7 Must-Know Tricks When Shopping for Layton Car Insurance

Purchasing affordable Layton car insurance on the web can be rather challenging for people who are new to shopping for insurance online. Because there are so many insurers available, how can you have a chance to compare them all to find the lowest price?

Save big with these discounts

Insurance can cost an arm and a leg, but there could be available discounts to cut the cost considerably. Some trigger automatically at quote time, but a few must be specially asked for in order for you to get them. If you’re not getting every credit available, you are throwing money away.

Driver’s Ed – Have your child complete a driver education course in school.
Sign Online – A handful of insurance companies give back up to $50 for buying your policy digitally online.
Air Bag Discount – Vehicles with factory air bags can get savings of up to 25% or more.
Federal Employees – Employees or retirees of the government may qualify you for a discount depending on your company.
Good Student Discount – Getting good grades can get you a discount of up to 25%. Earning this discount can benefit you until age 25.
Discounts for Safe Drivers – Drivers who avoid accidents can get discounts for up to 45% lower rates than their less cautious counterparts.
Drive Less and Save – Low mileage vehicles could qualify for discounted rates on garaged vehicles.
Theft Prevention System – Cars that have factory anti-theft systems prevent vehicle theft and therefore earn up to a 10% discount.
Payment Method – By paying your policy upfront instead of monthly or quarterly installments you could save up to 5%.
Seat Belt Usage – Using a seat belt and requiring all passengers to use a seat belt can save 10% or more off your medical payments premium.

Consumers should know that some of the credits will not apply to the entire cost. Some only apply to individual premiums such as liability and collision coverage. Just because you may think adding up those discounts means a free policy, car insurance companies aren’t that generous. But any discount will reduce your overall premium however.

To choose insurance companies with discount car insurance rates in Layton, click here.

Compare the Market for Car Insurance in Layton, UT

There are a variety of methods you can shop for car insurance but some are easier and takes less work. You could waste time driving to agents in Layton, or you could use the internet to quickly compare rates.

Most of the larger companies belong to a marketplace where prospective buyers submit their information once, and each participating company then returns a price quote determined by their information. This prevents consumers from doing repetitive form submissions to every company.

To enter your information into the quoting system, click here (opens in new window).

The one disadvantage to pricing coverage this way is that you can’t choose which carriers to receive prices from. So if you want to select specific insurance companies to receive pricing from, we have assembled a list of companies who write car insurance in Utah. Click here to view list.

Whichever method you choose, double check that you are using the exact same coverages and limits for each comparison quote. If you are comparing different values for each quote you can’t possibly determine the lowest rate in Layton.

What impacts Layton insurance rates?

It’s important that you understand the different types of things that go into determining your car insurance rates. Understanding what influences your rates empowers consumers to make smart changes that could result in much lower annual insurance costs.

Listed below are some of the factors used by your company to calculate premiums.

Type of vehicle determines base rates – The make and model of the car you drive makes a huge difference in the rate you pay. Small economy passenger cars usually have the lowest rates, but other factors influence the final cost greatly.
How credit affects car insurance rates – Your credit score is a important factor in your rate calculation. If your credit score is lower than you’d like, you could pay less to insure your by improving your credit score. People with high credit scores tend to be more responsible than drivers with poor credit.
Drive a safer car and pay less – Cars with high safety ratings are cheaper to insure. Safer cars result in less severe injuries and any reduction in injury severity translates into fewer and smaller insurance claims passed on to you as lower rates.
Claim-free discounts can add up – If you are a frequent claim filer, you can pretty much guarantee either a policy non-renewal or much higher rates. Auto insurance companies in Utah give better rates to people who are claim-free. Auto insurance is meant to be used in the event of the large, substantial claims.
Do you have enough liability coverage? – Liability insurance is the coverage that protects you when a court rules you are at fault for damages caused by your negligence. Liability provides legal defense coverage up to the limits shown on your policy. Liability insurance is quite affordable compared to physical damage coverage, so drivers should carry high limits.
Older drivers save more – Older insureds are viewed as being more responsible, statistically cause fewer accidents and receive fewer citations. Teenage drivers are statistically proven to get distracted easily when behind the wheel and because of this, their car insurance rates are much higher.
Increase deductibles and save – The deductibles represent how much money you are required to spend before your car insurance pays a claim. Physical damage insurance, commonly called comprehensive (or other-than-collision) and collision coverage, insures against damage to your car. Examples of covered claims would be colliding with a building, damage caused by hail, or theft. The more you’re willing to pay, the bigger discount you will receive.

