Proven Techniques to Save on Daphne Auto Insurance

Tired of not being able to afford each month for car insurance? You're in the same situation as millions of other consumers. Having so many online and local companies to choose from, it can be challenging to pick the lowest price car insurance company.

Shopping for affordable auto insurance coverage in Daphne is easy if you know what you're doing. If you are insured now or need new coverage, you can follow these tips to get lower rates and possibly find even better coverage. Alabama drivers only need an understanding of the most effective way to find the lowest price online.

Don't pay full price with these discounts

Properly insuring your vehicles can get expensive, but there are discounts available to help offset the cost. Larger premium reductions will be automatically applied at the time you complete a quote, but a few must be manually applied prior to getting the savings. If you don't get every credit available, you're paying more than you need to.

Accident Free - Claim-free drivers pay much less when compared to bad drivers.
Driver's Ed - Have your child successfully complete driver's ed class in high school.
Military Rewards - Having a deployed family member can result in better rates.
Passive Restraint Discount - Cars that have air bags can receive discounts of up to 25% or more.
Defensive Driving Course - Taking a course in driver safety could save 5% or more and easily recoup the cost of the course.
Good Students Pay Less - A discount for being a good student can save 20 to 25%. Earning this discount can benefit you up to age 25.
Distant Student - Children who are attending college without a vehicle on campus may be able to be covered for less.
Paperwork-free - Some insurance companies will discount your bill up to fifty bucks simply for signing online.

Consumers should know that most credits do not apply to the entire cost. Most only reduce individual premiums such as comp or med pay. Even though it may seem like you would end up receiving a 100% discount, companies don't profit that way. Any qualifying discounts will help reduce your premiums.

To see a list of insurance companies with the best auto insurance discounts in Alabama, follow this link.

Comprehensive Auto Insurance Comparison in Daphne

Shopping for lower auto insurance rates can take hours if you aren't aware of the easiest way. You can waste a lot of time discussing policy coverages with insurance agencies in Daphne, or you could save time and use online quoting for quick rates.

Many insurance companies participate in an industry program that enables customers to submit one quote, and each company returns a competitive quote based on that information. This eliminates the need for quotation requests to each individual auto insurance company.

To submit your quote information now, click to open in new window.

The single downside to pricing coverage this way is you are unable to specify which carriers to get quotes from. So if you want to select individual companies to compare, we have a listing of auto insurance companies in Alabama. View list of Alabama insurance companies.

Which method you use is up to you, but double check that you are using apples-to-apples deductibles and coverage limits with every price quote. If the quotes have different values for each quote it's not possible to find the best deal in Daphne.

What determines how much you pay?

An important part of buying insurance is that you know some of the elements that come into play when calculating the price you pay for auto insurance. When you know what positively or negatively determines base rates allows you to make educated decisions that will entitle you to better auto insurance rates.

Rates may be lower depending on your job - Careers like judges, architects and stock brokers tend to pay the highest rates because of job stress and long work hours. On the other hand, jobs such as farmers, students and the unemployed have the lowest average rates.
You might want pay the small claims yourself - Companies in Alabama provide discounts to policyholders who file claims infrequently. If you frequently file small claims, you can pretty much guarantee higher rates. Car insurance is designed for major claims that would cause financial hardship.
Drive a safer car and pay less - Safer cars are cheaper to insure. The safest vehicles result in less severe injuries and lower injury rates translates into fewer and smaller insurance claims passed on to you as lower rates.
Traffic violations increase rates - A bad driving record has a big impact on rates. Even one citation can increase rates by as much as thirty percent. Good drivers have lower premiums than people who have multiple driving citations. If you have severe violations like 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 DMV in order to drive a vehicle legally.
Add-on coverages can add up - There are a lot of extra bells and whistles that can waste your money on your auto insurance policy. Things like personal injury protection, accident forgiveness and motor club memberships are examples of these. They may seem good when you first buy your policy, but if you don't need them remove them from your policy.
Mature drivers pay less - Teen drivers in Alabama tend to be careless and easily distracted in a vehicle so auto insurance rates are higher. Mature drivers are more cautious drivers, tend to cause fewer accidents and tend to be better behind the wheel.
Marriage brings a discount - Having a wife or husband actually saves money when buying auto insurance. Having a significant other is viewed as being more mature and responsible and it's proven that drivers who are married are more cautious.

The auto insurance bait and switch

Alabama consumers can't get away from ads for the lowest price auto insurance by companies like Progressive, Allstate and GEICO. They all say the same thing of big savings if you move to them.

But how can every company make almost identical claims?

Different companies can use profiling for the type of driver that is profitable for them. For instance, a driver they prefer could possibly be a mature driver, has no tickets, and has a short commute. A driver who fits that profile will get the preferred rates and therefore will save a lot of money.

Potential customers who don't measure up to this ideal profile will be quoted a more expensive rate which usually ends up with the driver buying from a lower-cost company. The ads state "customers that switch" not "everyone that quotes" save money. That's why insurance companies can confidently make the claims of big savings.

This emphasizes why drivers must get quotes from several different companies. It is impossible to predict the company that will fit your personal profile best.

A tidy conclusion

In this article, we presented a lot of information how to compare auto insurance prices online. The key concept to understand is the more price quotes you have, the better your chances of lowering your rates. You may be surprised to find that the best price on auto insurance is with the least-expected company. These smaller insurers may often insure only within specific states and give getter rates as compared to the big name companies such as .

As you shop your coverage around, don't be tempted to reduce coverage to reduce premium. There are too many instances where an insured dropped collision coverage and learned later that saving that couple of dollars actually costed them tens of thousands. Your strategy should be to get the best coverage possible at a price you can afford while still protecting your assets.

Additional auto insurance information is located on the website for the Alabama Department of Insurance located here. Alabama consumers can read industry bulletins, download brochures, find disaster information, and file complaints about a company.

Additional helpful sites include this online resource for auto insurance quotes in Alabama and this list of insurance agents in Daphne.