Consumer Tested Strategies to Save on Okoboji Auto Insurance

Are you sick and tired of scraping the payment together each month for car insurance? You are in the same boat as millions of other consumers.

Big companies like GEICO and Progressive all claim big savings with advertising and consumers find it hard to sift through the bull and effectively compare rates to find the best deal.

If you have car insurance now, you should be able to lower your premiums substantially using this strategy. Finding the best rates in Okoboji is not that difficult. Although Iowa vehicle owners do need to know the way companies price online insurance and apply this information to your search.

Are you getting all your discounts?

Insurance can cost an arm and a leg, but there are discounts available that many people don't even know exist. Certain discounts will be applied when you quote, but less common discounts must be manually applied prior to getting the savings.

Memberships - Affiliation with a civic or occupational organization could trigger savings when buying auto insurance.
Employee of Federal Government - Being employed by or retired from a federal job can save as much as 8% depending on your company.
Auto/Home Discount - When you combine your home and auto insurance with one insurance company you will save up to 20% off your total premium.
Accident Free - Claim-free drivers can save substantially when compared with bad drivers.
Military Rewards - Having a family member in the military could mean lower rates.
Good Students Pay Less - A discount for being a good student can get you a discount of up to 25%. This discount can apply until age 25.
Paperless Signup - Certain companies give back up to $50 for buying your policy digitally online.

A little note about advertised discounts, most discount credits are not given to the entire cost. Most cut the cost of specific coverages such as physical damage coverage or medical payments. Just because it seems like it's possible to get free car insurance, you won't be that lucky. Any amount of discount will reduce the cost of coverage.

To see a list of insurers offering auto insurance discounts in Okoboji, click this link.

Comparison of Auto Insurance in Okoboji

Most companies provide prices for coverage online. Getting online quotes is fairly straightforward as you just enter as detailed in the form. Once you submit the form, their system will obtain credit information and your driving record and quotes a price based on these and other factors. Online quotes makes comparing rates easy, but having to visit each company's website and repetitively type in the same information is repetitive and time-consuming. But it's very important to have as many quotes as possible if you want to find the best price on auto insurance.

The preferred way to lower your auto insurance bill requires only one form to get prices from several different companies. The form is fast, eliminates form submissions, and makes quoting online a lot less work. As soon as you send your information, it gets priced and you can choose your choice of the price quotes you receive.

If the quotes result in lower rates, it's easy to complete the application and purchase the new policy. The whole process takes 15 minutes at the most and you will find out if you're overpaying now.

To quickly find out if lower rates are available, click here to open in new window and submit the form. If you currently have coverage, we recommend you enter the coverage information as close as possible to your current policy. This makes sure you will receive comparison quotes based on the exact same insurance coverage.

What determines how much you pay?

An important part of buying insurance is that you know the rating factors that go into determining auto insurance rates. Having a good understanding of what impacts premium levels allows you to make educated decisions that could result in lower auto insurance prices.

Listed below are a few of the "ingredients" companies use to determine premiums.

Don't skimp on liability - Liability insurance will protect you if a jury decides you are liable for damages from an accident. Liability provides for a legal defense starting from day one. Carrying liability coverage is mandatory and cheap compared to physical damage coverage, so drivers should carry high limits.
An active claims history can cost you - Auto insurance companies in Iowa give cheaper rates to insureds who file claims infrequently. If you are a frequent claim filer, you can expect either higher rates or even cancellation. Auto insurance is intended to be relied upon for major claims that would cause financial hardship.
Consolidate policies to earn discounts - Most auto insurance companies will award you with lower prices to people who consolidate policies with them such as combining an auto and homeowners policy. This can amount to ten or even up to twenty percent in some cases. Even if you're getting this discount you may still want to compare rates to make sure you are getting the best deal. You may still be able to find better rates by insuring with multiple companies.
Your job and insurance rates - Did you know your auto insurance rates can be affected by your occupation? Occupations such as lawyers, executives and dentists tend to pay the highest average rates attributed to high stress levels and lengthy work days. Other occupations such as farmers, historians and homemakers have the lowest average rates.
High crash test scores lower rates - Cars with high safety ratings tend to have better insurance rates. Safe vehicles result in less severe injuries and better occupant protection translates into fewer and smaller insurance claims and more competitive rates for policyholders.
Traffic citations inflate rates - Whether or not you get tickets has a huge affect on how much you pay. Only having one moving violation can increase rates forty percent or more. Good drivers receive lower rates than bad drivers. Drivers with serious tickets like DWI, reckless driving or hit and run convictions are required to submit a SR-22 form with the DMV in their state in order to continue driving.
Discounts for married couples - Having a spouse can actually save you money on your auto insurance policy. Having a spouse is viewed as being more responsible and it's statistically proven that drivers who are married are more cautious.
Little extras can really add up - There are many extra bells and whistles that you can get tricked into buying if you aren't careful. Insurance for rental car reimbursement, accidental death and motor club memberships may be wasting your money. These may sound like a good investment at first, but if you don't need them eliminate the coverages to reduce your premium.

How can Allstate, GEICO and Progressive save drivers who switch?

Allstate, GEICO and Progressive constantly bombard you with ads on television and other media. All the companies make the same claim about savings if you switch to them. How can each company say the same thing?

All companies can use profiling for the type of driver that is profitable for them. For example, a profitable customer might be profiled as between the ages of 30 and 50, is a homeowner, and drives less than 7,500 miles a year. A propective insured who matches those parameters gets the lowest rates and as a result will probably save when they switch companies.

Potential customers who are not a match for the requirements must pay a higher premium which leads to business not being written. The ads say "people who switch" not "everybody who quotes" save money. That's why companies can truthfully advertise the way they do.

This illustrates why drivers must compare many company's rates. It's not possible to predict the company that will provide you with the cheapest rates.

Final considerations

The cheapest auto insurance can be found on the web and with local Okoboji insurance agents, and you should compare price quotes from both to have the best rate selection. Some auto insurance companies do not offer the ability to get a quote online and usually these regional insurance providers provide coverage only through local independent agents.

When shopping online for auto insurance, it's a bad idea to reduce coverage to reduce premium. In too many instances, an accident victim reduced physical damage coverage only to discover later that a couple dollars of savings turned into a financial nightmare. Your focus should be to purchase plenty of coverage at an affordable rate while not skimping on critical coverages.

Additional information can be found on the website for the Iowa Insurance Division through this link. Iowa drivers can find out which companies have the most complaints, download brochures, read consumer alerts, and read industry bulletins.