How to Know You're Throwing Money Away for Car Insurance in Norridge

Have you had enough of scraping the payment together each month for car insurance? You are in the same boat as many other Illinois drivers. Online insurance companies like GEICO and Progressive continually hit you with TV and radio ads and consumers find it hard to sift through the bull and find the best price available.

It's important to compare prices before your policy renews since rates are constantly changing. Just because you had the lowest price a couple years back there is a good chance you can find better rates now. Block out anything you think you know about car insurance because you're about to find out the proper way to find great coverage at a great price.

How to Lower your Car Insurance Rates

Consumers need to have an understanding of the different types of things that go into determining the rates you pay for car insurance. Having a good understanding of what impacts premium levels empowers consumers to make smart changes that may reward you with better car insurance rates.

Bump up deductibles to save - Insurance for physical damage to your car, termed comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy, is used to repair damage to your car. A few examples of covered claims would be colliding with a building, collision with an animal, or theft. Deductibles for physical damage are how much you are willing to pay before your car insurance pays a claim. The more you have to pay, the less your company will charge you for insurance.
Small claims can cost you - If you tend to file frequent claims, you can definitely plan on either higher rates or even cancellation. Car insurance companies in Illinois award cheaper rates to insureds who do not file claims often. Car insurance is intended for major claims that would cause financial hardship.
Do you know you're credit rating? - Credit score is a large factor in your rate calculation. If your credit score is lower than you'd like, you could save money insuring your by improving your credit score. People with excellent credit tend to be more responsible than drivers who have poor credit.
More miles equals more premium - The more miles you rack up on your car every year the more you will pay for car insurance. Almost all companies charge to insure your cars based upon how you use the vehicle. Cars and trucks that are left in the garage receive lower rates compared to those used for work or business. Verify your car insurance policy is rated on how each vehicle is driven, because improper ratings can cost you money.
Car features impact rates - Driving a car that has an advanced theft prevention system can help bring down rates. Anti-theft features like LoJack tracking devices, vehicle tamper alarm systems or GM's OnStar system all hinder car theft.
Extra add-on coverages are wasting money - There are many extra bells and whistles that you can buy when buying car insurance. Insurance for vanishing deductibles, towing coverage and additional equipment coverage may be costing you every month. These may sound like a good investment at first, but now you might not need them so eliminate the coverages to reduce your premium.
Safer cars are cheaper to insure - Safer cars can get you lower premiums. These vehicles protect occupants better and any reduction in injury severity translates into fewer and smaller insurance claims and more competitive rates for policyholders.
Liability coverage protects you - Liability insurance will protect you if ever you are found liable for personal injury or accident damage. It provides legal defense up to the limits shown on your policy. This coverage is very inexpensive compared to physical damage coverage, so do not cut corners here.

Cheap Norridge Car Insurance Comparisons

Comparing car insurance rates can take time and effort if you don't understand the easiest way. You can spend your afternoon discussing policy coverages with insurance agencies in Norridge, or you can utilize online quotes to get rate comparisons in just a few minutes.

Most of the larger companies belong to a marketplace that allows shoppers to complete one form, and at least one company then gives them pricing based on that data. This saves time by eliminating quotation requests to each individual car insurance company. To submit your quote information now, click here to open in new window.

One minor caviat to using this type of system is buyers cannot specifically choose which providers you want pricing from. So if you prefer to pick individual companies to request quotes from, we put together a list of low cost car insurance companies in Illinois. Click here for list of insurance companies in Illinois.

It's up to you which method you use, but ensure you're using exactly the same coverages and limits on every quote. If you have different deductibles it will be next to impossible to make a fair comparison in Norridge.

Be sure to get all your discounts

Insuring your vehicles can cost a lot, but discounts can save money and there are some available that you may not even be aware of. Certain discounts will be triggered automatically when you complete an application, but less common discounts must be asked about before they will apply. If you aren't receiving every discount available, you are paying more than you should be.

Homeowners Pay Less - Owning a house in Norridge can help you save on car insurance because owning a home shows financial diligence.
Employee of Federal Government - Employees or retirees of the government can earn a discount up to 10% with select insurance companies.
Air Bag Discount - Factory air bags can qualify for discounts of 20% or more.
Life Insurance - Companies who offer life insurance give better rates if you take out life insurance from them.
Payment Discounts - If you pay your entire premium ahead of time instead of making monthly payments you could save up to 5%.
Defensive Driver - Taking a defensive driving course could save 5% or more if your company offers it.

As a disclaimer on discounts, most discount credits are not given to the entire cost. Some only reduce the cost of specific coverages such as liability, collision or medical payments. So when the math indicates you could get a free car insurance policy, car insurance companies aren't that generous. Any amount of discount will reduce the amount you have to pay.

To choose companies offering car insurance discounts in Norridge, click here to view.

Is there truth in advertising?

Consumers in Illinois can't ignore all the ads for the lowest price auto insurance from the likes of State Farm, GEICO and Progressive. They all seem to make an identical promise about savings if you switch your coverage to them.

How can each company claim to save you money?

Different companies can use profiling for the type of customer that makes them money. For instance, a desirable insured might be between the ages of 40 and 55, is a homeowner, and drives less than 10,000 miles a year. Any new insured who meets those qualifications will get very good rates and is almost guaranteed to save when they switch companies.

Consumers who don't measure up to the requirements will have to pay higher rates and ends up with the customer not buying. The ads say "people who switch" but not "drivers who get quotes" save that much money. That's why companies can truthfully advertise the way they do.

Because of the profiling, you need to compare many company's rates. It's just too difficult to predict the company that will provide you with the cheapest rates.

Additional information is located on the website for the Illinois Department of Insurance through this link. Visitors are able to report car insurance fraud, download brochures, find out industry alerts, and file complaints about an insurance agent or broker.

In the end, you save

Cheap car insurance is available both online as well as from independent agents in Norridge, so you should be comparing quotes from both to get a complete price analysis. Some car insurance companies don't offer online price quotes and most of the time these small, regional companies sell through independent agents.

We just covered some good ideas how you can compare car insurance prices online. The key thing to remember is the more rate comparisons you have, the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. Consumers may even find the lowest priced car insurance comes from a company that doesn't do a lot of advertising. These smaller insurers may have significantly lower rates on certain market segments compared to the large companies like .