Belton Missouri Car Insurance Savings the Insurance Agents Don’t Want You to Know About

Price shopping your Belton car insurance is a challenge for beginners to comparison shopping online. Drivers have so many options that it can turn into a challenge to locate the lowest price in Belton.

Consumers should take time to get comparison quotes quite often since insurance rates are rarely the same from one policy term to another. Even if you think you had the best rates six months ago there is a good chance you can find better rates now. Starting right now, forget anything you know (or think you know) about car insurance because I’m going to teach you the only way to find better rates and still maintain coverage.

If you have car insurance now, you should be able to reduce your rates substantially using this information. The purpose of this post is to tell you the most effective way to quote insurance and some tips to save money. But Missouri consumers should learn how companies market on the web.

Smart Consumers Save More

An important part of buying insurance is that you know the rating factors that go into determining car insurance rates. Knowing what controls the rates you pay helps enable you to make changes that can help you get much lower annual insurance costs.

Listed below are a partial list of the pieces that factor into your rates.

• Higher safety ratings means cheaper insurance – Vehicles with high crash test scores can get you lower premiums. The safest vehicles protect occupants better and better occupant protection means less money paid by your insurance company and lower rates for you.
• Do men or women drive better? – Statistics have proven women are more cautious behind the wheel. However, don’t assume that women are better drivers. They both tend to get into accidents at about the same rate, but the males cause more damage and cost insurance companies more money. They also have more aggressive citations such as reckless driving.
• Being married is a good thing – Being married can actually save you money on your policy. Marriage means you’re more responsible it has been statistically shown that married couples file fewer claims.
• Traffic violations increase rates – A bad driving record impacts your car insurance rates tremendously. Even one speeding ticket can increase rates forty percent or more. Good drivers have lower premiums than people who have multiple driving citations. If you have severe violations such as DWI, reckless driving or hit and run convictions may find they need to submit a SR-22 form with the DMV in their state in order to drive a vehicle legally.
• Policy add-ons can waste money – There are many add-on coverages that you can get tricked into buying on your car insurance policy. Coverages like vanishing deductibles, accidental death and motor club memberships are some examples. These coverages may sound good at first, but if you don’t need them get rid of them and save.
• Performance influences rates – The make and model of the vehicle you are buying insurance for makes a huge difference in determining your rates. The cheapest insurance rates tend to be for small economy passenger cars, but the final cost of insurance is determined by many other factors.
• Rates may be higher depending on your occupation – Occupations like doctors, executives and stock brokers tend to pay the highest rates attributed to high stress and lengthy work days. On the other hand, professions such as farmers, students and the unemployed have the lowest average rates.
• Where do you drive? – The more you drive in a year the more you’ll pay to insure your vehicle. Most insurance companies price each vehicle’s coverage based upon how you use the vehicle. Cars and trucks left parked in the garage get more affordable rates as compared to vehicles used primarily for driving to work. Make sure your car insurance policy is showing the correct driver usage.

Vehicle Insurance Comparison

Most companies such as Allstate, GEICO and Progressive give coverage prices directly from their websites. Obtaining pricing is fairly simple as you just type in your coverage information into the quote form. After the form is submitted, their system gets credit information and your driving record and returns pricing information.

Online price quotes helps simplify price comparisons, but the time it takes to visit multiple sites and fill out multiple forms is not the best way to spend an afternoon. Unfortunately, it is important to compare as many rates as possible in order to get the best price possible.

An easier way to find better car insurance pricing requires only one form that gets prices from a bunch of companies at once. The form is fast, requires less work, and makes quoting online much more enjoyable and efficient. Immediately after you send the form, it is quoted with multiple companies and you can pick any one of the returned quotes. If a lower price is quoted, it’s easy to complete the application and buy the policy. The whole process takes 15 minutes at the most and may save quite a bit of money.

In order to compare rates using this form now, click here and submit the form. If you have coverage now, it’s recommended you input the coverages just like they are on your policy. Using the same limits helps guarantee you will have a rate comparison based on similar coverages.

The fine print in car insurance ads

Allstate, GEICO and Progressive constantly bombard you with ads on TV and radio. All the companies have a common claim that you’ll save big if you switch to their company. How does each company say the same thing?

All the different companies have a preferred profile for the type of driver that makes them money. For instance, a driver they prefer might be profiled as between 25 and 40, owns a home, and has a short commute. A customer who meets those qualifications will qualify for the lowest rates and most likely will pay quite a bit less when switching companies.

Drivers who are not a match for these standards will be charged a higher premium which leads to business not being written. The ads say “customers that switch” but not “drivers who get quotes” save that kind of money. That’s the way companies can claim big savings. That is why you need to get as many comparisons as possible. It’s not possible to predict the company that will give you the biggest savings.

Don’t overlook these discounts

Companies do not list all their discounts in a way that’s easy to find, so we break down some of the best known and the harder-to-find car insurance savings.

• Lower Rates for Military – Being on active duty in the military can result in better rates.
• No Charge for an Accident – Certain companies will forgive one accident before your rates go up so long as you haven’t had any claims for a particular time prior to the accident.
• Homeowners Discount – Owning a house in Belton may earn you a small savings because maintaining a house requires personal responsibility.
• Senior Discount – If you qualify as a senior citizen, you may receive a discount up to 10%.
• Safe Drivers – Insureds without accidents may receive a discount up to 45% less than less cautious drivers.
• Bundle and Save – If you have multiple policies with one company you may save approximately 10% to 15%.
• Good Student – Getting good grades can be rewarded with saving of up to 25%. The discount lasts well after school through age 25.
• Drivers Education – Make teen driver coverage more affordable by requiring them to take driver’s ed class in high school.
• Pay Now and Pay Less – If you pay your entire premium ahead of time instead of paying each month you can actually save on your bill.
• Multi-car Discount – Insuring more than one vehicle with the same company can get a discount on all vehicles.

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 physical damage coverage or medical payments. Just because you may think adding up those discounts means a free policy, it just doesn’t work that way.

To see a list of companies offering car insurance discounts in Missouri, click here.

Even more information can be found at the Missouri Department of Insurance website. Visitors are able to view a list of available companies, get help finding coverage, and read consumer alerts.

A little work can save a LOT of money

Affordable car insurance can be bought online as well as from independent agents in Belton, and you need to price shop both in order to have the best chance of saving money. A few companies don’t offer online price quotes and usually these small insurance companies provide coverage only through local independent agents.

Drivers switch companies for a variety of reasons including lack of trust in their agent, questionable increases in premium, poor customer service or even delays in responding to claim requests. Regardless of your reason for switching companies, finding a great new company is easier than you think.

We’ve covered quite a bit of information on how to get a better price on car insurance. The key thing to remember is the more times you quote, the higher your chance of finding lower rates. You may even find the best prices are with the least-expected company.