Discover the Secrets to Paying Less for South Portland Maine Auto Insurance

Overpriced auto insurance can drain your checking account and put a big crunch on your finances. Comparing price quotes is free, only takes a few minutes, and is a good way to lower your monthly bill. Multiple insurers compete for your business, and because of this it can be hard to compare insurers and get the definite lowest rate possible.

Buy Cheaper Auto Insurance with These Tips

An important part of buying insurance is that you know the factors that play a part in calculating auto insurance rates. Having a good understanding of what controls the rates you pay empowers consumers to make smart changes that will entitle you to lower auto insurance prices.

Shown below are some of the items used by your company to calculate prices.

• Your spouse saves you money – Having a wife or husband actually saves money on auto insurance. Marriage usually means you are more mature and it’s proven that married couples file fewer claims.
• Discounts for multiple policies – Many auto insurance companies will award you with lower prices to policyholders who consolidate policies with them such as combining an auto and homeowners policy. This can amount to ten or even up to twenty percent in some cases. If you currently are using one company, you still need to comparison shop to verify if the discount is saving money. You may still find a better deal by buying auto insurance from a different company.
• Don’t sacrifice liability coverage – The liability section of your policy is the protection if you are found to be at fault for causing damage or personal injury in an accident. It will provide legal defense which can cost thousands of dollars. Carrying liability coverage is mandatory and cheap compared to insuring for physical damage coverage, so do not skimp.
• Battle of the sexes – The statistics show women are more cautious behind the wheel. That doesn’t necessarily mean that men are worse drivers. Men and women tend to get into accidents at a similar rate, but the male of the species cause more damage. Men also tend to have more aggressive citations like reckless driving and DUI. Male drivers age 16 to 19 are most likely to cause an accident and therefore have the most expensive auto insurance rates.
• Save money with special equipment – Owning a car with an alarm system can help lower your rates. Anti-theft devices such as vehicle immobilizer systems, General Motors OnStar and LoJack tracking systems can help prevent car theft.
• Increase deductibles and save – Physical damage deductibles represent how much money you are required to spend out-of-pocket if you file a covered claim. Physical damage coverage, commonly called comprehensive (or other-than-collision) and collision coverage, covers damage that occurs to your car. Some examples of claims that would be covered could be colliding with a building, vandalism, and burglary. The more money the insured has to pay upfront, the bigger discount you will receive.
• Performance level impacts rates – The performance of the car you drive makes a huge difference in how high your rates are. Small economy passenger vehicles generally have the cheapest insurance rates, but other factors influence the final cost greatly.

You probably qualify for some discounts

Insurance can cost an arm and a leg, buy you may qualify for discounts that you may not know about. Certain discounts will be applied at the time of quoting, but less common discounts must be manually applied prior to receiving the credit. If they aren’t giving you every credit available, you are paying more than you should be.

• Safe Driver Discount – Drivers who don’t get into accidents may receive a discount up to 45% less than drivers with accidents.
• Employee of Federal Government – Active or retired federal employment could cut as much as 10% off with certain companies.
• Good Student Discount – This discount can be rewarded with saving of up to 25%. The good student discount can last well after school through age 25.
• Life Insurance – Select insurance companies reward you with a break if you buy auto and life insurance together.
• Organization Discounts – Participating in a qualifying organization may earn a discount when shopping for auto insurance.
• Resident Student – Children who live away from home without a vehicle on campus may be able to be covered for less.
• Multiple Cars – Buying coverage for all your vehicles on one policy can get a discount on all vehicles.
• Accident Free – Drivers with accident-free driving histories pay less compared to frequent claim filers.
• Theft Prevention System – Anti-theft and alarm systems can help prevent theft and will save you 10% or more.

It’s important to note that most of the big mark downs will not be given to the entire cost. Most only reduce individual premiums such as collision or personal injury protection. So when the math indicates having all the discounts means you get insurance for free, it just doesn’t work that way. But any discount will reduce your overall premium however.

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

Local South Portland agents and auto insurance

Some people just want to get advice from a local agent and that is OK! Agents can point out coverage gaps and help you file claims. The best thing about getting online price quotes is that you can obtain the best rates but still work with a licensed agent. And providing support for small agencies is definitely important in South Portland.

Upon completion of this quick form, the quote information gets sent to companies in South Portland who will battle to get your business. You won’t need to even leave your home as quotes are delivered directly to your email. How cool is that?!

If you want to view a list of agents in South Portland to contact, please click here.

Picking an provider shouldn’t rely on just the bottom line cost. These are valid questions to ask:

• Do they specialize in personal lines coverage?
• Which company do they place the most coverage with?
• What insurance companies do they work with?
• Does the company allow you to choose your own collision repair facility?
• How long have they worked with personal auto insurance coverage?

Once you have positive responses to all your questions and a good coverage price, you may have just found a company that is a good match to properly service your auto insurance policy.

Additional auto insurance information can be found on the website for the Maine Bureau of Insurance found here. Maine drivers can get help finding coverage, find a variety of consumer forms, and find out industry alerts.

In Summary

Cheaper auto insurance is attainable online in addition to many South Portland insurance agents, so you should be comparing quotes from both to have the best rate selection. A few companies do not provide online quoting and most of the time these smaller companies sell through independent agents.

We just showed you a lot of information how to lower your auto insurance rates. It’s most important to understand that the more price quotes you have, the higher the chance of saving money. You may be surprised to find that the most savings is with a company that doesn’t do a lot of advertising. They may often insure only within specific states and give getter rates than the large multi-state companies such as Progressive or GEICO.