occupations like farmers, athletes and the unemployed get better rates.

Compare the Market for Car Insurance in Sandy Ridge

Reducing your insurance rates isn't really that difficult. Consumers just need to spend a little time comparing rate quotes online with multiple companies. This is very easy and can be done in just a few minutes using one of these methods.

  1. The fastest way to compare a lot of rates at once is a comparison rater form click to view form in new window. This easy form saves time by eliminating repetitive form entry to each individual car insurance company. Taking the time to complete one form will return price quotes direct from many companies.
  2. Another way to shop for car insurance online consists of visiting each individual company website to complete a price quote. For sake of this example, let's assume you want rates from , and . To find out each rate you need to spend time on each company's 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 Sandy Ridge, click here.
  3. The least recommended way of comparing rate quotes is driving around to different Sandy Ridge agent offices. Shopping for car insurance online eliminates the need for an insurance agent unless you have a need for the trained guidance only provided by licensed Sandy Ridge agents. However, consumers can find lower rates online but buy from a local insurance agent and we'll talk about that later.

It's your choice how you get your quotes, but double check that you are using the exact same deductibles and coverage limits for every company. If each company quotes different values for each quote you will not be able to decipher which rate is best in Sandy Ridge.

Policy discounts you shouldn't miss

Auto insurance companies don't list all available discounts in an easy-to-find place, so here is a list some of the more common and the harder-to-find savings tricks you should be using. If they aren't giving you every credit available, you are paying more than you should be.

  • Organization Discounts - Belonging to certain professional organizations is a good way to get lower rates when buying car insurance.
  • Student Driver Training - Cut your cost by having your teen driver enroll in driver's education in high school.
  • Pay Upfront and Save - If you pay your entire premium ahead of time instead of making monthly payments you could save up to 5%.
  • Homeowners Pay Less - Owning a home in Sandy Ridge can help you save on car insurance because of the fact that having a home requires personal responsibility.
  • Good Students Pay Less - This discount can be rewarded with saving of up to 25%. The discount lasts up to age 25.
  • More Vehicles More Savings - Buying insurance for multiple cars or trucks with the same company qualifies for this discount.

As a disclaimer on discounts, most discounts do not apply to the entire cost. Some only apply to the price of certain insurance coverages like physical damage coverage or medical payments. So even though they make it sound like all those discounts means the company will pay you, car insurance companies aren't that generous.

To choose insurers with the best car insurance discounts in Sandy Ridge, click here to view.

Save $429 a year? Really?

Consumers can't ignore all the ads for the lowest price auto insurance from the likes of Allstate, GEICO and Progressive. All the companies make an identical promise about savings if you move your coverage to them.

How do they all make the same claim? This is how they do it.

All the different companies can use profiling for the type of customer that makes them money. An example of a profitable customer could be between 25 and 40, has no tickets, and has a short commute. A customer who meets those qualifications will qualify for the lowest rates and is almost guaranteed to cut their rates substantially.

Potential insureds who don't qualify for the "perfect" profile must pay more money and ends up with business going elsewhere. The ad wording is "drivers who switch" but not "drivers who get quotes" save that much money. That's why companies can truthfully make the claims of big savings. This illustrates why you need to quote coverage with many companies. Because you never know the company that will fit your personal profile best.

Even more information is available at the North Carolina Department of Insurance website. Consumers can find out which companies have the most complaints, download brochures, view a list of available companies, and report car insurance fraud.

compare Sandy Ridge car insurance rates

And the best car insurance company is...

Cheap car insurance is possible from both online companies as well as from independent agents in Sandy Ridge, so you should compare both in order to have the best chance of saving money. Some insurance providers don't offer online price quotes and usually these smaller companies provide coverage only through local independent agents.

We just showed you many tips how you can compare car insurance prices online. The key concept to understand is the more rate comparisons you have, the better chance you'll have of finding lower rates. Drivers may discover the most savings is with a lesser-known regional company. These smaller insurers may have significantly lower rates on certain market segments compared to the large companies like .