Free Auto Insurance Quote

Whether you are looking to insure a new car, or trying to switch car insurers to save money the idea has probably crossed your mind to go online and see what’s available.  The internet has made everything so simple and quick, it seems natural to use it to filter through countless companies to find the right insurance for you.

Before you turn to Google and give random sites confidential information in exchange for car insurance quotes, you should go over the following few tips to save yourself time, money, and possibly becoming victim to identity fraud.

DON’T RELY ON “QUOTE FINDER” SITES

Quote finder sites are websites that “promise” that they will find the lowest insurance price for your particular class of driver?  Although this sounds like a great idea, it doesn’t come free as they say it does.  After filling out the information on these sites, you will soon be receiving upwards of 30 emails from companies wanting to provide you quoted rates for insurance.  Also, be prepared to be called several times per day on whatever phone numbers you provide the website; including work numbers.  If that isn’t annoying enough, you will also be potentially receiving junk postal mail.  This isn’t as common as it once was, but you will at least receive mail from the largest companies. 

Not all “quote finder” websites are as bad as others, but they all will push your information to every insurer possible.  If you are a lonely person, say just moved to a new area, “quote finder” sites are a great way to get some nice conversations started with a multitude of people.  Insurance salespeople are some of the nicest around.  But beyond that purpose, it’s best to do the leg-work yourself and pick individual companies to receive quotes from.  This is as simple as typing the insurance company into Google or in most cases, go to   COMPANYNAME.com

BE CAREFUL OF WHAT INFORMATION YOU PROVIDE

It may seem natural to provide a slew of information to an auto insurance company.  They are after all, trying to give you the most accurate quote and will need information to do so.  There are things, however, that they do not need.  NEVER provide your Social Security Number (SSN) to ANY insurance quote site.  At this stage in the process, there is no need to get that detailed.  SSNs are used by the insurance industry to look at your credit score and verify your identity.  This is unnecessary for this stage in the game.  Most sites don’t even ask for this information, and if they do its best to call into the company to make sure your information is safe.  Many hackers attack insurance sites to dig for personal information and the less information you provide ANY site the better.

If you would really like to be cautious about your information, but still get an accurate quote you can use false information.  There is no rules saying the name, telephone number, and address you give the website during the quoting process needs to be real.  However, if you want an accurate quote you need to provide information similar to your information.  For example, most auto insurers are capable of giving quotes based on zip code, years the driver has been licensed, number of accidents the driver has been involved in, number of moving violations, gender, and model of the car.  If the answers you provide are accurate in these categories you will get the same quote you would get if you had used your real name, address, and telephone number.  You will need to use a real email address to receive your quote because many sites will just email you the quote information.

For bonus points, try using funny names like Mike McGiggles or Marcia C. Ooties.  This is not only fun for you, but can be fun for the insurance salesperson who receives your information.  Lastly, please don’t use your friends, family or neighbor’s information as it will most likely irritate them to receive random quote information and phone calls.

PICK THE CORRECT COVERAGE/ CHEAPER ISN’T ALWAYS BETTER

After you have found the correct sites, and entered in your information, most quote sites will give you several coverages.  Progressive even has an online tool that lets you price your insurance to your exact dollar amount wanted.  The problem with this is most people just like low payments without giving much consideration to what this actually means.

Most frequently, payments are lowered by changing your deductible.  The deductible is the amount of money you pay for out of pocket before the insurance company wills start paying for damages.  For example, Lets say you opt for a high deductible of $2000 per accident and you back into your spouse’s car coming out of the garage.  You cracked your bumper and bent a rim. This could easily cost you $1500.  At this point, the insurance company isn’t going to pay a cent towards your accident.  You could potentially just save up for this sort of thing with your own money to keep your rates low, but a lot of consumers don’t think about that in advance.

Another aspect to keep in mind, especially when compare auto insurance quotes, is what coverage you are getting.  Compare these aspects:

• Covering incidental damages:  This would be things such as rental cars, towing fees, roadside assistance, and other bells and whistles that are helpful when your car is out of commission
• Medical coverage:  This is the amount your company will cover if anyone is injured in the accident.  This can be very important if you hit someone and they get whiplash and attempt to sue you for pain and suffering.
• Disability:  This is less common, but it refers to paying the insured money to be off of work because of temporary disability. 
• Maximums:  Many policies have a maximum coverage they will pay for all benefits under the policy.  Obviously the higher the maximum, the higher the premium. 

Two policies that have equal premiums should have equal benefits, and if not go for the one with better benefits.  Overall you want the highest limits, the lowest deductibles, and the most coverage for the least amount of money. 

Hopefully this has given some guidance on the online auto insurance quote process and a bit on what aspects of the policy you are quoted that are important.  Safe shopping!!!