Shop online but buy locally

Some consumers just want to talk to a local agent and that is a personal choice. Agents are trained to spot inefficiencies and help submit paperwork. The best thing about comparing rates online is the fact that you can find the best rates but also keep your business local. And providing support for local insurance agencies is important especially in Layton.

To make it easy to find an agent, after completing this form (opens in new window), your insurance coverage information is emailed to agents in your area who will compete for your coverage. There is no need to leave your house because quoted prices will be sent immediately to your email address. How cool is that?!

The different types of insurance agents

When researching a good insurance agency, there are a couple of different types of agents that you can select. Layton agents are classified as either captive or independent (non-captive). Either one can properly insure your vehicles, but it’s worth learning the difference between them since it may influence your selection of an agent.

Independent Agencies or Brokers

These agents are not required to write business for one company but instead can place your coverage with any number of different companies depending on which coverage is best. If you are not satisfied with one company, they simply move the coverage in-house and that require little work on your part.

When comparison shopping, we recommend you include price quotes from at a minimum one independent agency for maximum quote selection. They also have the ability to place coverage with different regional companies which can be an advantage.

Below are Layton independent agents willing to provide comparison quotes.

C and C Insurance – 2182 N Hill Field Rd # 1 – Layton, UT 84041 – (801) 774-0704
Allgrunn Insurance – 880 Heritage Park Blvd # 230 – Layton, UT 84041 – (801) 779-0800
Erekson Agency – 920 Heritage Park Blvd # 110 – Layton, UT 84041 – (801) 951-1951

Captive Insurance Agents

This type of agents write business for a single company and some examples include AAA, Allstate, State Farm, Farmers Insurance or Liberty Mutual. These agents are not able to provide prices from multiple companies so always compare other rates. They are trained well on their company’s products which helps them compete with independent agents. Some people will only choose to use a captive agent mostly because of the brand legacy and solid financial strength.

Shown below is a list of captive insurance agents in Layton that can give you price quote information.

American Family Insurance – 2065 Harris Blvd # C – Layton, UT 84041 – (801) 825-1567
Allstate Insurance – 192 N Fort Ln # 2 – Layton, UT 84041 – (801) 546-1199
Farm Bureau Insurance – 1992 W Antelope Dr # 100 – Layton, UT 84041 – (801) 825-4081
Farmers Insurance Group – 2525 N Hillfield Rd – Layton, UT 84041 – (801) 779-9688

For a full directory of Layton captive insurance agents, please click here.

Selecting a car insurance agent requires more thought than just a cheap price. Agents should be asked these questions:

Will their companies depreciate repairs to your car based on the mileage?
Does the company allow you to choose your own collision repair facility?
Will vehicle repairs be made with aftermarket parts or OEM replacement parts?
Will you be dealing directly with the agent or with a Custom Service Representative (CSR)?
What insurance companies do they work with?

Upon getting positive responses to all your questions and an acceptable price quote, you may have just found an insurance agent that will properly insure your vehicles.

Final thoughts

Drivers leave their current company for a number of reasons such as policy cancellation, poor customer service, delays in paying claims or even extreme rates for teen drivers. No matter why you want to switch, choosing a new company can be easy and end up saving you some money.

As you shop your coverage around, make sure you don’t buy lower coverage limits just to save a few bucks. There are many occasions where consumers will sacrifice liability limits or collision coverage only to regret at claim time that the small savings ended up costing them much more. The aim is to find the BEST coverage at a price you can afford.

Low-cost car insurance can be bought both online as well as from independent agents in Layton, and you need to price shop both in order to have the best price selection to choose from. Some companies don’t offer online quoting and these small, regional companies work with independent agents.

Learn more today

Additional car insurance information can be read on the Utah Insurance Department website through this link. Utah drivers can get help finding coverage, view agent and company licensing information, and read consumer alerts.