7 Best Methods to Lower Car Insurance Costs in Walnut Creek

Expensive car insurance can drain your savings account and put the squeeze on your family's finances. Shopping your coverage around is a smart way to help make ends meet.

Multiple compete for your hard-earned dollar, and because of this it can be hard to compare and uncover the absolute lowest rate

It's important to compare prices quite often since rates are constantly changing. Just because you found the best rates a few years ago the chances are good that you can find a lower rate today. You can find a lot of wrong information about car insurance on the web, but I'm going to show you some great ways to save money.

These seven discounts can lower your rates

The price of auto insurance can be rather high, but you can get discounts that you may not know about. Certain discounts will be triggered automatically at the time of purchase, but some may not be applied and must be manually applied prior to receiving the credit.

Discount for Life Insurance - Some companies give lower rates if you buy life insurance.
Senior Citizens - Mature drivers may receive better car insurance rates.
Memberships - Being a member of certain professional organizations could qualify you for a break on car insurance.
Safety Course Discount - Successfully completing a defensive driving course could cut 5% off your bill and easily recoup the cost of the course.
Own a Home - Owning a house in Walnut Creek may trigger a car insurance policy discount because maintaining a house demonstrates responsibility.
Sign Online - A few companies may give you up to $50 just for signing your application on their website.
College Student - Children living away from home attending college and don't have a car can be insured at a reduced rate.

It's important to note that most of the big mark downs will not be given to the overall cost of the policy. Most cut individual premiums such as collision or personal injury protection. Even though it may seem like adding up those discounts means a free policy, you're out of luck. But any discount will cut the cost of coverage.

To see a list of companies with discount car insurance rates in Walnut Creek, follow this link.

Free Quotes for Car Insurance in Walnut Creek, California

Most companies such as GEICO, State Farm and Progressive allow you to get coverage prices on their websites. Getting quotes is quite simple as you just type in your coverage information as detailed in the form. Once you submit the form, the system will obtain your credit score and driving record and quotes a price. Online price quotes helps simplify price comparisons, but having to visit a lot of sites and type in the same information can get tiresome after awhile. But it's very important to do this in order to find better car insurance pricing.

There is a better way!

The preferred way to locate the lowest prices is to use a quote form that obtains quotes from multiple companies. The form is fast, reduces the work, and makes price shopping online a lot less work. As soon as you send your information, it is rated with multiple companies and you can pick any of the price quotes you receive.

If a lower price is quoted, it's easy to complete the application and buy the policy. The entire process can be completed in a matter of minutes and could lower your rates considerably.

To find out what other companies charge, click here to open in new window and fill out the form. If you have your current policy handy, we recommend you type in coverages and limits exactly as shown on your declarations page. This makes sure you will get a fair comparison based on the exact same insurance coverage.

Different people need different coverages

When choosing coverage for your personal vehicles, there is no "best" method to buy coverage. Coverage needs to be tailored to your specific needs so your insurance needs to address that. For instance, these questions may help you determine whether you will benefit from professional help.

When does my teenage driver need to be added to my policy?
Am I covered by my employer's commercial auto policy when driving my personal car for business?
Are rental cars covered under my policy?
Should I rate my vehicle as pleasure use or commute?
What are the financial responsibility laws in California?
Does my policy cover my teen driver if they drive my company car?
What can I do if my company won't pay a claim?
Does my liability insurance cover pulling a trailer or camper?

If you don't know the answers to these questions but a few of them apply, you might consider talking to a licensed insurance agent. If you don't have a local agent, complete this form or you can go here for a list of companies in your area.

Are you falling for claims of savings?

Car insurance companies such as GEICO, State Farm and Progressive consistently run ads on television and other media. They all seem to say the same thing that you can save if you change to their company. How do they all claim to save you money?

Insurance companies have a preferred profile for the driver that is profitable for them. A good example of a desirable insured might be between the ages of 40 and 55, insures multiple vehicles, and drives less than 7,500 miles a year. Any new insured who fits that profile gets the lowest rates and as a result will probably cut their rates substantially.

Potential customers who are not a match for the "perfect" profile will have to pay higher prices which usually ends up with the customer not buying. The ads say "customers that switch" not "everybody who quotes" save that much. This is how insurance companies can advertise the way they do.

Because of the profiling, drivers must get quotes from several different companies. It's just too difficult to predict which insurance companies will provide you with the cheapest rates.

Affordable insurance is out there

When shopping online for car insurance, you should never reduce coverage to reduce premium. In many instances, drivers have reduced collision coverage and discovered at claim time that a couple dollars of savings turned into a financial nightmare. The ultimate goal is to purchase plenty of coverage at a price you can afford.

Lower-priced car insurance can be sourced both online and also from your neighborhood Walnut Creek agents, so you should be comparing quotes from both so you have a total pricing picture. Some car insurance companies may not provide the ability to get a quote online and most of the time these small insurance companies sell through independent agents.

More sites with car insurance information

More information can be read on the website for the California Department of Insurance located here. Visitors are able to view agent and company licensing information, read enforcement actions against agents and companies, find out which companies have the most complaints, and discover disciplinary actions.