5 Discounts Sisseton Drivers Forget when Buying Car Insurance

Buying low-cost Sisseton car insurance on the web may be intimidating for consumers not familiar with buying insurance online. With such a large number of online companies, how can consumers even start to compare every one to find the best available rates?

Finding the best rates in Sisseton is not rocket science. If you are paying for car insurance now, you will be able to save some money using these tips. South Dakota consumers just need to learn how to compare prices online.

Automobile Insurance Quotes in Sisseton

There are a variety of methods to compare car insurance quotes, but one way is less time-consuming than others. You can spend your afternoon talking to local insurance agents in Sisseton, or you can utilize online quoting to get rates in a matter of minutes.

The majority of car insurance companies are enrolled in a marketplace that allows shoppers to submit their information once, and each participating company can give them a price based on that information. This prevents consumers from doing quotation requests to each company.

To participate in this free quote system, click to open in new window.

One minor caviat to doing it this way is that you can’t choose which carriers you want pricing from. So if you prefer to choose specific providers to receive pricing from, we have a listing of the cheapest car insurance companies in South Dakota. Click here to view list.

Which method you use is up to you, but make sure you use identical coverages and limits with each company. If you compare different deductibles it will be impossible to decipher which rate is best in Sisseton.

Discounts are great for lower rates

Companies don’t list every discount in an easy-to-find place, so the following is a list of both well-publicized and the harder-to-find car insurance savings. If they aren’t giving you every credit you qualify for, you are paying more than you should be.

• Own a Home – Owning a house in Sisseton may trigger a car insurance policy discount due to the fact that maintaining a home requires personal responsibility.
• Sign Online – A handful of insurance companies give back up to $50 simply for signing on their website.
• Driver’s Ed – Cut your cost by having your teen driver take driver’s ed class if offered at their school.
• Accident Free – Good drivers with no accidents pay less when compared to drivers who are more careless.
• Accident Forgiveness – Certain companies allow you one accident before hitting you with a surcharge if your claims history is clear for a certain period of time.

A little note about advertised discounts, some credits don’t apply to the entire cost. Some only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like liability and collision coverage. So even though it sounds like adding up those discounts means a free policy, it doesn’t quite work that way.

Auto insurance 101

Understanding the coverages of your car insurance policy aids in choosing which coverages you need for your vehicles. The coverage terms in a policy can be confusing and nobody wants to actually read their policy.

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist (UM/UIM)

This protects you and your vehicle’s occupants when the “other guys” are uninsured or don’t have enough coverage. It can pay for hospital bills for your injuries and damage to your vehicle.

Since many South Dakota drivers only carry the minimum required liability limits (25/50/25 in South Dakota), it doesn’t take a major accident to exceed their coverage limits. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage is very important.

Coverage for collisions

Collision coverage pays for damage to your vehicle caused by collision with another car or object. A deductible applies and then insurance will cover the remainder.

Collision coverage pays for things like hitting a mailbox, crashing into a building, backing into a parked car, hitting a parking meter and driving through your garage door. Collision is rather expensive coverage, so consider dropping it from older vehicles. Another option is to increase the deductible to bring the cost down.

Comprehensive insurance

Comprehensive insurance coverage pays to fix your vehicle from damage that is not covered by collision coverage. You need to pay your deductible first then the remaining damage will be covered by your comprehensive coverage.

Comprehensive insurance covers things such as vandalism, hitting a deer and rock chips in glass. The maximum amount you can receive from a comprehensive claim is the cash value of the vehicle, so if your deductible is as high as the vehicle’s value it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.

Med pay and Personal Injury Protection (PIP)

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage reimburse you for expenses like ambulance fees, dental work, hospital visits and nursing services. They are often used to cover expenses not covered by your health insurance policy or if you do not have health coverage. They cover all vehicle occupants as well as being hit by a car walking across the street. Personal injury protection coverage is not an option in every state and gives slightly broader coverage than med pay

Auto liability

Liability insurance protects you from damages or injuries you inflict on people or other property in an accident. It protects YOU against claims from other people. Liability doesn’t cover your injuries or vehicle damage.

It consists of three limits, bodily injury for each person, bodily injury for the entire accident, and a limit for property damage. You commonly see limits of 50/100/50 that means you have a limit of $50,000 per injured person, $100,000 for the entire accident, and property damage coverage for $50,000.

Liability can pay for things such as loss of income, pain and suffering, repair bills for other people’s vehicles, bail bonds and funeral expenses. How much liability coverage do you need? That is your choice, but consider buying as large an amount as possible. South Dakota requires minimum liability limits of 25,000/50,000/25,000 but you should consider buying more coverage.

Even more information can be found at the South Dakota Division of Insurance website. Visitors are able to read industry bulletins, get help finding coverage, and file complaints about an insurance agent or broker.

Cheaper insurance is a realistic goal

Budget-conscious car insurance is attainable both online as well as from independent agents in Sisseton, and you should compare price quotes from both in order to have the best chance of saving money. Some companies don’t offer online quoting and these small, regional companies work with independent agents.

While you’re price shopping online, it’s a bad idea to reduce needed coverages to save money. There are a lot of situations where someone dropped physical damage coverage only to regret that the savings was not a smart move. The proper strategy is to purchase plenty of coverage for the lowest price.

Insureds who switch companies do it for any number of reasons including denial of a claim, policy non-renewal, policy cancellation or being labeled a high risk driver. It doesn’t matter why you want to switch switching car insurance companies is pretty easy and you might even save some money in the process.