Compare South Pasadena Car Insurance Prices With These Methods

Are you intimidated by the sheer number of car insurance choices in South Pasadena? Many other drivers are as well. People have so many options that it can turn into more work than you anticipated to find the best price.

It's important to shop coverage around every six months due to the fact that insurance rates are constantly changing. If you had the lowest rates six months ago the chances are good that you can find a lower rate today. So block out anything you think you know about car insurance because I'm going to teach you the tricks you need to know to find better rates and still maintain coverage.

If you are insured now or need a new policy, you can follow these tips to find the best rates while maintaining coverages. The purpose of this post is to help educate you on how to get online quotes and some tricks to saving. California consumers only need to know the most efficient way to get comparison quotes online.

Take advantage of discounts

The price of auto insurance can be rather high, buy you may qualify for discounts to help offset the cost. Certain discounts will be applied when you get a quote, but lesser-known reductions have to be requested specifically before you will receive the discount. If you aren't receiving every discount possible, you're paying more than you need to.

  • Auto/Life Discount - Companies who offer life insurance give better rates if you take out auto and life insurance together.
  • Memberships - Being a member of a civic or occupational organization could trigger savings on car insurance.
  • Drivers Ed for Students - Have your child complete a driver education course in high school.
  • Federal Government Employee - Being employed by or retired from a federal job may qualify you for a discount with select insurance companies.
  • Senior Citizens - Mature drivers can possibly qualify for a small decrease in premiums.
  • Defensive Driving Course - Taking part in a defensive driving course could possibly earn you a 5% discount and easily recoup the cost of the course.
  • College Student - Any of your kids who attend school more than 100 miles from home without a vehicle on campus may qualify for this discount.

A little note about advertised discounts, many deductions do not apply to all coverage premiums. Most cut the price of certain insurance coverages like collision or personal injury protection. So when it seems like having all the discounts means you get insurance for free, you won't be that lucky. Any amount of discount will reduce your overall premium however.

To see a list of companies with the best car insurance discounts in South Pasadena, click this link.

California car insurance quotes

Comprehensive South Pasadena Car Insurance Comparison

Finding cheaper car insurance prices is surprisingly easy. Just take a couple of minutes comparing price quotes provided by online insurance companies. It is quite easy and can be accomplished in several different ways.

  • The best way to find low rates is to use a rate comparison form click here to open form in new window. This form prevents you from having to do boring form submissions to each individual car insurance company. Filling out one form will return price quotes from all major companies.It's the quickest way to get rates.
  • A slightly less efficient method to compare rate quotes consists of visiting the website for each individual company to request a price quote. For example, we'll assume you want to compare rates from , and . To find out each rate you need to visit each site to enter your coverage information, and that's why the first method is more popular. To view a list of companies in South Pasadena, click here.
  • The hardest method of comparing rate quotes is to waste gas driving to insurance agents' offices. Shopping for car insurance online has reduced the need for local agents unless you have a need for the trained guidance only provided by licensed South Pasadena agents. Drivers can obtain prices from the web and still use a local agent and you'll learn how to do that later.

It doesn't matter which method you choose, just ensure you are comparing exactly the same deductibles and coverage limits for each price quote. If you compare different values for each quote it will be very difficult to truly determine the lowest rate in South Pasadena.

Tips to Get Lower South Pasadena Rates

An important part of buying insurance is that you know the rating factors that come into play when calculating the rates you pay for car insurance. Having a good understanding of what impacts premium levels empowers consumers to make smart changes that may reward you with big savings.

The list below includes a few of the "ingredients" used by your company to calculate rates.

  • Lower miles equals lower premium - The more you drive in a year the more you will pay for car insurance. Almost all companies charge to insure your cars based upon how you use the vehicle. Autos not used for work or commuting qualify for better rates than those used for commuting. Ask your agent if your car insurance policy is rated on the correct driver usage.
  • Don't skimp on liability - The liability section of your policy provides coverage if ever you are found liable for personal injury or accident damage. It will provide for a legal defense which can cost thousands of dollars. This coverage is very inexpensive compared to insuring for physical damage coverage, so drivers should carry high limits.
  • More claims means more premium - If you are a frequent claim filer, you can pretty much guarantee higher rates. Car insurance companies in California give cheaper rates to insureds who do not file claims often. Insurance coverage is intended for the large, substantial claims.
  • Rates may be lower depending on your job - Jobs such as lawyers, executives and dentists have the highest average rates in part from high stress levels and lots of time spent at work. Other professions such as actors, historians and the unemployed get better rates.
  • Sex matters - Statistics demonstrate women are more cautious behind the wheel. However, don't assume that women are BETTER drivers than men. They both tend to get into accidents in similar percentages, but the males cause more damage and cost insurance companies more money. They also have more aggressive citations like DUI and reckless driving.
  • Policy add-ons can waste money - There are a lot of extra coverages that you can buy when buying car insurance. Insurance for roadside assistance, towing coverage and additional equipment coverage may be wasting your money. These may sound like a good investment when talking to your agent, but now you might not need them so eliminate the coverages to reduce your premium.

Are car insurance companies telling the truth?

Consumers in California can't get away from ads that promise big savings from the likes of GEICO, State Farm and Progressive. They all seem to make the same claim about savings if you move your coverage to them.

How can each company claim to save you money? This is how they do it.

All the different companies are able to cherry pick for the type of customer that is profitable for them. For example, a desirable insured might be between the ages of 30 and 50, has no driving citations, and has a high credit rating. Any driver who matches those parameters gets the lowest rates and most likely will save when they switch companies.

Drivers who don't qualify for the requirements will have to pay higher premiums which leads to the customer not buying. The ads say "drivers who switch" not "people who quote" save that much money. That's the way companies can truthfully state the savings.

Because of the profiling, drivers must compare many company's rates. You cannot predict which car insurance company will have the lowest rates.

And the best car insurance company is...

As you restructure your insurance plan, it's a bad idea to reduce coverage to reduce premium. In many instances, someone sacrificed uninsured motorist or liability limits only to regret that they should have had better coverage. The ultimate goal is to purchase plenty of coverage for the lowest price.

The cheapest car insurance is possible both online as well as from independent agents in South Pasadena, and you should compare price quotes from both to have the best chance of lowering rates. Some insurance companies don't offer the ability to get a quote online and most of the time these regional insurance providers sell through independent agents.

Insureds who switch companies do it for any number of reasons including delays in paying claims, questionable increases in premium, extreme rates for teen drivers or high rates after DUI convictions. No matter why you want to switch, switching car insurance companies is actually quite simple.

Learn more about California car insurance

Additional information can be found on the California Department of Insurance website. Click here for link. Visitors are able to file complaints about an insurance agent or broker, find out which companies have the most complaints, and download brochures.