|
Page Sections -
Why you must get a copy of your driving record
|
Online Sites To Get Car Insurance Quotes
Types
Of Insurance Coverage
| Driving Records
Always shop
around for the lowest car insurance rates
Comparison Market
provides consumers with a
better way to shop for auto insurance. Instantly compare
accurate rates from some of America's top insurance companies,
including Travelers, The Hartford, Liberty Mutual, Safeco and
many others.
Comparison Market
allows consumers to:
- Shop easily, making apples-to-apples comparisons
- Receive accurate, real-time quotes
- Make an informed choice
- Save money on auto insurance
Why you must get a copy of
your driving record
I highly suggest you get a copy of your drivers license record BEFORE
shopping for insurance. Many of us have errors in our driving
report that drive up our auto insurance rates. I once paid a
traffic ticket and attended driving school, but they never
credited my driving record! How did I find out? Allstate canned
me! That's not the way you want to find an error on your
driving record. In the newspaper, a clerk of the court admitted
they had a 20% error rate, and shrugged it off as normal. So
lucky 20% me had my license suspended by mistake. Don't let
this happen to you! Trust me, you don't want to go through what
I did to fix it. If you go to driving school or pay fines, keep
the receipt in your wallet for 3 years or until you renew your
license! If you get pulled over by the police, it's your only
salvation from being arrested for driving with a suspended
license. Just like your credit history determines your car loan
approval, your driving record determines how expensive your auto
insurance will be.
VIN# Window Etching can
Lower Your Insurance Premiums up to
15%
If the car dealer say it's already on the car and
can't be removed, don't buy the car, and save yourself
$300-$900. You can get your own VIN etching kit cheaper online.
The
VINetcher Do-It-Yourself VIN Etching Kit
is only $19.95.
Remember, lenders don't require you to buy useless extras.
The only thing a lender requires you to do is pay back the loan. |
Don't Forget To
Budget In Auto Insurance And Warranties!
Don't overlook this important
part of car buying, you'll be in for a shock later. Get a quote on
the car you want, and most important of all, shop around! For
discount car buying you'll see our recommendations for sites
like
Cars.com, InvoiceDealers,
Autoweb,
Car.com,
Autobytel,
CarsDirect
and
AutoUSA
but don't just stop there, what about insurance? There's some good
sites that help you find great deals on car insurance with insurance
rate comparison engines. Make sure you know your
Auto Claims History from
Equifax. You'll be surprised how much some new cars cost to
insure. Some cars are very difficult to insure. Geico
will laugh you into oblivion if you try to insure any sports car. Insurers require a garage and alarm for Corvettes. Know your
insurance costs before you buy a car, and plan your monthly
budget accordingly to accommodate the insurance. A lot of people
drop the ball on this one. Depending on where you live, you could
pay $1400 a year for insurance on a new car. This is an average of
$116 per month. This is where people make a big mistake,
forgetting to include insurance in their budget. If you're buying a
car on the hairy edge of what you can afford, insurance payments
will drag you under. Insurance payments are part of your monthly
cost of ownership.
While you're shopping for
insurance, here's a few online sites that give you free quotes
online. To get the most accurate pricing, be very accurate about
the info you enter. Also, try to enter the exact same coverage you
desire from each online site you visit, to get a true apples to
apples comparison. These sites will give you quotes to compare
before making your final decision. Get quotes from as many sites as
possible to get your best price, then when you are ready to buy,
call the company you chose and verify the price with them. When you
decide to buy insurance, don't think you can be smart and neglect to
tell them you had a speeding ticket last year. They'll find out
when they check your driving record after you apply, even all your
out of state tickets, and your rates will increase accordingly.
Just enter the make
and model, and answer a few questions. Seconds later the price
quotes and comparisons to competing companies appears online.
Comparison Market Save up to $600 or more on auto insurance
with many of America's top insurance companies. Answer just one set
of questions and instantly receive accurate quotes. Choose the best
policy and buy online or over the phone.
