Comparing Cheap Lake City Car Insurance

Tired of trying to scrape together enough money each month for car insurance? Your situation is no different than millions of other consumers. There are many to buy insurance from, and even though it's nice to have a selection, it makes it harder to compare rates.

More discounts equal less premium

Insurance can be prohibitively expensive, but there are discounts available to help bring down the price. Larger premium reductions will be automatically applied when you complete an application, but some must be asked for before they will apply. If you're not getting every credit available, you're paying more than you need to.

Military Rewards - Having a deployed family member could be rewarded with lower premiums.
Accident Free - Claim-free drivers can earn big discounts when compared with bad drivers.
Safety Course Discount - Completing a defensive driving course could save 5% or more and easily recoup the cost of the course.
Student in College - Children who live away from home and don't have a car may be able to be covered for less.
Save with a New Car - Insuring a new car can be considerably cheaper since new cars are generally safer.

It's important to note that most credits do not apply to the entire cost. The majority will only reduce specific coverage prices like liability and collision coverage. So even though they make it sound like it's possible to get free car insurance, you're out of luck. But any discount will bring down your premiums.

To see a list of insurers with discount car insurance rates in South Carolina, follow this link.

How to Compare Lake City Car Insurance Rates

Most companies like 21st Century, Allstate and State Farm allow you to get prices for coverage online. Obtaining pricing is fairly straightforward as you just enter into the quote form. Once you submit the form, the system will obtain your driving record and credit report and provides a quote based on many factors. Being able to quote online makes comparing rates easy, but the work required to visit multiple sites and complete many quote forms can be a bit repetitive. Unfortunately, it is important to compare as many rates as possible in order to find a lower rate.

The preferred way to lower your car insurance bill makes use of a single form that gets prices from many companies. It's a real time-saver, requires less work, and makes online quotes much easier. After sending your information, it is rated with multiple companies and you can pick any one of the price quotes you receive.

If you find a better price you can simply submit the application and purchase the new policy. The entire process only takes a few minutes and could lower your rates considerably.

In order to find out how much you're overpaying now, click here and enter your vehicle and coverage information. If you have a policy now, it's recommended you enter the limits and deductibles exactly as shown on your declarations page. This makes sure you will have a rate comparison based on the exact same insurance coverage.

What determines how much you pay?

An important part of buying insurance is that you know some of the elements that play a part in calculating the rates you pay for car insurance. Knowing what influences your rates allows you to make educated decisions that could result in lower car insurance prices.

Shown below are some of the factors companies use to determine premiums.

Better crash test results mean better rates - Cars with high safety ratings are cheaper to insure. Safe vehicles result in less severe injuries and any reduction in injury severity translates into fewer and smaller insurance claims and thus lower rates.
Your stress level may be raising your rates - Occupations such as doctors, architects and financial analysts tend to pay higher average rates due to high stress and lengthy work days. Conversely, jobs such as farmers, engineers and retirees have the lowest average rates.
Extra coverages can waste money - There are quite a few extra bells and whistles that you can get tricked into buying when buying car insurance. Coverages for personal injury protection, accidental death and motor club memberships are examples of these. These coverages may sound good initially, but if you don't need them eliminate them to save money.
Mature drivers pay less - Youthful drivers in South Carolina have a tendency to get distracted easily in a vehicle so they pay higher car insurance rates. Mature drivers are more responsible, tend to file fewer claims and tend to be better behind the wheel.
Bad driving skills means higher rates - Whether or not you get tickets has a lot to do with how much you pay for insurance. Good drivers get better rates than their less careful counterparts. Just one speeding ticket can increase rates by twenty percent. Drivers with dangerous tickets such as DWI, reckless driving or hit and run convictions are required to file a proof of financial responsibility form (SR-22) to the state department of motor vehicles in order to prevent a license revocation.
Liability insurance protects assets - Your policy's liability coverage will protect you if you are found liable for damages from an accident. Liability insurance provides legal defense coverage starting from day one. Carrying liability coverage is mandatory and cheap as compared to coverage for physical damage, so buy as much as you can afford.
Men are more aggressive - The statistics show that women are safer drivers than men. Now that doesn't mean women are better drivers. Women and men cause accidents at about the same rate, but the male of the species tend to have more serious accidents. Men also tend to get cited for more serious violations like DUI and reckless driving.
Bundling policies can get discounts - Some companies will award you with lower prices to insureds who buy several policies from them in the form of a multi-policy discount. Even with this discount, it's still a good idea to compare rates to make sure you are getting the best deal. Drivers may still find better rates by splitting coverages up.

Switch companies and save? Really?

Consumers in South Carolina can't get away from ads for the lowest price auto insurance by companies like 21st Century, Allstate and State Farm. All the companies say the same thing that you can save if you change to them.

How does each company claim to save you money? It's all in the numbers.

All companies can use profiling for the type of driver that is profitable for them. An example of a profitable customer might be a mature driver, is a homeowner, and has great credit. Any driver who fits that profile gets the lowest rates and therefore will save when switching.

Consumers who do not match these standards must pay higher rates which usually ends up with the customer not buying. Company advertisements say "customers who switch" not "everyone that quotes" save money. That's why insurance companies can advertise the savings.

This illustrates why drivers must compare as many rates as you can. You cannot predict the company that will give you the biggest savings.

Best coverage at the best price

Lower-priced car insurance is attainable both online and with local Lake City insurance agents, and you need to price shop both to get a complete price analysis. There are still a few companies who do not offer the ability to get a quote online and usually these smaller companies provide coverage only through local independent agents.

As you prepare to switch companies, it's very important that you do not reduce coverage to reduce premium. There are a lot of situations where an accident victim reduced liability limits or collision coverage only to find out that the small savings ended up costing them much more. The proper strategy is to buy the best coverage you can find at the best price while not skimping on critical coverages.

More information is available on the website for the South Carolina Department of Insurance found here. Visitors are able to find disaster information, read industry bulletins, discover disciplinary actions, and read enforcement actions against agents and companies.