Proven Techniques for Comparing Low-Cost Waukegan Illinois Car Insurance

Tired of being strong-armed to pay your car insurance bill each month? You are no different than millions of other consumers.

You have multiple auto insurance companies to purchase coverage from, and although it’s nice to have a choice, it can be more challenging to compare company pricing.

Choosing the best insurance company for you in Waukegan is not rocket science. Basically, everyone who carries car insurance should be able to reduce their rates. Although Illinois drivers benefit from understanding the way companies compete online.

Discounts are available to cut your rates

Companies don’t always list every available discount in an easy-to-find place, so we break down some of the more common and the harder-to-find ways to save on car insurance.

• Multi-policy Discount – If you insure your home and vehicles with one company you could get a discount of at least 10% off all policies.
• Good Students Pay Less – A discount for being a good student can get you a discount of up to 25%. The discount lasts well after school through age 25.
• Save over 55 – Older drivers may receive a discount up to 10%.
• Drivers Ed for Students – Make teen driver coverage more affordable by requiring them to take driver’s ed class in high school.
• Life Insurance – Select insurance companies reward you with better rates if you take out auto and life insurance together.
• Anti-theft Discount – Anti-theft and alarm systems prevent vehicle theft and therefore earn up to a 10% discount.
• Multi-car Discount – Insuring more than one vehicle on one policy qualifies for this discount.
• Discounts for Safe Drivers – Safe drivers can get discounts for up to 45% lower rates than their less cautious counterparts.
• Use Seat Belts – Drivers who require all occupants to use their safety belts can save up to 15% off the personal injury premium cost.

Keep in mind that most discounts do not apply to the entire policy premium. Some only reduce the cost of specific coverages such as comprehensive or collision. Just because you may think you would end up receiving a 100% discount, companies wouldn’t make money that way.

To see a list of providers with discount car insurance rates in Waukegan, follow this link.

Finding Car Insurance Deals in Waukegan

To find the best car insurance prices, there are several ways of comparing rates and find the best price. The best way to find the lowest rates is to use the internet to compare rates. It is quite easy and can be accomplished using a couple different methods.

• One of the simplest ways to find low rates is to use a rate comparison form (click to open form in new window). This type of form eliminates the need for separate quote forms for each company. Completing one form will get you rate comparisons from many national carriers.
• A different way to shop for car insurance online is spending the time to visit each company’s website and fill out their own quote form. For instance, let’s assume you want rates from Liberty Mutual, Farmers and Travelers. To find out each rate you need to visit each site to enter your coverage information, which is why the first method is more popular.

  For a list of links to companies insuring cars in Waukegan, click here.

It’s up to you which method you use, but be sure to compare identical coverage information for each price quote. If the quotes have higher or lower deductibles it will be next to impossible to determine the lowest rate in Waukegan. Quoting even small variations in coverages can result in a big premium difference. And when comparison shopping, comparing more company’s prices will increase your chances of finding lower pricing.

Why some people pay less for insurance in Waukegan

Consumers need to have an understanding of the different types of things that play a part in calculating car insurance rates. When you know what positively or negatively impacts premium levels allows you to make educated decisions that will entitle you to big savings.

• Car features impact rates – Purchasing a vehicle with anti-theft technology or alarm system can help bring down rates. Theft prevention features like vehicle immobilizer systems, General Motors OnStar and LoJack tracking systems all aid in stopping your car from being stolen.
• Rates may be higher depending on your occupation – Did you know your occupation can influence how much you pay for car insurance? Careers like lawyers, social workers and stock brokers have the highest rates in part from stressful work requirements and lots of time spent at work. On the other hand, occupations like pilots, students and performers get better rates.
• How credit affects car insurance rates – Credit history is a big factor in your rate calculation. Therefore, if your credit history is not that good, you could be paying less to insure your by improving your credit score. Consumers who have good credit tend to be less risk to insure than drivers with lower credit scores.
• Low deductibles can be expensive – Physical damage deductibles define the amount you are required to spend in the event of a claim. Physical damage coverage, otherwise known as comp (or other than collision) and collision, protects your car from damage. Some examples of claims that would be covered are running into the backend of another car, damage caused by hail, and windstorm damage. The more money the insured has to pay upfront, the less your car insurance will be.
• How’s your driving record? – Your driving record impacts your car insurance rates tremendously. Careful drivers receive lower rates than people who have multiple driving citations. Just one moving violation can boost insurance rates forty percent or more. Drivers who get severe violations such as reckless driving, hit and run or driving under the influence may be required to file a SR-22 to the state department of motor vehicles in order to drive a vehicle legally.
• Women pay lower rates – Statistics show women are more cautious behind the wheel. However, this does not mean women are BETTER drivers than men. Men and women cause accidents at a similar rate, but the males have costlier accidents. They also get cited for more serious violations such as DWI and reckless driving. Young males are several times more likely to be in an accident and therefore are the most expensive to insure.

How can Allstate and Progressive save drivers who switch?

Allstate and Progressive continually stream television and radio advertisements. All the companies have a common claim about savings after switching your coverage to them. But how can every company make the same claim? This is how they do it.

Insurance companies can use profiling for the driver they prefer to insure. For instance, a driver they prefer might be between the ages of 40 and 55, a clean driving record, and has excellent credit. Any new insured who matches those parameters gets the lowest rates and most likely will save when switching.

Potential insureds who don’t meet this ideal profile will be quoted higher rates and ends up with business not being written. The ads state “drivers who switch” not “everybody who quotes” save money. That’s why companies can truthfully state the savings. This emphasizes why you should get a wide range of price quotes. It’s just too difficult to predict which company will provide you with the cheapest rates.

Do the work, save more money

In this article, we covered some good ideas how to shop for car insurance online. The key concept to understand is the more rate comparisons you have, the better your chances of lowering your rates. Consumers may even find the lowest premiums are with a lesser-known regional company. Smaller companies may have significantly lower rates on certain market segments than their larger competitors like GEICO and State Farm.

Cheap car insurance is definitely available on the web and also from your neighborhood Waukegan agents, and you need to comparison shop both to have the best selection. There are still a few companies who may not provide you the ability to get quotes online and these smaller companies work with independent agents.

Additional car insurance links

Even more information can be found at the Illinois Department of Insurance website. Consumers can view a list of available companies, view agent and company licensing information, and file complaints about a company.