How to Know You're Spending Too Much for Car Insurance in Sycamore

Expensive car insurance can dwindle your savings account, especially in this economy. Shopping your coverage around is a great way to cut your insurance bill. You have multiple to buy insurance from, and although it's nice to have a choice, having more makes it harder to compare rates.

How to Lower Your Car Insurance Cost in Sycamore, Ohio

Most major insurance companies like Progressive, Allstate and GEICO allow you to get pricing online. The process is pretty easy as you simply type in the coverages you want as detailed in the form. Behind the scenes, their rating system will obtain information on your driving record and credit history and returns pricing information determined by many factors. Being able to quote online makes comparing rates easy, but the time it takes to visit different websites and type in the same information is repetitive and time-consuming. But it's very important to do this in order to find better car insurance pricing.

A less time-consuming method to find lower prices utilizes a single form to obtain quotes from a bunch of companies at once. The form is fast, requires much less work on your part, and makes quoting online much more efficient. Immediately after you send the form, it is rated and you can choose any one of the returned quotes. If you find a better price you simply finish the application and buy the policy. The entire process takes just a few minutes to complete and could lower your rates considerably.

If you want to find out what other companies charge, click here to open in new window and enter your vehicle and coverage information. If you have a policy now, it's recommended you replicate the coverages exactly as shown on your declarations page. This way, you will receive a price comparison based on similar coverages.

Why some people pay less for insurance in Sycamore

It's important that you understand the factors that go into determining your car insurance rates. Knowing what influences your rates allows you to make educated decisions that will entitle you to lower car insurance prices.

Listed below are some of the factors companies use to determine prices.

  • Your occupation can affect rates - Did you know your job can affect your rates? Careers like doctors, social workers and financial analysts tend to pay higher average rates due to high stress and lengthy work days. Conversely, occupations such as pilots, engineers and homemakers have the lowest average rates.
  • Are you male or female? - Statistics have proven that women are safer drivers than men. That doesn't necessarily mean that women are better drivers. Women and men are in accidents at about the same rate, but the men cause more damage. Men also statistically get more serious tickets such as reckless driving. Young males are the most expensive to insure and thus pay the highest rates.
  • How's your driving record? - Good drivers get better rates than bad drivers. Even a single speeding ticket can increase rates by as much as thirty percent. If you have serious violations such as DWI, reckless driving or hit and run convictions may find they need to submit a SR-22 form with their state motor vehicle department in order to continue driving.
  • Older drivers save more - Young drivers in Ohio are statistically proven to be careless and easily distracted when driving so they pay higher car insurance rates. Adding a young driver to your policy can break the bank. More mature drivers are more cautious drivers, tend to file fewer claims and get fewer tickets.
  • Your credit rating is important - Having a bad credit score is a big factor in determining what you pay for car insurance. If your credit rating is lower than you'd like, you could be paying less to insure your by spending a little time repairing your credit. Drivers with good credit tend to file fewer claims and have better driving records than those with poor credit.
  • Choose a safe vehicle and save - Cars with high safety ratings get lower rates. The safest vehicles result in less severe injuries and fewer injuries translates into savings for insurance companies and thus lower rates.

These discounts can lower your rates

Companies that sell car insurance don't always advertise every discount very clearly, so here is a list some of the more common and also the lesser-known discounts you could be receiving. If you're not getting every credit you deserve, you're just leaving money on the table.

  • Accident Free - Drivers who don't have accidents can earn big discounts when compared to frequent claim filers.
  • Accident Waiver - Certain companies allow you one accident without raising rates if your claims history is clear prior to the accident.
  • Good Student Discount - Getting good grades can get you a discount of up to 25%. The discount lasts until age 25.
  • New Car Discount - Insuring a new car can save up to 30% since new cars are generally safer.
  • Early Signing - Some companies give discounts for switching to them before your current policy expires. This can save 10% or more.

It's important to note that some credits don't apply to all coverage premiums. Some only apply to specific coverage prices like comp or med pay. So despite the fact that it appears you can get free auto insurance, you're out of luck.

For a list of insurance companies offering car insurance discounts in Ohio, click here.

Additional detailed information is available at the Ohio Department of Insurance website. Consumers can read industry bulletins, learn about insurance regulations, file complaints about a company, and read enforcement actions against agents and companies.

And the best car insurance company is...

Lower-priced car insurance is available from both online companies and with local Sycamore insurance agents, and you should compare price quotes from both to have the best chance of lowering rates. Some car insurance companies do not offer online quoting and these smaller companies work with independent agents.

We just showed you a lot of ways to lower your car insurance rates. The key thing to remember is the more price quotes you have, the better likelihood of reducing your rate. Consumers could even find that the lowest rates come from a small mutual company. Smaller companies often have lower prices on specific markets than the large multi-state companies such as .