Best 9 Ways You Can Buy Auto Insurance for Less in Brookhaven

Having to pay for overpriced auto insurance can overdraw your savings account and make it impossible to make ends meet. Shopping your coverage around is free, only takes a few minutes, and is a good way to make sure you’re not throwing money away. You have multiple insurance companies to purchase coverage from, and though it is a good thing to be able to choose, it can be more challenging to adequately compare rates.

It’s important to take a look at other company’s rates once or twice a year because rates go up and down regularly. Just because you found the best deal two years ago you can probably find a lower rate today. Forget anything you know (or think you know) about auto insurance because you’re about to find out the best methods to get good coverage at a lower rate.

Free Quotes for Auto Insurance in Brookhaven

All major auto insurance companies like State Farm and Allstate provide insurance quotes directly from their websites. Obtaining pricing doesn’t take much effort as you just type in your required coverages as requested by the quote form. Behind the scenes, the company’s rating system collects reports for credit and driving violations and provides a quote based on these factors. Quoting online helps simplify price comparisons, but the work required to visit many different websites and type in the same information gets old quite quickly. Unfortunately, it is important to do this in order to get a lower rate.

A more efficient way to lower your rates uses one simple form to obtain quotes from several different companies. It saves time, helps eliminate reptitive entry, and makes price shopping online much more efficient. After sending the form, it gets priced and you can choose your choice of the price quotes you receive.

If a lower price is quoted, you can click and sign and purchase coverage. It can be completed in less than 10 minutes and may result in a nice savings.

To quickly compare rates using this form now, simply click here to open in new window and complete the simple form. If you have a policy now, it’s recommended you complete the form with the limits and deductibles as close as possible to your current policy. This ensures you are getting rate comparison quotes using the exact same coverages.

Cut your premium with these nine discounts

Car insurance can cost a lot, but there are discounts available to help bring down the price. A few discounts will automatically apply at the time of purchase, but lesser-known reductions have to be specially asked for before you will receive the discount. If they aren’t giving you every credit possible, you’re just leaving money on the table.

• Air Bag Discount – Cars that have air bags may earn rate discounts of 20% or more.
• New Vehicle Savings – Putting insurance coverage on a new car can cost up to 25% less since new cars are generally safer.
• Auto/Home Discount – When you combine your home and auto insurance with one insurance company you could get a discount of approximately 10% to 15%.
• One Accident Forgiven – A handful of insurance companies allow you one accident before hitting you with a surcharge if your claims history is clear for a set time period.
• Anti-theft Discount – Vehicles with anti-theft systems prevent vehicle theft and earn discounts up to 10%.
• Seat Belts Save – Requiring all passengers to wear their seat belts could cut 10% or more off the personal injury premium cost.
• Multiple Cars – Buying coverage for all your vehicles on the same auto insurance policy could earn a price break for each car.
• Government Employees – Being employed by or retired from a federal job can save as much as 8% with certain companies.
• 55 and Retired – If you qualify as a senior citizen, you can possibly qualify for reduced rates.

Drivers should understand that many deductions do not apply the the whole policy. Some only apply to individual premiums such as liability and collision coverage. So when the math indicates all the discounts add up to a free policy, you’re out of luck. Any qualifying discounts will cut the cost of coverage.

To see a list of insurance companies who offer auto insurance discounts in Brookhaven, click this link.

Much more information about auto insurance in New York can be read on the website for the New York Department of Financial Services located here. Visitors are able to file complaints about an insurance agent or broker, report car insurance fraud, and read state legal mandates and laws.

Also read more on this online resource for free quotes in New York and this resource to find Brookhaven, NY insurance agents.

Beware of misleading auto insurance ads

New York drivers get pounded daily by advertisements that promise big savings from the likes of State Farm and Allstate. They all seem to make an identical promise that you’ll save big if you move your coverage to them.

But how can every company say the same thing? This is how they do it.

