5 Top Tips to Cut Auto Insurance Costs in La Crosse Wisconsin

Tired of robbing Peter to pay Paul to pay your car insurance bill each month? You are no different than many other drivers in Wisconsin.

Insurance companies such as GEICO and Progressive persitently shower you with advertising and it can be hard to see past the corporate glitz and do the work needed to find the best deal.

How to Get Cheap Auto Insurance in La Crosse

When shopping for auto insurance there are multiple ways of comparing price quotes from different in La Crosseinsurance companies. The best method to find competitive insurance rates is to perform an online rate comparison. This can be done using a couple different methods.

• One of the simplest ways to get quotes for comparison would be an industry-wide quote request form click to view form in new window. This easy form prevents you from having to do separate quotation requests for each company. Filling out one form compares rates .
• A more time consuming way to compare rate quotes consists of going to the website for each individual company to complete their respective quote request forms. For sake of this example, let’s assume you want rates from State Farm, Liberty Mutual and Allstate. To find out each rate you need to take the time to go to each site and enter your policy data, and that’s why the first method is more popular.

  For a list of links to companies insuring cars in La Crosse, click here.

It’s up to you which method you use, but make darn sure you compare exactly the same deductibles and coverage limits with every price quote. If each company quotes mixed coverages it will be next to impossible to determine the lowest rate in La Crosse. Quoting even small variations in limits may result in large price differences. And when comparison shopping, more quotes gives you a better chance of getting a lower rate.

How much can you save with these 5 discounts?

Companies do not advertise every available discount in an easy-to-find place, so we researched both the well known as well as the least known savings tricks you should be using.

• Passive Restraint Discount – Vehicles equipped with air bags may earn rate discounts of more than 20%.
• Paperless Signup – A handful of insurance companies may give you up to $50 for buying your policy on their website.
• Fewer Miles Equal More Savings – Driving fewer miles can earn discounted rates on garaged vehicles.
• Life Insurance Discount – Some companies give lower rates if you buy life insurance.
• Employee of Federal Government – Employees or retirees of the government can save as much as 8% with a few auto insurance companies.

It’s important to understand that most credits do not apply to the entire policy premium. Some only reduce individual premiums such as liability, collision or medical payments. So even though they make it sound like you can get free auto insurance, it doesn’t quite work that way.

Educate yourself about auto insurance coverages

Knowing the specifics of your auto insurance policy helps when choosing the right coverages and proper limits and deductibles. The coverage terms in a policy can be difficult to understand and coverage can change by endorsement. Listed below are typical coverages offered by auto insurance companies.

Coverage for medical expenses

Med pay and PIP coverage provide coverage for bills for doctor visits, surgery and chiropractic care. They are used to cover expenses not covered by your health insurance plan or if there is no health insurance coverage. Coverage applies to both the driver and occupants in addition to if you are hit as a while walking down the street. PIP is only offered in select states but it provides additional coverages not offered by medical payments coverage

Collision coverage protection

Collision coverage pays for damage to your vehicle from colliding with another car or object. You will need to pay your deductible and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.

Collision insurance covers claims such as crashing into a building, colliding with another moving vehicle, crashing into a ditch and hitting a mailbox. Collision coverage makes up a good portion of your premium, so consider dropping it from older vehicles. You can also bump up the deductible to bring the cost down.

Comprehensive auto insurance

Comprehensive insurance covers damage caused by mother nature, theft, vandalism and other events. You need to pay your deductible first and then insurance will cover the rest of the damage.

Comprehensive insurance covers things like fire damage, hitting a deer and hail damage. The maximum payout you can receive from a comprehensive claim is the ACV or actual cash value, so if it’s not worth much more than your deductible consider dropping full coverage.

Liability car insurance

This protects you from injuries or damage you cause to a person or their property. It protects YOU from legal claims by others. Liability doesn’t cover your injuries or vehicle damage.

Liability coverage has three limits: bodily injury for each person, bodily injury for the entire accident, and a limit for property damage. You might see liability limits of 50/100/50 that translate to a limit of $50,000 per injured person, $100,000 for the entire accident, and a total limit of $50,000 for damage to vehicles and property.

Liability coverage pays for claims such as repair bills for other people’s vehicles, legal defense fees, loss of income and structural damage. How much liability coverage do you need? That is your choice, but buy as large an amount as possible. Wisconsin state minimum liability requirements are 50,000/100,000/55,000 but drivers should carry more liability than the minimum.

Coverage for uninsured or underinsured drivers

This protects you and your vehicle when the “other guys” either have no liability insurance or not enough. Covered losses include hospital bills for your injuries and also any damage incurred to your vehicle.

Due to the fact that many Wisconsin drivers have only the minimum liability required by law (50/100/55 in Wisconsin), their limits can quickly be used up. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage should not be overlooked.

Affordable insurance is out there

You just read a lot of techniques to reduce auto insurance prices online. The key thing to remember is the more price quotes you have, the better likelihood of reducing your rate. You may even find the most savings is with the least-expected company. Smaller companies may often insure only within specific states and give getter rates compared to the large companies like Progressive or GEICO.

Lower-priced auto insurance is attainable on the web and also from your neighborhood La Crosse agents, and you need to price shop both in order to have the best chance of saving money. A few companies may not provide you the ability to get quotes online and most of the time these small, regional companies sell through independent agents.

As you go through the steps to switch your coverage, never reduce coverage to reduce premium. In many instances, an accident victim reduced uninsured motorist or liability limits only to find out that the few dollars in savings costed them thousands. The proper strategy is to get the best coverage possible at an affordable rate while still protecting your assets.

To learn even more about auto insurance

Even more information can be read at the Wisconsin Office of the Commissioner of Insurance website. Consumers can report car insurance fraud, read consumer alerts, and download brochures.