6 Must-Know Methods When Shopping for Oakland California Auto Insurance

Comparison shopping for Oakland auto insurance is nearly impossible for beginners to comparing rates online. There are so many choices that it can turn into a big hassle to find the best price in Oakland.

If you have insurance now or are shopping for new coverage, you can use these tips to find the best rates while maintaining coverages. Pricing cheaper auto insurance in Oakland is quite easy. California vehicle owners only need an understanding of the proper way to shop for auto insurance on the web.

Compare Quotes for Oakland Auto Insurance

Cutting your Oakland auto insurance rates can be surprisingly simple. Drivers just need to take the time getting comparison quotes from different insurance companies. It is quite easy and can be accomplished in a couple of different ways.

1. The easiest and least time consuming way to get quotes for comparison is an all-inclusive rate comparison (click to open form in new window). This type of form saves time by eliminating separate quotes for each company. One form submission will get you price quotes from several companies. It’s the fastest way to compare.
2. Another way to analyze rates is spending the time to visit the website for every company you want to comare and complete a new quote form. For example, we’ll assume you want comparison quotes from Allstate, Esurance and Travelers. To get rate quotes you would need to take the time to go to each site and enter your information, which is why the first method is quicker.

   To view a list of companies in Oakland, click here.

It’s up to you how you get prices quotes, just compare exactly the same coverage limits and deductibles on every quote. If you use different liability limits it’s impossible to truly determine the lowest rate in Oakland.

Buyer beware of auto insurance advertising tricks

Consumers in California can’t get away from ads for the lowest price auto insurance from companies such as State Farm and Allstate. All the companies make an identical promise of big savings if you change your policy.

How does each company claim to save you money?

Insurance companies have a preferred profile for the driver that makes them money. For example, a profitable customer could be a mature driver, has no prior claims, and has a high credit rating. A driver who meets those qualifications is entitled to the best price and therefore will save a lot of money.

Potential insureds who fall outside the “perfect” profile will have to pay higher prices and this can result in business going elsewhere. The ad wording is “customers that switch” not “everybody who quotes” save that much money. That’s why insurance companies can advertise the way they do. Because of the profiling, you absolutely need to get a wide range of price quotes. Because you never know which auto insurance company will give you the biggest savings.

Save Money with These Tips

Smart consumers have a good feel for the factors that come into play when calculating your auto insurance rates. Understanding what influences your rates empowers consumers to make smart changes that may reward you with better auto insurance rates.

• The more you drive the more you pay – The more miles you rack up on your car every year the more you’ll pay to insure your vehicle. Most insurance companies price each vehicle’s coverage determined by how the vehicle is used. Cars and trucks left parked in the garage get more affordable rates compared to those used for work or business. Make sure your auto insurance policy is showing how each vehicle is driven.
• Equipment add-ons that lower auto insurance rates – Owning a car that has an advanced theft prevention system can get you a discount on your auto insurance. Theft prevention features like LoJack tracking devices, vehicle tamper alarm systems or GM’s OnStar system can help prevent your car from being stolen.
• Is your vehicle built for speed? – The performance level of the vehicle you drive makes a big difference in your rates. Lower performance four cylinder passenger models generally receive the lowest base rates, but other factors influence the final cost greatly.
• Males pay more for insurance – Statistics demonstrate that women are safer drivers than men. Now that doesn’t mean men are WORSE drivers than women. They both have accidents at a similar rate, but the male of the species tend to have more serious accidents. Men also tend to get cited for more serious violations such as reckless driving.

Pay less by taking advantage of discounts

Companies do not list every available discount very well, so we took the time to find some of the more common as well as the least known savings tricks you should be using. If you don’t get every credit available, you are throwing money away.

• Accident Forgiveness – A few companies allow you one accident before your rates go up so long as you haven’t had any claims for a particular time prior to the accident.
• Multi-car Discount – Insuring more than one vehicle on one policy can get a discount on all vehicles.
• No Accidents – Claim-free drivers can save substantially as compared to bad drivers.
• Anti-theft System – Anti-theft and alarm systems help deter theft and earn discounts up to 10%.
• New Car Discount – Putting insurance coverage on a new car is cheaper compared to insuring an older model.
• Life Insurance Discount – Some companies give a break if you buy life insurance.
• Pay Now and Pay Less – If you pay your bill all at once instead of paying each month you may reduce your total bill.
• Early Switch Discount – A few companies offer discounts for switching policies prior to your current policy expiration. It’s a savings of about 10%.
• Multi-policy Discount – When you combine your home and auto insurance with the same insurance company you may earn 10% to 20% off each policy.
• Seat Belts Save – Buckling up and requiring all passengers to buckle their seat belts could cut 10% or more off the personal injury premium cost.

Keep in mind that most of the big mark downs will not be given to the overall cost of the policy. Most only apply to individual premiums such as medical payments or collision. So when it seems like adding up those discounts means a free policy, it doesn’t quite work that way.

The best insurance company isn’t always the cheapest

We just showed you a lot of techniques to shop for auto insurance online. It’s most important to understand that the more times you quote, the better likelihood of reducing your rate. You may even find the biggest savings come from some of the lesser-known companies.

When you buy insurance online, make sure you don’t buy lower coverage limits just to save a few bucks. There are a lot of situations where an insured cut full coverage to discover at claim time that their decision to reduce coverage ended up costing them more. The ultimate goal is to buy the best coverage you can find at a price you can afford, not the least amount of coverage.

People leave their current company for a number of reasons such as denial of a claim, lack of trust in their agent, not issuing a premium refund or even extreme rates for teen drivers. It doesn’t matter what your reason, finding the right auto insurance provider can be easy and end up saving you some money.

More detailed California auto insurance information can be read at the California Department of Insurance website. Visitors are able to read consumer alerts, report car insurance fraud, and download brochures.

Other useful links include Auto Insurance 101 and this link where you can get more info about Oakland auto insurance.