All the different companies can use profiling for the type of driver that makes them money. An example of a desirable insured could possibly be between the ages of 30 and 50, insures multiple vehicles, and chooses high deductibles. Any new insured who meets those qualifications gets the lowest rates and is almost guaranteed to save a lot of money.

Potential customers who don’t qualify for this ideal profile will be charged a more expensive rate which leads to business going elsewhere. The ad wording is “drivers who switch” not “everybody who quotes” save that kind of money. This is how companies can make those claims.

That is why drivers should compare as many rates as you can. You cannot predict the company that will provide you with the cheapest rates.

What auto insurance coverages do you need?

Learning about specific coverages of a auto insurance policy can help you determine the best coverages at the best deductibles and correct limits. The coverage terms in a policy can be difficult to understand and coverage can change by endorsement. Listed below are the usual coverages found on the average auto insurance policy.

Liability insurance – Liability insurance protects you from injuries or damage you cause to other people or property in an accident. This coverage protects you against claims from other people. Liability doesn’t cover damage to your own property or vehicle.

It consists of three limits, bodily injury per person, bodily injury per accident and property damage. As an example, you may have limits of 50/100/50 that means you have a limit of $50,000 per injured person, $100,000 for the entire accident, and property damage coverage for $50,000. Occasionally you may see one limit called combined single limit (CSL) which combines the three limits into one amount with no separate limits for injury or property damage.

Liability insurance covers claims such as bail bonds, pain and suffering, emergency aid and medical expenses. How much liability should you purchase? That is a decision to put some thought into, but it’s cheap coverage so purchase as large an amount as possible. New York requires minimum liability limits of 25,000/50,000/10,000 but you should consider buying higher limits.

Comprehensive (Other than Collision) – Comprehensive insurance pays to fix your vehicle from damage OTHER than collision with another vehicle or object. You need to pay your deductible first then your comprehensive coverage will pay.

Comprehensive coverage protects against things such as hitting a bird, damage from a tornado or hurricane, a tree branch falling on your vehicle and fire damage. The most your auto insurance company will pay is the ACV or actual cash value, so if your deductible is as high as the vehicle’s value consider removing comprehensive coverage.

Medical expense insurance – Med pay and PIP coverage kick in for short-term medical expenses such as hospital visits, doctor visits, surgery, funeral costs and pain medications. They are used to fill the gap from your health insurance policy or if you do not have health coverage. It covers you and your occupants and will also cover if you are hit as a while walking down the street. PIP coverage is not available in all states but it provides additional coverages not offered by medical payments coverage

Collision – Collision insurance pays to fix your vehicle from damage resulting from a collision with a stationary object or other vehicle. A deductible applies and then insurance will cover the remainder.

Collision insurance covers things like sideswiping another vehicle, hitting a parking meter, scraping a guard rail, backing into a parked car and damaging your car on a curb. Collision is rather expensive coverage, so you might think about dropping it from vehicles that are 8 years or older. You can also increase the deductible to get cheaper collision coverage.

Protection from uninsured/underinsured drivers – This coverage protects you and your vehicle’s occupants from other drivers when they either have no liability insurance or not enough. Covered losses include injuries to you and your family and also any damage incurred to your vehicle.

Due to the fact that many New York drivers only carry the minimum required liability limits (New York limits are 25/50/10), it doesn’t take a major accident to exceed their coverage limits. That’s why carrying high Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage should not be overlooked. Normally the UM/UIM limits do not exceed the liability coverage limits.

In conclusion

In this article, we presented many ways to compare auto insurance prices online. The most important thing to understand is the more rate comparisons you have, the higher the chance of saving money. Consumers may even find the best prices are with some of the smallest insurance companies. These companies often have lower prices on specific markets than their larger competitors like Progressive or GEICO.

When you buy insurance online, it’s very important that you do not buy poor coverage just to save money. In too many instances, someone dropped physical damage coverage to discover at claim time that the savings was not a smart move. The proper strategy is to find the BEST coverage at the best price, not the least amount of coverage.