How to Know You're Throwing Money Away for Auto Insurance in Lake Zurich

Have you had enough of scraping the payment together each month for car insurance? Your situation is no different than the majority of other car owners in Illinois. You have so many to buy insurance from, and although it's a good thing to have a choice, lots of choices makes it harder to compare rates.

It's important to price shop coverage before your policy renews because insurance rates are constantly changing. Just because you had the best price on your last policy you may be paying too much now. Block out anything you think you know about auto insurance because we're going to demonstrate the proper way to lower your rates without sacrificing coverage.

Finding the best rates in Lake Zurich is easy if you know what you're doing. If you have insurance now or are shopping for new coverage, you can use these techniques to shop for the lowest rates and possibly find even better coverage. Illinois vehicle owners just need to know the best way to shop for auto insurance online.

Comparison of Auto Insurance in Lake Zurich

Most major insurance companies like State Farm, GEICO and Progressive give coverage price quotes online. Getting online rates doesn't take a lot of time as you just type in as detailed in the form. Behind the scenes, the company's rating system will obtain information on your driving record and credit history and returns pricing information. Quoting online makes it a lot easier to compare rates but the time it takes to visit a lot of sites and enter the same data into a form can get tiresome after awhile. But it's very important to perform this step in order to get better auto insurance pricing.

The easy way to compare rates

A less time-consuming method to lower your auto insurance bill uses one simple form that gets price quotes from a bunch of companies at once. The form is fast, requires much less work on your part, and makes price shopping online much more efficient. After sending your information, your coverage is rated and you can choose any one of the returned quotes. If a lower price is quoted, you simply finish the application and purchase the new policy. This process takes 15 minutes at the most and may result in a nice savings.

To save time and find out what other companies charge, click here to open in new window and complete the simple form. If you currently have coverage, we recommend you enter deductibles and limits identical to your current policy. This way, you will get a fair comparison based on similar coverages.

Learn How to Buy Auto Insurance Cheaper

It's important that you understand some of the elements that go into determining the price you pay for auto insurance. Knowing what controls the rates you pay helps enable you to make changes that may reward you with lower auto insurance prices.

  • Bump up deductibles to save - Coverage for physical damage, termed comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy, is used to repair damage to your car. Some examples of claims that would be covered could be a windshield shattered by a rock, damage caused by hail, and rolling your vehicle. Your deductibles are how much you are willing to pay if you file a covered claim. The higher the amount the insured has to pay upfront, the less your company will charge you for insurance.
  • An active claims history can cost you - Car insurance companies in Illinois provide lower rates to people who do not rely on their insurance for small claims. If you are a frequent claim filer, you can expect either higher rates or even cancellation. Auto insurance is designed for major claims that would cause financial hardship.
  • Traffic violations increase rates - Your driving citation history has a lot to do with how much you pay for insurance. Just one moving violation may increase your cost by as much as thirty percent. Drivers with clean records have lower premiums than bad drivers. Drivers who have serious citations like hit and run, DWI or reckless driving convictions may need to submit a SR-22 form with their state DMV in order to continue driving.
  • Marriage brings a discount - Having a spouse can actually save you money when buying auto insurance. It usually means you are more mature than a single person and it's proven that drivers who are married are more cautious.
  • Choose a safe vehicle and save - Cars with high safety ratings are cheaper to insure. These vehicles have better occupant injury protection and lower injury rates translates into fewer and smaller insurance claims and thus lower rates.
  • Save money with special equipment - Driving a car with an alarm system can get you a discount on your auto insurance. Anti-theft features such as vehicle immobilizer systems, General Motors OnStar and LoJack tracking systems all hinder your car from being stolen.
  • More than one policy can earn a discount - Most companies will give a discount to customers who consolidate policies with them in the form of a multi-policy discount. Even though this discount sounds good, you still need to shop around to confirm you are receiving the best rates possible. You may still be able to find better rates by buying insurance from more than one company.
  • Are you male or female? - The statistics show that women are safer drivers than men. That doesn't necessarily mean that men are WORSE drivers than women. Women and men are in accidents in similar percentages, but the males cause more damage. They also get cited for more serious violations such as DWI and reckless driving. Teenage male drivers are most likely to cause an accident and thus pay the highest rates.

These discounts can lower your rates

Companies offering auto insurance don't always list all their discounts very clearly, so we took the time to find both well-publicized as well as the least known auto insurance savings. If you're not getting every credit available, you're just leaving money on the table.

  • Homeowners Pay Less - Owning a house in Lake Zurich may trigger a auto insurance policy discount because owning a home is proof that your finances are in order.
  • Employee of Federal Government - Simply working for the federal government can save as much as 8% with select insurance companies.
  • Good Students Pay Less - Getting good grades can get you a discount of up to 25%. This discount can apply until age 25.
  • Sign Online - Certain companies will discount your bill up to fifty bucks for buying a policy and signing up over the internet.
  • Drive Less and Save - Driving fewer miles can earn lower rates on the low mileage vehicles.
  • Military Discounts - Having a deployed family member could mean lower rates.
  • Anti-theft Discount - Anti-theft and alarm systems prevent vehicle theft and will save you 10% or more.
  • Save over 55 - Older drivers may qualify for a discount up to 10%.
  • College Student - Children who attend school more than 100 miles from home and do not have a car can be insured at a reduced rate.

Consumers should know that most credits do not apply to the entire cost. Some only apply to individual premiums such as liability, collision or medical payments. So even though they make it sound like it's possible to get free car insurance, companies don't profit that way.

For a list of companies offering auto insurance discounts in Illinois, follow this link.

More detailed Illinois auto insurance information can be found at the Illinois Department of Insurance website. Illinois consumers can report car insurance fraud, download brochures, file complaints about a company, and get help finding coverage.

Best coverage at the best price

Discount auto insurance is available online in addition to many Lake Zurich insurance agents, so you should be comparing quotes from both to have the best chance of lowering rates. There are still a few companies who do not provide online quoting and most of the time these regional insurance providers sell through independent agents.

In this article, we presented a lot of information how to lower your auto insurance rates. The key thing to remember is the more rate comparisons you have, the better chance you'll have of finding lower rates. You may be surprised to find that the lowest priced auto insurance comes from the least-expected company. Smaller companies may often insure only within specific states and give getter rates than the large multi-state companies such as .