How to Know You're Wasting Money for Auto Insurance in Winchester

Did you fall for a flashy sales pitch and buy overpriced auto insurance? Believe me, many Winchester consumers feel financially strained by their auto insurance policy.

Insurance companies such as GEICO and Progressive promote their brand names with TV and radio ads and it can be hard to sift through the bull and do the work needed to find the best deal.

It's important to compare prices every six months because insurance rates are constantly changing. If you had the lowest price a few years ago you may be paying too much now. You'll find quite a bit of inaccurate information about auto insurance online, so I'm going to show you some great ways to slash your auto insurance rates.

How to Compare Auto Insurance in Winchester, New Hampshire

Most major insurance companies allow you to get price estimates on their websites. Getting online rates is quite simple as you just type in the coverages you want into the quote form. Behind the scenes, the company's rating system will obtain your driving record and credit report and returns a price. Online quotes streamlines rate comparisons, but having to visit several different sites and enter the same data into a form can get tiresome after awhile. Unfortunately, it is important to compare as many rates as possible in order to find a lower rate.

There is a better way!

A less time-consuming method to lower your rates uses one simple form that obtains quotes from many companies. It's a real time-saver, requires less work, and makes price shopping online a little more enjoyable. After sending the form, it is rated and you are able to buy your choice of the returned quotes.

If one or more price quotes are lower than your current rates, it's easy to complete the application and buy the new coverage. The entire process can be completed in a matter of minutes and could lower your rates considerably.

To save time and find out how much you're overpaying now, click here and submit the form. If you have coverage now, it's recommended you type in the insurance coverages exactly as shown on your declarations page. This way, you will get comparison quotes based on similar coverages.

How to Lower your Auto Insurance Rates

It's important that you understand the different types of things that come into play when calculating the price you pay for auto insurance. Having a good understanding of what influences your rates empowers consumers to make smart changes that may reward you with much lower annual insurance costs.

Lower miles equals lower premium - The more you drive in a year the more you will pay for auto insurance. Almost all companies apply a rate based on their usage. Cars and trucks used primarily for pleasure use receive lower rates as compared to vehicles used primarily for driving to work. Double check that your auto insurance policy is rated on the correct driver usage, because improper ratings can cost you money.
Liability insurance protects assets - The liability section of your policy provides coverage if ever a court rules you are at fault for personal injury or accident damage. Liability insurance provides legal defense which can be incredibly expensive. This coverage is very inexpensive compared to insuring for physical damage coverage, so do not cut corners here.
Claim-free discounts can add up - Car insurance companies in New Hampshire award cheaper rates to drivers who do not file claims often. If you frequently file small claims, you can pretty much guarantee higher rates. Your insurance policy is designed for the large, substantial claims.
Rates may be lower depending on your job - Jobs such as judges, business owners and dentists have the highest average rates in part from high stress and long work days. Other jobs such as actors, historians and the unemployed get better rates.
Safer cars are cheaper to insure - Vehicles with high crash test scores can get you lower premiums. These vehicles protect occupants better and lower injury rates means lower claim amounts and more competitive rates for policyholders.
Do you know you're credit rating? - Credit rating is a huge factor in calculating your auto insurance rates. People with high credit ratings tend to be more responsible than drivers with lower ratings. Therefore, if your credit history can use some improvement, you could be paying less to insure your by improving your credit score.

More discounts equal less premium

The price of auto insurance can be rather high, but discounts can save money and there are some available to help offset the cost. Certain discounts will be triggered automatically when you complete an application, but a few must be manually applied before they will apply.

Life Insurance - Some companies give better rates if you take out life insurance.
Club Memberships - Participating in a civic or occupational organization is a good way to get lower rates on auto insurance.
Drivers Ed for Students - Require your teen driver to complete a driver education course in high school.
Claim Free - Drivers with accident-free driving histories pay much less as compared to frequent claim filers.
Drive Less and Save - Keeping the miles down could be rewarded with discounted rates on garaged vehicles.

It's important to note that most discount credits are not given to all coverage premiums. Some only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like collision or personal injury protection. So even though it sounds like adding up those discounts means a free policy, you're out of luck. But any discount will reduce your premiums.

For a list of companies with the best auto insurance discounts in Winchester, click here to view.

More information is located on the website for the New Hampshire Insurance Department. Click here for link. New Hampshire consumers can file complaints about an insurance agent or broker, find out which companies have the most complaints, download brochures, and read industry bulletins.

Shop smart and save

As you shop your coverage around, it's a bad idea to reduce needed coverages to save money. In many instances, someone sacrificed collision coverage and learned later that saving that couple of dollars actually costed them tens of thousands. The ultimate goal is to find the BEST coverage for the lowest price.

Lower-priced auto insurance is possible online as well as from independent agents in Winchester, so you should be comparing quotes from both to get a complete price analysis. Some insurance providers don't offer online quoting and most of the time these small, regional companies sell through independent agents.