Top Ways to Save on Teaneck Car Insurance

Did you fall for a flashy sales pitch and buy overpriced car insurance? Believe me when I say there are a lot of people in Teaneck just like you who feel imprisoned by their car insurance policy.

With consumers having so many choices of insurance companies, it is hard for the average consumer to choose the right car insurance company.

It's important to price shop coverage at least once a year since rates are constantly changing. Just because you had the best deal a few years ago you may be paying too much now. Starting right now, block out anything you think you know about car insurance because we're going to show you the proper way to lower your annual insurance bill.

How to Compare Teaneck Car Insurance Costs

Most major insurance companies allow you to get coverage price quotes online. Getting quotes doesn't take a lot of time as you just type in the coverage amounts you desire as detailed in the form. Behind the scenes, their rating system will obtain information on your driving record and credit history and gives you a price quote. This makes it a lot easier to compare rates but the process of having to visit several different sites and enter the same data into a form is not the best way to spend an afternoon. But it's very important to compare as many rates as possible in order to find better car insurance pricing.

A less time-consuming method to find better car insurance pricing is to use a quote 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 online shopping much easier to do. After sending the form, it is rated and you can choose any or none of the returned quotes.

If one or more price quotes are lower than your current rates, you can click and sign and buy the new coverage. The entire process only takes a few minutes and could lower your rates considerably.

To find out what other companies charge, click here to open in new window and enter your information. If you have a policy now, it's recommended you input the insurance coverages exactly as shown on your declarations page. This way, you will be getting rate comparison quotes based on similar coverages.

Teaneck car insurance comparison

Learn How to Buy Car Insurance Cheaper

It's important that you understand the different types of things that go into determining your car insurance rates. When you know what positively or negatively influences your rates helps enable you to make changes that may reward you with lower car insurance prices.

Listed below are some of the factors that factor into rates.

  • Are you male or female? - Statistics demonstrate women tend to be less risk to insure than men. That doesn't necessarily mean that men are WORSE drivers than women. Women and men are in accidents at about the same rate, but the males cause more damage. They also receive more costly citations such as reckless driving. Young males tend to get in the most accidents and thus pay the highest rates.
  • Little extras can really add up - There are many extra coverages that you can buy on your policy. Things like rental car reimbursement, towing coverage and membership fees may be costing you every month. These coverages may sound good when talking to your agent, but your needs may have changed so remove them from your policy.
  • What type of vehicle do you drive? - The performance level of the car you own makes a big difference in how high your rates are. The cheapest insurance rates are usually for low performance passenger cars, but there are many factors that impact the final cost.
  • Tickets mean higher rates - Your driving citation history has a big impact on rates. Drivers with clean records tend to pay less for car insurance than bad drivers. Even one speeding ticket may increase your cost forty percent or more. Drivers who have serious citations such as hit and run, DWI or reckless driving convictions may need to submit a SR-22 form with their state motor vehicle department in order to continue driving.
  • Discounts for multiple policies - Most insurers will give a discount to policyholders who consolidate policies with them, otherwise known as a multi-policy discount. Even with this discount, it's in your best interest to shop around to confirm you are receiving the best rates possible. You may still be able to find a better deal by splitting coverages up.
  • Save money with special equipment - Choosing a vehicle with anti-theft technology or alarm system can help lower your rates. Anti-theft features such as vehicle immobilizer systems, General Motors OnStar and LoJack tracking systems can thwart car theft.
  • Better credit scores mean better rates - Credit score is a huge factor in calculating your car insurance rates. If your credit rating is lower than you'd like, you could be paying less to insure your by improving your rating. Consumers who have high credit ratings tend to be less risk to insure than those with poor credit.

These discounts can lower your rates

The cost of insuring your cars can be expensive, buy you may qualify for discounts that you may not even be aware of. Some trigger automatically at the time of quoting, but some must be manually applied before you will receive the discount.

  • 55 and Retired - Older drivers may qualify for a discount up to 10%.
  • Defensive Driver - Completing a driver safety course could possibly earn you a 5% discount depending on where you live.
  • Early Signing - Select companies give a discount for switching to them before your current policy expires. This can save 10% or more.
  • Anti-theft Discount - Cars that have factory anti-theft systems are stolen less frequently and therefore earn up to a 10% discount.
  • Drive Less and Save - Driving fewer miles can qualify you for discounted rates on garaged vehicles.

It's important to note that most discount credits are not given the the whole policy. Most only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like liability, collision or medical payments. Just because it seems like all the discounts add up to a free policy, you're out of luck. But any discount will help reduce the cost of coverage.

For a list of companies offering car insurance discounts in New Jersey, click here to view.

More information is available on the website for the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance. Click here for link. Consumers can learn about insurance regulations, discover disciplinary actions, learn about specific coverages, and file complaints about a company.

Other useful links include this Car Insurance FAQ and this page of insurance agents in Teaneck.

car insurance in Teaneck

Do the work, save more money

As you shop your coverage around, don't be tempted to reduce needed coverages to save money. There are many occasions where an insured dropped liability limits or collision coverage only to find out that saving that couple of dollars actually costed them tens of thousands. Your aim should be to get the best coverage possible for the lowest price.

Lower-priced car insurance is available from both online companies in addition to many Teaneck insurance agents, so you should compare both to have the best chance of lowering rates. Some insurance providers do not provide online quoting and most of the time these smaller companies sell through independent agents.

You just learned some good ideas how you can lower your car insurance rates. The key thing to remember is the more times you quote, the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. You may even find the most savings is with a lesser-known regional company. Smaller companies often have lower prices on specific markets than the large multi-state companies such as .