Easy Tips to Cut Costs on Richland Hills Auto Insurance

Buying the most affordable Richland Hills auto insurance online can be impossible for beginners to price shopping online. With so many choices of online companies available, how can consumers possibly compare every one to find the best available price?

Save big with these discounts

Companies that sell car insurance don't necessarily list all available discounts very well, so the following is a list of both well-publicized and the more hidden discounts you could be receiving.

  • Multi-car Discount - Insuring more than one vehicle on the same auto insurance policy could earn a price break for each car.
  • Auto/Home Discount - When you combine your home and auto insurance with the same company you could get a discount of approximately 10% to 15%.
  • Anti-lock Brakes - Anti-lock brake equipped vehicles are safer to drive and earn discounts up to 10%.
  • Air Bag Discount - Vehicles equipped with air bags or automatic seat belts can receive discounts up to 30%.
  • Military Discounts - Being deployed with a military unit could mean lower rates.

Keep in mind that some credits don't apply to your bottom line cost. Some only reduce the cost of specific coverages such as physical damage coverage or medical payments. So even though they make it sound like having all the discounts means you get insurance for free, it just doesn't work that way.

To see a list of insurers offering auto insurance discounts in Texas, click here.

How to Get Cheap Auto Insurance in Richland Hills, TX

There are several ways of comparing rate quotes from local Richland Hills auto insurance companies. The best method to find the lowest rates is to get quotes online. This can be done in just a few minutes using one of these methods.

  • The best way consumers can analyze rates is to use a rate comparison form (click to open form in new window). This type of form keeps you from doing a different quote to each individual auto insurance company. A single, simple form compares rates . Just one form and you're done.
  • A less efficient way to get quotes online is going to each individual company website and complete a new quote form. For example, let's assume you want comparison quotes from , and . To find out each rate you need to visit each site and enter your information, which is why most consumers use the first method.

    To view a list of companies in Richland Hills, click here.

Whichever method you choose, make sure you use apples-to-apples coverage limits and deductibles on every quote. If you have different liability limits it will be impossible to make a fair comparison in Richland Hills. Slightly different limits could mean much higher rates. And when comparing auto insurance rates, know that having more price comparisons gives you a better chance of getting the best rates.

Understand what determines the rate you pay

An important part of buying insurance is that you know the factors that go into determining the price you pay for auto insurance. When you know what positively or negatively influences your rates helps enable you to make changes that could result in big savings.

Listed below are some of the items that factor into premiums.

  • Higher deductibles cost less - The deductibles represent how much money you are willing to pay in the event of a claim. Insurance for physical damage to your car, commonly called comprehensive (or other-than-collision) and collision coverage, protects your car from damage. Some examples of claims that would be covered could be colliding with a building, collision with an animal, and burglary. The more expense the insured has to pay upfront, the bigger discount you will receive.
  • Where you live - Residing in less populated areas is a positive aspect when insuring your vehicles. Urban drivers have more traffic problems and a longer drive to work. Fewer drivers means reduced accidents and a lower car theft rate.
  • Clean credit earns discounts - A driver's credit score is a large factor in determining what you pay for auto insurance. So if your credit history is lower than you'd like, you could pay less to insure your by improving your rating. Consumers who have excellent credit tend to be less risk to insure than those with poor credit.
  • Traffic violations increase rates - Only having one ticket may increase your cost twenty percent or more. Drivers with clean records receive lower rates than bad drivers. Drivers with serious tickets such as hit and run, DWI or reckless driving convictions are required to file a SR-22 with their state DMV in order to continue driving.
  • Safer cars are cheaper to insure - Vehicles with good safety scores get lower rates. Safe vehicles have better occupant injury protection and lower injury rates translates into savings for insurance companies passed on to you as lower rates.

But I don't know anything about car insurance

When choosing coverage for your personal vehicles, there really is no one size fits all plan. Everyone's needs are different.

These are some specific questions can help discover if your situation would benefit from professional advice.

  • Am I covered when driving on a suspended license?
  • What is the difference between comprehensive and collision coverage?
  • Does my insurance cover a custom paint job?
  • Can I rate high risk drivers on liability-only vehicles?
  • Am I covered when delivering products for my home-based business?
  • Will I be non-renewed for getting a DUI or other conviction?
  • Does my policy cover me when driving someone else's vehicle?

If you can't answer these questions then you might want to talk to a licensed agent. If you don't have a local agent, complete this form.

Auto insurance ads bend the truth

Allstate, GEICO and Progressive constantly bombard you with ads on TV and radio. All the companies have a common claim that you can save if you switch your policy. But how can every company make almost identical claims?

All the different companies have a preferred profile for the right customer that is profitable for them. A good example of a profitable customer could possibly be a mature driver, has no prior claims, and drives less than 10,000 miles a year. A driver that hits that "sweet spot" will get very good rates and most likely will save a lot of money.

Consumers who fall outside this ideal profile must pay higher rates and this can result in the driver buying from a lower-cost company. The ads say "people who switch" not "people who quote" save that kind of money. This is how insurance companies can advertise the way they do. This illustrates why drivers must get quotes from several different companies. It is impossible to predict which insurance companies will provide you with the cheapest rates.

Final considerations

Affordable auto insurance can be found online in addition to many Richland Hills insurance agents, and you need to price shop both to get a complete price analysis. Some auto insurance companies do not provide the ability to get a quote online and usually these small insurance companies provide coverage only through local independent agents.

As you go through the steps to switch your coverage, don't be tempted to reduce coverage to reduce premium. In too many instances, consumers will sacrifice full coverage and found out when filing a claim that the savings was not a smart move. Your focus should be to find the BEST coverage at an affordable rate while not skimping on critical coverages.

In this article, we presented a lot of ways to compare auto insurance prices online. 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 best price on auto insurance is with an unexpected company.

Texas auto insurance quotes

Learn more about auto insurance in Texas

Additional detailed information can be read at the Texas Department of Insurance website. Texas consumers can report car insurance fraud, view agent and company licensing information, and find out industry alerts.

Additional helpful sites include this page for Texas auto insurance and this page for help finding agents in Richland Hills, TX.