Insider Advice on Saving Money on Brandon, VT Car Insurance

Searching for the most affordable Brandon car insurance over the internet is impossible for beginners to online price comaprisons. With so many choices of companies in the marketplace, how can Brandon drivers even start to compare every one to find the cheapest available price?

Compare the Market for Car Insurance in Brandon

Cutting your Brandon car insurance rates is a fairly straight forward process. The only requirement is to take a couple of minutes to compare rate quotes provided by online insurance companies. It is quite easy and can be accomplished in several different ways.

• The first (and easiest) way to get the best comparison quotes would be an industry-wide quote request form like this one (opens in new window). This form saves time by eliminating multiple quote forms for each company. Filling out one form gets you price quotes from multiple companies. This is by far the quickest method.
• A more difficult way to shop for car insurance online is to take the time to go to the website for each individual company and fill out their own quote form. For instance, let’s assume you want to compare State Farm, Progressive and Allstate. You would have to visit each site to input your insurance information, which is why the first method is more popular.

  For a handy list of car insurance company links in Brandon, click here.

• The least efficient method of comparing rate quotes is to waste gas driving to and from local Brandon insurance agencies. Shopping for car insurance online eliminates the need for an insurance agent unless you prefer the professional guidance that only a license agent can provide. Drivers can price shop your coverage online but buy from a local insurance agent. We’ll cover that shortly.

It’s your choice how you get your quotes, but make sure you use exactly the same coverages and limits on every quote you get. If you enter mixed coverages you can’t possibly determine the best price in Brandon.

Make smart decisions and save

An important part of buying insurance is that you know the different types of things that play a part in calculating the price you pay for car insurance. Having a good understanding of what impacts premium levels helps enable you to make changes that will entitle you to better car insurance rates.

Shown below are a few of the “ingredients” that factor into prices.

• Liability coverage is cheap – Liability insurance is the coverage that protects you in the event that a court rules you are at fault for damages from an accident. Liability provides for a legal defense which can be incredibly expensive. Liability is cheap compared to physical damage coverage, so do not cut corners here.
• Little extras can really add up – There are a lot of extra bells and whistles that can waste your money on your policy. Coverages for vanishing deductibles, accident forgiveness and additional equipment coverage may be wasting your money. These coverages may sound good when you first buy your policy, but now you might not need them so eliminate them to save money.
• Your occupation can affect rates – Jobs such as real estate brokers, social workers and stock brokers tend to have the highest rates because of stressful work requirements and lengthy work days. On the other hand, occupations such as pilots, students and retirees receive lower rates.
• Never allow your policy to lapse – Having an insurance coverage lapse is a quick way to bump up your car insurance costs. Not only will rates go up, but not being able to provide proof of insurance may earn you a steep fine or even jail time.
• Men are more aggressive – Statistics demonstrate women are more cautious behind the wheel. That doesn’t necessarily mean that men are WORSE drivers than women. Men and women cause accidents at a similar rate, but the male of the species cause more damage. Men also tend to have more aggressive citations like DUI and reckless driving. Teenage male drivers are the most expensive to insure and therefore have the most expensive car insurance rates.

You probably qualify for some discounts

Car insurance companies don’t always publicize all their discounts very well, so we researched both well-publicized and also the lesser-known ways to save on car insurance. If you don’t get every credit you qualify for, you are paying more than you should be.

• Homeowners Discount – Owning a house in Brandon can save you money because of the fact that having a home demonstrates responsibility.
• Memberships – Participating in a civic or occupational organization could trigger savings when shopping for car insurance.
• No Claims – Drivers who don’t have accidents can earn big discounts as compared to accident-prone drivers.
• Accident Waiver – A few companies will allow you to have one accident before your rates go up so long as you haven’t had any claims for a set time period.
• Multiple Policy Discount – If you have multiple policies with one insurance company you may earn up to 20% off your total premium.
• Anti-theft System – Anti-theft and alarm systems are stolen less frequently and earn discounts up to 10%.
• College Student – Youth drivers who live away from home and do not have a car can be insured at a reduced rate.
• Good Students Pay Less – Getting good grades can get you a discount of up to 25%. Earning this discount can benefit you until age 25.
• Life Insurance – Larger companies have a break if you buy life insurance from them.
• Pay Upfront and Save – If you pay your entire premium ahead of time rather than paying monthly you may reduce your total bill.

A little note about advertised discounts, most of the big mark downs will not be given to your bottom line cost. Most only reduce individual premiums such as medical payments or collision. Just because it seems like you can get free auto insurance, companies wouldn’t make money that way.

For a list of providers offering car insurance discounts in Vermont, follow this link.

Aren’t my neighborhood agents an option?

Some people would rather get advice from a local agent and that is a personal choice. Educated insurance agents are trained to spot inefficiencies and help submit paperwork. The biggest benefit of getting online price quotes is you may find lower rates but also keep your business local.

After filling out this quick form, your information is emailed to local insurance agents in Brandon who will give you bids for your business. You don’t have to drive around since price quotes are sent to the email address you provide. How’s that for easy!

Choosing an insurance company should depend on more than just the premium amount. Any agent should have no problem answering these questions:

• Is assistance available after office hours?
• What insurance companies do they work with?
• Do they receive special compensation for putting your coverage with one company over another?
• Can they give you a list of client referrals?
• How long has their agency been open in Brandon?
• Are there any hidden costs in their price quote and does it include driving and credit history?
• Do clients work directly with the agent or are most inquiries handled by a CSR?

To contact a specific insurance agent in Brandon, go to this page.

After receiving positive responses and locked in a price quote, you may have just found a company that will properly insure your vehicles.

Keep this in mind

Consumers switch companies for a number of reasons such as delays in paying claims, lack of trust in their agent, an unsatisfactory settlement offer and unfair underwriting practices. It doesn’t matter what your reason, finding a new car insurance company can be pretty painless.

When trying to cut insurance costs, it’s a bad idea to reduce coverage to reduce premium. There are many occasions where someone sacrificed uninsured motorist or liability limits and discovered at claim time that their decision to reduce coverage ended up costing them more. Your goal should be to buy the best coverage you can find for the lowest price while not skimping on critical coverages.

In this article, we presented some good ideas how you can shop for car insurance online. The most important thing to understand is the more companies you get rates for, the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. Drivers may discover the biggest savings come from a company that doesn’t do a lot of advertising.

Vermont car insurance information

More detailed Vermont car insurance information is located at the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation website. Vermont consumers can learn about insurance regulations, file complaints about an insurance agent or broker, view agent and company licensing information, and find disaster information.

More related Brandon car insurance information:

• Popular Tricks for Buying Brandon, SD Car Insurance for Less Money