How to Compare Auto Insurance Rates Online

By: David Schneider, Car Insurance Expert
CheaperCarInsurance.com

If you haven’t shopped for car insurance in a while, you might be paying more than you need to be with your current insurance company. It’s easy to compare auto insurance rates online, and you may see a wide discrepancy in rate quotes among companies. You may be surprised to find out you’re paying more than necessary to get great coverage for your automobile.

What Do I Need to Compare Auto Insurance Rates?

When you visit a car insurance company’s website, you will need to have some basic information handy. Save yourself the trouble of scrambling for it and find all of this info beforehand:

• VIN number of all cars you want to insure
• Whether you are making payments on the car or own it outright
• Social security numbers and birth dates of all people you want to insure
• Approximately how many miles you drive
• Driving record

Some systems, like Progressive’s, can automatically find the vehicles registered at your address, which saves you the trouble of entering in the information for each vehicle.

How Do I Compare Auto Insurance Rates?

All car insurance companies offer the same basic policies. Some may offer extras, like roadside assistance or rental car reimbursement. Look at the basics, like your deductible and how much comprehensive, collision and liability insurance each offers. Typically there will be a recommendation as to how much you should carry. Use this as your standard to compare prices across the board.

Beyond price, there are other things to compare. Think about the things you want from a car insurance company. If you’re tech-savvy, you might want 24/7 access to your account online and the ability to have your payment drafted from your bank account. If you prefer one-on-one contact, look to insurance companies that have local insurance agents in your city. If you want ‘round the clock customer care, see if the companies you’re considering offer an 800 number to provide customer service on your account.

Many car insurance companies offer discounts, including multiple car or insurance policy discounts, military or special group discounts, and good driver discounts. Make sure you find out how much you can save if you are eligible for any of these savings.

Making Your Decision

Create a spreadsheet and list out characteristics of each major car insurance company you’re considering to compare auto insurance benefits. Include things like rates, access to your account, and reputation. If you’re not sure how good an insurance company is, search for “X insurance customer service” online and see what people are saying about them. There are car insurance review sites designed just for this purpose: to help educate consumers on how reliable or easy to work with a car insurance company is.

Also, ask your friends who they use for their car insurance. They may have recommendations that save you the trouble of doing research.

Weigh all the components that are important to you in choosing auto insurance carefully. If it will help the process, call each auto insurance company and speak with a representative with any questions you have. These might include:

• Will your policy go up if you are in an accident?
• Does the company offer accident forgiveness?
• Does the insurance company offer discounts that you’re eligible for?
• Is there a fee for breaking up your premium into smaller payments?
• How does the company determine your auto insurance quote?
• Will your rate go up without notification?

Once you have all the information you need, you can properly compare auto insurance rates and programs. Make your decision and know that you did your due diligence in the process! You can always change your car insurance provider down the road, should the one you chose not prove to be as effective as you thought it would be.

Posted: December 16, 2009