Top Seven Ways You Can Buy Car Insurance for Less in California

Car insurance companies do not advertise all available discounts in an easy-to-find place, so we took the time to find both the well known as well as the least known car insurance savings. If they aren’t giving you every credit you deserve, you are throwing money away.

• Safe Drivers – Drivers who don’t get into accidents can get discounts for up to 45% lower rates than their less cautious counterparts.
• Lower Rates for Military – Having a deployed family member could be rewarded with lower premiums.
• Discount for Life Insurance – Select insurance companies reward you with lower rates if you buy life insurance from them.
• Fewer Miles Equal More Savings – Low mileage vehicles can earn lower rates on the low mileage vehicles.
• Anti-theft System – Anti-theft and alarm systems can help prevent theft and will save you 10% or more.
• Multiple Cars – Having all your vehicles on one policy may reduce the rate for each vehicle.
• Anti-lock Brake Discount – Cars that have steering control and anti-lock brakes can avoid accidents and qualify for as much as a 10% discount.

As a disclaimer on discounts, some credits don’t apply to the overall cost of the policy. Most cut individual premiums such as collision or personal injury protection. So even though it sounds like you would end up receiving a 100% discount, you’re out of luck.

Scraping up a payment for steep insurance rates is no better than burning money yet most consumers just pay the high price without knowing why the price is so inflated. Certain California car insurance companies will make you pay high prices, and if you don’t periodically do a rate comparison, you’re pouring money down the drain every time you write a check.

Finding a better price on car insurance is actually quite simple. Consumers just need to spend a few minutes to compare quotes online from several insurance companies. This can be done in several different ways.

• The recommended way to find the lowest comparison rates is a comparison rater form click here to open form in new window. This method eliminates the need for boring form submissions for each company. Just one form will get you rate comparisons from multiple low-cost companies.
• A more time consuming way to compare rate quotes is spending the time to visit each company’s website and fill out their own quote form. For examples sake, we’ll pretend you want comparison quotes from Farmers, State Farm and Allstate. You would have to go to every website to input your insurance information, which is why most consumers use the first method. For a list of links to insurance companies in your area, click here.
• The hardest way of getting rate comparisons is to spend your day driving to insurance agents’ offices. Shopping for car insurance online can eliminate the need for a local agent unless you require the personal advice of a licensed agent. You can, however, compare the best prices online and get advice from an agent in your area and you’ll learn how to do that later.

Which method you use is up to you, but make sure you use the exact same coverage limits and deductibles for every quote you compare. If you compare different liability limits it’s impossible to determine the lowest rate.

Informed Drivers Can Cut Their Rates

Smart consumers have a good feel for some of the elements that play a part in calculating the rates you pay for car insurance. Understanding what controls the rates you pay empowers consumers to make smart changes that could result in better car insurance rates.

• Teen drivers pay high rates – More mature drivers are more responsible, tend to cause fewer accidents and tend to be better behind the wheel. Youthful drivers have a tendency to be careless and easily distracted when driving therefore car insurance rates are much higher.
• Is your vehicle built for speed? – The performance of the car you are insuring makes a huge difference in your rates. Lower performance four cylinder passenger vehicles usually have the lowest rates, but the final cost of insurance is determined by many other factors.
• Do you know your deductibles? – Your deductibles represent how much money you are willing to pay out-of-pocket before a claim is paid by your company. Coverage for physical damage, commonly called comprehensive (or other-than-collision) and collision coverage, insures against damage to your car. A few examples of covered claims would be colliding with a building, damage from fire, or theft. The higher the amount you have to pay, the bigger discount you will receive.
• Don’t buy coverages you don’t need – There are quite a few add-on coverages that you can get tricked into buying when buying car insurance. Coverages like personal injury protection, accidental death and additional equipment coverage are examples of these. They may seem like a good idea when you first buy your policy, but now you might not need them so get rid of them and save.
• Protect yourself with liability coverage – Your policy’s liability coverage is the protection if you are found liable for personal injury or accident damage. Liability insurance provides for a legal defense up to the limits shown on your policy. Carrying liability coverage is mandatory and cheap as compared to coverage for physical damage, so buy as much as you can afford.
• Do you know you’re credit rating? – A driver’s credit score is a important factor in determining what you pay for car insurance. People with high credit scores tend to be more responsible than those with lower credit scores. Therefore, if your credit score is low, you could potentially save money when insuring your by repairing your credit.

Aren’t my neighborhood agents an option?

Certain consumers just want to visit with an insurance agent and that is a personal choice. Insurance agents can point out coverage gaps and give you someone to call. The biggest benefit of getting online price quotes is the fact that you can find the best rates but still work with a licensed agent.

After filling out this quick form, your insurance coverage information is transmitted to local insurance agents who will compete to get your business. You don’t have to visit any agencies because quoted prices will be sent straight to your inbox.

Save $449 a year? Really?

Consumers in California get pounded daily by advertisements for car insurance savings from the likes of Allstate, GEICO and Progressive. All the companies say the same thing that you’ll save big if you change your coverage to them.

How do they all claim to save you money? Here’s how they do it.

Different companies have a preferred profile for the type of customer that earns them a profit. For example, a profitable customer might be between the ages of 40 and 55, owns a home, and chooses high deductibles. A customer getting a price quote who fits that profile receives the best rates and therefore will cut their rates substantially.

Potential customers who don’t meet the “perfect” profile must pay a higher premium which usually ends up with the customer not buying. The ads state “customers that switch” not “everyone that quotes” save that much money. This is how companies can advertise the savings. This illustrates why it is so important to quote coverage with many companies. It’s impossible to know which car insurance company will give you the biggest savings.

And the best car insurance company is…

Cheap California car insurance can be found both online as well as from independent agents in California, so you should be comparing quotes from both in order to have the best prices to choose from. Local independent agents have access to many regional insurance providers that don’t always offer you the ability to get quotes online.

You just learned many ways to get a better price on car insurance. It’s most important to understand that the more rate quotes you have, the better likelihood of reducing your rate. Consumers could even find that the lowest priced car insurance comes from some of the smallest insurance companies. These smaller insurers often have lower prices on specific markets as compared to the big name companies such as Allstate or State Farm.

More detailed California car insurance information can be found at the California Department of Insurance website. Visitors are able to read consumer alerts, download brochures, and find out industry alerts. Also read more on BankRate.com’s Car Insurance: When not to Skimp and California insurance agents.