How to Know You're Throwing Money Away for Car Insurance in Duncansville

Have you had enough of scraping the payment together each month for car insurance? Your situation is no different than many other Pennsylvania consumers.

You have so many to buy insurance from, and although it's a good thing to have multiple companies, lots of choices makes it harder to compare rates.

It's important to shop coverage around once or twice a year because rates are constantly changing. Just because you had the lowest rates last year a different company probably has better rates today. Starting right now, forget all the misinformation about car insurance because you're going to learn the tricks you need to know to find better rates and still maintain coverage.

The purpose of this post is to instruct you on how to get online quotes and some tips to save money. If you are paying for car insurance now, you stand a good chance to be able to lower your premiums substantially using this information. Nevertheless, Pennsylvania car owners do need to know the way companies sell insurance online and use this information to your advantage.

Policy discounts you shouldn't miss

Insuring your vehicles can cost a lot, buy you may qualify for discounts that you may not even be aware of. Certain discounts will be applied at the time of quoting, but lesser-known reductions have to be asked for before you will receive the discount.

  • Homeowners Pay Less - Owning a house in Duncansville may trigger a car insurance policy discount because owning a home is proof that your finances are in order.
  • Lower Rates for Military - Having a deployed family member could mean lower rates.
  • Good Students Pay Less - Performing well in school can be rewarded with saving of up to 25%. This discount can apply until age 25.
  • New Car Discount - Putting insurance coverage on a new car is cheaper due to better safety requirements for new cars.
  • Passive Restraint Discount - Factory air bags may earn rate discounts of up to 25% or more.
  • Drive Less and Save - Driving fewer miles can earn lower rates on the low mileage vehicles.
  • Drivers Education - Make teen driver coverage more affordable by requiring them to complete a driver education course in school.

It's important to understand that most credits do not apply to the entire cost. Most only reduce individual premiums such as liability, collision or medical payments. So when the math indicates all those discounts means the company will pay you, it doesn't quite work that way. Any qualifying discounts will bring down the amount you have to pay.

Tips to Get Lower Duncansville Rates

Smart consumers have a good feel for some of the elements that go into determining your car insurance rates. Knowing what determines base rates empowers consumers to make smart changes that may reward you with big savings.

Listed below are a few of the "ingredients" used by your company to calculate rates.

  • Marriage brings a discount - Having a spouse can actually save you money when buying car insurance. It translates into being more mature and responsible and it's proven that drivers who are married are more cautious.
  • Drive a safer car and pay less - Vehicles with good safety scores are cheaper to insure. These vehicles protect occupants better and fewer injuries translates into fewer and smaller insurance claims and thus lower rates.
  • How's your driving record? - Your driving citation history has a lot to do with how much you pay for insurance. Drivers who don't get tickets have lower premiums than bad drivers. Just one citation can bump up the cost by twenty percent. Drivers who have serious citations like DUI or reckless driving may need to submit a SR-22 or proof of financial responsibility with their state motor vehicle department in order to continue driving.
  • Older drivers pay less - Young drivers in Pennsylvania are statistically proven to be more careless in a vehicle so they pay higher car insurance rates. Mature drivers are viewed as being more responsible, file fewer claims and are safer drivers.
  • High numbers of claims are not good - If you tend to file frequent claims, you can definitely plan on higher rates. Car insurance companies in Pennsylvania provide lower rates to policyholders who do not file claims often. Insurance coverage is meant to be used in the event of major claims that would cause financial hardship.
  • Low deductibles can be expensive - Coverage for physical damage, termed comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy, is used to repair damage to your car. A few examples of covered claims are a windshield shattered by a rock, vandalism, or theft. Your deductibles are how much you are willing to pay if you file a covered claim. The higher the amount you have to pay, the less your company will charge you for insurance.
  • Save money with special equipment - Driving a car with an alarm system can get you a discount on your car insurance. Anti-theft features like LoJack tracking devices, vehicle tamper alarm systems or GM's OnStar system all hinder your car from being stolen.

Save $429 a year? Really?

Car insurance companies such as State Farm, GEICO and Progressive constantly bombard you with television and radio advertisements. They all seem to say the same thing of big savings if you switch your coverage to them. How does each company make the same claim?

All the different companies can use profiling for the type of customer that earns them a profit. For example, a desirable insured could be between the ages of 30 and 50, has no tickets, and has great credit. A customer who fits that profile will get the preferred rates and is almost guaranteed to save when switching.

Potential insureds who don't qualify for these standards will have to pay more money which usually ends up with business going elsewhere. The ads state "customers that switch" but not "drivers who get quotes" save that much money. That's why insurance companies can confidently advertise the savings.

Because of the profiling, drivers should get as many comparisons as possible. Because you never know the company that will give you the biggest savings.

More Pennsylvania car insurance information

Additional car insurance information can be found on the website for the Pennsylvania Insurance Department located here. Consumers can get help finding coverage, find disaster information, file complaints about a company, and read enforcement actions against agents and companies.

compare Duncansville car insurance rates

Do the work, save more money

Low-cost car insurance is available from both online companies as well as from independent agents in Duncansville, and you should compare price quotes from both to have the best chance of lowering rates. There are still a few companies who don't offer you the ability to get quotes online and most of the time these regional insurance providers sell through independent agents.

We just showed you a lot of information how to reduce car insurance prices online. The key thing to remember is the more rate comparisons you have, the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. You may even find the lowest rates come from a small local company. Regional companies can often provide lower rates in certain areas compared to the large companies like .