Progressive
Auto Insurance gives you a free instant rate comparison
against State Farm and Allstate. This comparison is a great tool for
car insurance. They even insist you to shop around, and they save
your quote so you can come back later to look at it again.
Progressive Auto Insurance is the 4th largest insurance company in
the U.S.
Electric
Insurance
insures more than 125,000 policyholders. The company was founded in
1966 to serve the insurance needs of General Electric employees and
now offers its low rates and great service to the public online and
through its phone center. They have received an "excellent"
financial strength rating of "A-" from
A.M. Best
and a "strong" financial strength rating of "A" by
Standard & Poor's.
Bad Credit Causes You To Pay More
For Insurance
Many insurance companies run credit checks on you before the
application is signed. Some online companies bypass this by allowing
you to supply a self reported credit rating from a pull down menu.
The reason for the credit checks is that there is a higher
underwriting risk not only in terms your ability to make payments
and keep policies in force, but the higher claims/loss ratios of
folks with bad credit. A 40 year old man with a couple of late
payments and no tickets, accidents or major violations might very
well qualify for a preferred policy.
If you're
in a wreck, ask for "Diminished Value" compensation
Insurance companies don't like to talk about it but some will pay
you what is called "Diminished Value" as part of your claim. It can
be very difficult to get, they may deny it exists, but people have
been known to collect. Diminished value compensates you for the
loss of market value your car suffers after an accident. If you
wreck your Honda Accord and then have it repaired, your car is worth
less when you go to sell it because no one wants a previously
wrecked car. Because if this, some insurance companies will pay you
for this loss of value incurred by the accident. Ask your car
insurance company if they provide this for you.
Avoid
Insurance rip-offs!
Florida is the insurance
rip-off capital of the world. Be wary of cheapie insurance agencies
with stupid TV or radio ads claiming to be the lowest price. When I
was young and stupid, I went through 10 insurance companies in 5
years, because they all low balled me. A month after signing, you
get a letter saying your policy is $200 more due to a "Company Rate
Error". This is known in the insurance industry as "Low Balling".
It happens all the time, and it happened to me 4 different times
until I wised up and started to deal with classier companies like
State Farm and Travelers. Your state legislators do nothing to stop
these low balling losers, so the only way to protect yourself is to
stay away from them, and their stupid free coupon and film
developing vouchers that they hand out to you to make it look like
you're getting something for your money. If you need your tag or
title, get it from the source, the real tag agency.
Types Of
Insurance Coverage
Insurance is very confusing, and if you don't understand what the
different types of coverage mean, you could be leaving yourself
financially exposed. I always tell people to get as much insurance
as you can afford, to make sure you are covered for anything that
comes along. If you get in even the smallest of wrecks and damage
your front right quarter panel, and take out a fancy sealed beam
headlight, that repair could cost over $1000, and over one week in
car rental fees. So choosing the right coverage is essential. If
you finance a car through a bank or car dealer, the lender usually
requires some sort of full coverage. They do verify it with the
insurance company and if you fall short of their limits or take out
no coverage at all, they will buy it for you and send you a bill for
an unbelievably jacked up amount for insurance. This could be up to
$4000, nearly 3 times the normal amount that most of us pay, so make
sure your car is insured. Most car dealers won't allow the car to
be driven off the lot without calling it into the insurance company
and setting it up first. Your current insurance may cover you, but
you must tell your insurance company immediately that you bought a
new car to ensure you have coverage.
Driving Records
Driving Records are
state driver's license reports containing details about a
driver's history including accidents and violations. Each state
maintains records of their registered drivers' activities
occurring only in that state.
Driving records can be
obtained by insurance companies to determine your rates as well
as by companies during their employment screening procedures
when hiring. Some employers may even require that you submit
your driving
record along with your employment application. A single
typo on your
driving record can cost you hundreds of dollars in insurance
rates. It can even cost you a job. |
Don't fall into the gap!