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

Overpriced car insurance can dwindle your personal savings, especially in this economy. Shopping your coverage around is a great way to slash your bill and have more diposable income.

Numerous battle for your insurance dollar, and because of this it can be hard to compare to find the absolute lowest rate

How to Lower Your Car Insurance Cost in Union, Michigan

Most major insurance companies such as Progressive, Allstate and GEICO allow you to get prices for coverage on their websites. The process is fairly straightforward as you simply type in the coverages you want into the quote form. Behind the scenes, their rating system will obtain information on your driving record and credit history and returns a price based on these and other factors. Online price quotes makes comparing rates easy, but having to visit several different sites and fill out multiple forms is repetitive and time-consuming. Unfortunately, it is important to have as many quotes as possible in order to find a lower rate.

A less time-consuming method to find lower prices utilizes a single form to obtain quotes from several companies at one time. It's a real time-saver, requires much less work on your part, and makes quoting online a little more enjoyable. After your information is entered, it is rated and you can choose any of the returned quotes.

If one or more price quotes are lower than your current rates, it's easy to complete the application and buy the policy. The entire process only takes a few minutes and may save quite a bit of money.

If you want to find out how much you're overpaying now, click here and fill out the form. If you have a policy now, it's recommended you type in the coverages as shown on your current policy. This way, you will receive rate comparison quotes based on similar coverages.

What determines how much you pay?

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

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 accountants tend to pay higher rates than average in part from high stress and long work days. On the flip side, jobs such as pilots, athletes and homemakers have the lowest average rates.
Are you male or female? - Statistics have proven that men are more aggressive behind the wheel. That doesn't necessarily mean that women are better drivers. Both sexes cause 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 tend to get in the most accidents and thus pay the highest rates.
How's your driving record? - Good drivers tend to pay less for car insurance 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 file a proof of financial responsibility form (SR-22) with their state motor vehicle department in order to continue driving.
Little extras can really add up - There are many add-on coverages that can waste your money on your policy. Coverages like personal injury protection, accident forgiveness and motor club memberships are some examples. These coverages may sound good when talking to your agent, but if you don't need them get rid of them and save.
Type of vehicle determines base rates - The performance of the car you are buying insurance for makes a big difference in your rates. Economy passenger vehicles generally have the cheapest insurance rates, but the cost you end up paying is determined by many additional factors.
Better credit means lower rates - Having a bad credit score is a huge factor in determining what you pay for car insurance. Therefore, if your credit rating is lower than you'd like, you could be paying less to insure your by repairing your credit. Drivers with high credit ratings tend to file fewer claims and have better driving records than those with poor credit.

More discounts equal less premium

Properly insuring your vehicles can get expensive, but there are discounts available that you may not even be aware of. Certain discounts will be applied at quote time, but some must be specifically requested in order for you to get them.

Accident Free - Drivers who don't have accidents can earn big discounts when compared to frequent claim filers.
Accident Waiver - A few companies will allow you to have one accident without raising rates if your claims history is clear for a set time period.
Passive Restraints and Air Bags - Cars that have air bags or automatic seat belts can get savings up to 30%.
Defensive Driver - Successfully completing a driver safety course could cut 5% off your bill depending on where you live.
Early Signing - Select companies give a discount for switching to them before your current policy expires. This can save 10% or more.

Keep in mind that some credits don't apply to all coverage premiums. Some only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like comp or med pay. Just because it seems like adding up those discounts means a free policy, it just doesn't work that way. But any discount will cut your premiums.

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

More information is available on the website for the Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Regulation. Click here for link. Consumers can read industry bulletins, learn about insurance regulations, file complaints about a company, and discover disciplinary actions.

Shop smart and save

Affordable car insurance is available from both online companies and with local Union insurance agents, and you should compare price quotes from both in order to have the best chance of saving money. Some 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 more likely it is that you will get a better rate. Consumers may even find the lowest rates come from a lesser-known regional company. Smaller companies can often insure niche markets at a lower cost as compared to the big name companies such as .