How to Find the Cheapest Crestwood Auto Insurance

Finding the lowest price for Crestwood auto insurance might seem complicated at first if you've never compared online rate quotes. Don't let that stop you because it's actually quite easy.

Vehicle Insurance Comparison

Most major insurance companies provide coverage prices directly from their websites. Getting online quotes is pretty painless as you just enter your personal and coverage information as detailed in the form. Behind the scenes, their system will obtain your driving record and credit report and returns a price based on many factors.

Online quotes helps simplify price comparisons, but having to visit several different sites and enter the same data into a form is repetitive and time-consuming. But it's very important to get many rate quotes if you want to find the best price on auto insurance.

A less time-consuming method to compare rates requires only one form that gets prices from many companies. The form is fast, requires less work, and makes quoting online a little more enjoyable. After sending the form, it gets priced with multiple companies and you can pick your choice of the returned quotes.

If one or more price quotes are lower than your current rates, it's easy to complete the application and purchase coverage. The whole process only takes a few minutes and you'll know if lower rates are available.

To quickly find out if lower rates are available, click here to open in new window and submit the form. If you have a policy now, it's recommended that you enter the limits and deductibles identical to your current policy. This way, you will receive comparison quotes based on similar coverages.

auto insurance in Crestwood

Crestwood Rates are Influenced by These Factors

It's important that you understand some of the elements that play a part in calculating auto insurance rates. Having a good understanding of what impacts premium levels enables informed choices that could result in better auto insurance rates.

Shown below are some of the factors auto insurance companies consider when setting premiums.

  • Extra coverages can waste money - There are quite a few additional coverages that you can get tricked into buying if you aren't careful. Insurance for rental car reimbursement, accidental death and term life insurance are examples of these. These may sound like a good investment when talking to your agent, but if they're wasting money eliminate the coverages to reduce your premium.
  • Traffic citations inflate rates - Only having one speeding ticket can boost insurance rates by as much as thirty percent. Careful drivers tend to pay less for car insurance than their less careful counterparts. Drivers with dangerous tickets such as reckless driving, hit and run or driving under the influence are required to submit a SR-22 form with the DMV in their state in order to prevent a license revocation.
  • Liability coverage protects you - Your policy's liability coverage is the coverage that protects you if a jury decides you are liable for causing damage or personal injury in an accident. Liability provides legal defense coverage up to the limits shown on your policy. Carrying liability coverage is mandatory and cheap as compared to coverage for physical damage, so buy as much as you can afford.
  • Do you work long hours in a high stress job? - Occupations such as doctors, architects and dentists tend to have the highest average rates in part from high stress levels and long work hours. Other occupations such as scientists, historians and retirees receive lower rates.

Are you getting all your discounts?

Insurance can be prohibitively expensive, but you can get discounts that you may not know about. Certain discounts will be applied when you complete an application, but some must be manually applied before they will apply.

  • Safety Course Discount - Taking a course teaching defensive driving skills can save you 5% or more depending on where you live.
  • Good Student - Getting good grades can save 20 to 25%. The discount lasts up until you turn 25.
  • Club Memberships - Affiliation with a civic or occupational organization could qualify you for a break when buying auto insurance.
  • No Accidents - Good drivers with no accidents can earn big discounts when compared with frequent claim filers.
  • Pay Now and Pay Less - If you pay your bill all at once rather than paying monthly you may reduce your total bill.
  • Student in College - Children who live away from home and don't have a car can be insured at a reduced rate.

As a disclaimer on discounts, most credits do not apply to the entire policy premium. Some only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like liability and collision coverage. So even though they make it sound like you could get a free auto insurance policy, auto insurance companies aren't that generous. Any amount of discount will reduce the cost of coverage.

For a list of insurers with discount auto insurance rates in Crestwood, follow this link.

Tailor your coverage to you

When it comes to choosing proper insurance coverage for your vehicles, there really is not a one size fits all plan. Everyone's situation is unique.

For instance, these questions may help highlight whether you might need an agent's assistance.

  • Should I have combined single limit or split liability limits?
  • Why am I required to buy high-risk coverage?
  • Do I qualify for additional discounts?
  • What companies insure drivers after a DUI or DWI?
  • What can I do if my company won't pay a claim?
  • Why does it cost so much to insure a teen driver in Crestwood?

If you don't know the answers to these questions, then you may want to think about talking to a licensed insurance agent. If you don't have a local agent, fill out this quick form.

Additional information is available on the Illinois Department of Insurance website. Click here for link. Illinois drivers can discover disciplinary actions, file complaints about a company, and find out which companies have the most complaints.

Illinois auto insurance

Final considerations

Cheap auto insurance can be sourced on the web and also from your neighborhood Crestwood agents, and you should compare price quotes from both to get a complete price analysis. Some insurance providers may not provide online quoting and usually these smaller companies provide coverage only through local independent agents.

In this article, we covered a lot of tips how to lower your auto insurance rates. It's most important to understand that the more companies you get rates for, the better your chances of lowering your rates. Drivers may discover the lowest rates come from a smaller regional carrier.

Consumers leave their current company for any number of reasons including questionable increases in premium, poor customer service, high rates after DUI convictions and not issuing a premium refund. Regardless of your reason for switching companies, switching auto insurance companies is not as hard as you think.