Easy Techniques to Spend Less on Peoria, IL Auto Insurance

Are you sick and tired of being strong-armed to pay your car insurance bill each month? You are no different than many other drivers in Illinois.

You have so many insurers to pick from, and even though it’s nice to have a selection, lots of choices makes it harder to find the best rates for your vehicles.

You need to do rate comparisons before your policy renews since insurance rates tend to go up over time. Even if you got the best price a few years ago a different company probably has better rates today. Starting right now, forget anything you know (or think you know) about auto insurance because you’re going to learn how to quote online to properly buy coverages and cut your premium.

Low Cost Peoria Auto Insurance

The are a couple different ways to compare quotes and find the best price. The recommended way to find the cheapest insurance rates is to use the internet to compare rates. It is quite easy and can be accomplished using a couple different methods.

The best way consumers can make multiple comparisons is an all-inclusive rate comparison (click to open form in new window). This form saves time by eliminating a different quote for each company. One form submission will return quotes from many national carriers.
A different way to shop for auto insurance online requires you to visit the website for every company you want to comare to complete a price quote. For sake of this example, we’ll pretend you want rates from Farmers, Allstate and Progressive. You would have to go to every website and enter your policy data, and that’s why the first method is more popular. For a list of links to insurance companies in Peoria, click here.

It’s up to you which method you use, but make absolute certain that you use exactly the same coverage limits and deductibles with every price quote. If you use unequal deductibles or liability limits it will be very difficult to find the best deal in Peoria. Having just a slight variation in coverage limits can result in a big premium difference. Just keep in mind that obtaining a wide range of quotes provides better odds of finding the best price.

Don’t miss out on these money-saving discounts

Insuring your vehicles can cost a lot, but companies offer discounts to help bring down the price. Certain discounts will be applied at the time of purchase, but some must be specially asked for prior to getting the savings.

Club Memberships – Participating in a professional or civic organization is a good way to get lower rates on your policy.
Auto/Home Discount – When you have multiple policies with one insurance company you could get a discount of 10% to 20% off each policy.
Anti-lock Brakes – Cars that have steering control and anti-lock brakes are safer to drive and therefore earn up to a 10% discount.
Federal Government Employee – Employees or retirees of the government can save as much as 8% with certain companies.
Resident Student – Children who live away from home without a vehicle on campus may qualify for this discount.
Air Bag Discount – Vehicles equipped with air bags may earn rate discounts of 20% or more.
Good Student Discount – Getting good grades can be rewarded with saving of up to 25%. Earning this discount can benefit you up to age 25.
Pay Now and Pay Less – By paying your policy upfront instead of paying each month you can actually save on your bill.
Drivers Education – Require your teen driver to successfully complete driver’s ed class if offered at their school.

Keep in mind that most discounts do not apply to the entire policy premium. Most only cut the price of certain insurance coverages like physical damage coverage or medical payments. Just because you may think it’s possible to get free car insurance, auto insurance companies aren’t that generous. Any qualifying discounts will cut your premiums.

To choose providers offering auto insurance discounts in Peoria, click this link.

Do I need special coverages?

When it comes to buying the right insurance coverage for your personal vehicles, there isn’t really a “perfect” insurance plan. Coverage needs to be tailored to your specific needs so this has to be addressed. For example, these questions can aid in determining whether or not you may require specific advice.

Am I covered when driving in Canada or Mexico?
Should I sign the liability waiver when renting a car?
Can I get a multi-policy discount for packaging my home and auto coverage?
Is pleasure use cheaper than using my vehicle to commute?
When does my teenage driver need to be added to my policy?
Will I lose any money if I cancel my policy before it expires?
Does my insurance cover damage caused when ticketed for reckless driving?
Am I covered if I drive in a foreign country?
Do I need rental car coverage?

If it’s difficult to answer those questions, you may need to chat with an agent. To find lower rates from a local agent, complete this form or click here for a list of auto insurance companies in your area.

Learn How to Lower your Rates

An important part of buying insurance is that you know some of the elements that help determine the rates you pay for auto insurance. Having a good understanding of what controls the rates you pay helps enable you to make changes that could result in better auto insurance rates.

The following are a partial list of the pieces that factor into premiums.

Discounts for married couples – Having a spouse can get you a discount on auto insurance. Having a spouse usually means you are more mature and statistics show married drivers get in fewer accidents.
Clean credit earns discounts – A driver’s credit score is a large factor in calculating your auto insurance rates. If your credit is lower than you’d like, you could save money insuring your by repairing your credit. Drivers with excellent credit tend to file fewer claims and have better driving records than those with poor credit.
Choose a safe vehicle and save – Vehicles with good safety scores get lower rates. The safest vehicles reduce injuries and lower injury rates means lower claim amounts and lower rates for you.
Older drivers save more – More mature drivers tend to be more responsible, tend to file fewer claims and get fewer tickets. Teen drivers are known to be careless and easily distracted when driving and because of this, their auto insurance rates are much higher.
Traffic violations increase rates – Even a single speeding ticket can increase rates by twenty percent. Good drivers receive lower rates than people who have multiple driving citations. Drivers who get severe violations such as DWI, reckless driving or hit and run convictions may be required to submit a SR-22 or proof of financial responsibility with the DMV in their state in order to drive a vehicle legally.
Equipment add-ons that lower auto insurance rates – Choosing a vehicle with anti-theft technology or alarm system can get you a discount on your auto insurance. Theft prevention features like GM’s OnStar, tamper alarm systems and vehicle immobilizers can thwart your vehicle from being stolen.

Ads can be misleading

GEICO, State Farm and Progressive constantly bombard you with ads in print and on television. All the companies make an identical promise that you’ll save big if you switch your policy. How does each company make the same claim? This is how they do it.

Different companies are able to cherry pick for the type of driver they prefer to insure. For example, a desirable insured might be profiled as between the ages of 40 and 55, is a homeowner, and drives less than 7,500 miles a year. A customer that hits that “sweet spot” receives the best rates and as a result will probably save when they switch companies.

Potential insureds who don’t meet the requirements must pay more money which usually ends up with the customer not buying. Company advertisements say “people who switch” not “everybody who quotes” save that kind of money. That’s why companies can claim big savings.

This illustrates why it’s extremely important to compare as many rates as you can. It’s just too difficult to predict the company that will fit your personal profile best.

Smart consumers save more

As you go through the steps to switch your coverage, you should never reduce coverage to reduce premium. There are many occasions where an insured dropped physical damage coverage only to regret that it was a big error on their part. Your goal should be to purchase a proper amount of coverage for the lowest price.

Throughout this article, we presented many tips how you can lower your auto insurance rates. The most important thing to understand is the more times you quote, the better chance you’ll have of finding lower rates. You may even find the most savings is with the smaller companies. Regional companies can often provide lower rates in certain areas than their larger competitors like Progressive or GEICO.

Lower-priced auto insurance can be found online as well as from independent agents in Peoria, and you need to comparison shop both to have the best chance of lowering rates. There are still a few companies who don’t offer the ability to get a quote online and most of the time these small insurance companies sell through independent agents.

Learn more about Illinois auto insurance

Additional information is located on the website for the Illinois Department of Insurance located here. Illinois consumers can file complaints about a company, find a variety of consumer forms, and read state legal mandates and laws.