Is Your Nome Car Insurance Costing Too Much?

Expensive car insurance can overdraw your personal savings and put the squeeze on your family’s finances. Shopping your coverage around is a great way to tighten up your finances. Insurance companies such as Progressive, State Farm and GEICO all claim big savings with ads and consumers find it hard to ignore the flying pigs and cute green geckos and effectively compare rates to find the best deal.

Consumers need to compare prices quite often because insurance rates are adjusted regularly by insurance companies. Just because you found the lowest price a few years ago other companies may now be cheaper. Starting right now, block out anything you think you know about car insurance because you’re going to learn the best methods to find better rates and still maintain coverage.

Fast and Easy Nome Car Insurance Quotes

There are a variety of methods to compare car insurance quotes, but there is one way that is less labor-intensive and much quicker. You can waste a lot of time driving to agents in Nome, or you could use online quotes to maximize your effort.

Many insurance companies belong to an insurance system that allows shoppers to submit their information once, and every company can provide price quotes based on the submitted data. This saves time by eliminating quote forms to every company. To compare rates using this form now click to open in new window.

One minor caviat to using this type of system is you are unable to specify the providers you will receive quotes from. So if you prefer to choose from a list of companies to compare rates, we have a page of car insurance companies in Alaska. View list of Alaska insurance companies.

However you get your quotes, make sure you use apples-to-apples coverages for every quote you compare. If you enter different deductibles you will not be able to determine the best price in Nome.

How much can you save with discounts?

Companies don’t necessarily list every available discount in a way that’s easy to find, so here is a list some of the more common and the more hidden discounts you could be receiving. If you aren’t receiving every discount you qualify for, you are paying more than you should be.

More Vehicles More Savings – Buying coverage for multiple cars or trucks with the same company can get a discount on all vehicles.
Resident Student – Children who live away from home and do not have a car can receive lower rates.
Discount for Swiching Early – Some insurance companies reward drivers for signing up prior to your current policy expiring. The savings is around 10%.
Passive Restraints and Air Bags – Factory air bags and/or automatic seat belt systems can get savings up to 30%.
Discount for Life Insurance – Some companies give better rates if you take out auto and life insurance together.
Homeowners Pay Less – Simply owning a home can help you save on car insurance because maintaining a house requires personal responsibility.
Defensive Driving Course – Successfully completing a course in driver safety could cut 5% off your bill if you qualify.
Low Mileage Discounts – Keeping the miles down could be rewarded with a substantially lower rate.
Accident Free – Drivers who don’t have accidents pay much less when compared with accident-prone drivers.

Keep in mind that most discounts do not apply to the overall cost of the policy. Most only apply to specific coverage prices like comprehensive or collision. Just because you may think having all the discounts means you get insurance for free, you’re out of luck.

To see a list of companies offering car insurance discounts in Alaska, click this link.

How much car insurance do I need?

When it comes to choosing adequate coverage for your vehicles, there really is no “perfect” insurance plan. Each situation is unique so your insurance should reflect that These are some specific questions could help you determine whether or not you might need professional guidance.

How much liability coverage do I need in Alaska?
When would I need rental car insurance?
Does my policy pay for OEM or aftermarket parts?
How much liability do I need to cover my assets?
Where can I get insurance after a DUI in Alaska?
When would I need additional glass coverage?
Am I covered when renting a car or should I buy coverage from the car rental agency?
Is pleasure use cheaper than using my vehicle to commute?
Do I need medical payments coverage since I have good health insurance?

If it’s difficult to answer those questions but you know they apply to you, then you may want to think about talking to an agent. If you want to speak to an agent in your area, complete this form or click here for a list of car insurance companies in your area. It’s fast, free and may give you better protection.

Make smart decisions and save

An important part of buying insurance is that you know the different types of things that come into play when calculating car insurance rates. Knowing what impacts premium levels empowers consumers to make smart changes that can help you get better car insurance rates.

The list below includes some of the items used by your company to calculate your rates.

Liability insurance protects assets – Liability coverage will protect you if ever a jury decides you are liable for personal injury or accident damage. It will provide for a legal defense which can cost thousands of dollars. This coverage is very inexpensive when compared with rates for comp and collision, so do not cut corners here.
Battle of the sexes – Statistics have proven women tend to be less risk to insure than men. Now that doesn’t mean women are BETTER drivers than men. They both have accidents in similar percentages, but the male of the species tend to have more serious accidents. Men also tend to receive more costly citations such as DWI and reckless driving.
Your car insurance rates can be influenced by your job – Did you know that where you work can have an impact on rates? Occupations such as doctors, business owners and accountants tend to have higher rates than average because of stressful work requirements and lengthy work days. On the flip side, occupations like pilots, athletes and performers receive lower rates.
Lower rates with optional equipment – Choosing a vehicle with anti-theft technology or alarm system can get you a discount on your car insurance. Theft prevention features like LoJack tracking devices, vehicle tamper alarm systems or GM’s OnStar system can thwart your vehicle from being stolen.
Lower rates come with age – Teenage drivers in Alaska tend to be more careless when behind the wheel so they pay higher car insurance rates. Older insureds are viewed as being more responsible, tend to cause fewer accidents and are safer drivers.
Clean credit earns discounts – Having a bad credit rating is a important factor in your rate calculation. People with excellent credit tend to be more responsible than drivers with poor credit. So if your credit history can use some improvement, you could pay less to insure your by improving your credit score.
An active claims history can cost you – If you are a frequent claim filer, you can pretty much guarantee either a policy non-renewal or much higher rates. Companies in Alaska award cheaper rates to people who do not rely on their insurance for small claims. Auto insurance is intended for the large, substantial claims.

Advertising myths

Alaska consumers can’t get away from ads for cheaper car insurance by companies like Allstate, GEICO and Progressive. All the companies have a common claim about savings if you switch to them.

How does each company make almost identical claims?

Different companies are able to cherry pick for the type of customer that is profitable for them. An example of a desirable insured might be between 25 and 40, has no prior claims, and has a short commute. A customer getting a price quote who matches those parameters gets the lowest rates and most likely will save quite a bit of money when switching.

Consumers who don’t meet these standards will be charged higher premiums and ends up with business not being written. The ad wording is “people who switch” not “everyone that quotes” save that much money. That is how companies can truthfully state the savings. That is why you absolutely need to get quotes from several different companies. Because you never know which car insurance company will fit your personal profile best.

Buy online or local, you save

While you’re price shopping online, it’s very important that you do not reduce needed coverages to save money. There are a lot of situations where drivers have reduced full coverage only to regret that it was a big error on their part. Your focus should be to purchase plenty of coverage for the lowest price.

Low-cost car insurance is possible online in addition to many Nome insurance agents, and you should compare price quotes from both to get a complete price analysis. There are still a few companies who do not provide the ability to get a quote online and usually these small, regional companies provide coverage only through local independent agents.

We just covered many ideas to lower your car insurance rates. The key concept to understand is the more you quote, the better your comparison will be. Drivers may discover the lowest rates come from a smaller regional carrier. Some small companies may cover specific market segments cheaper than the large multi-state companies such as Allstate, GEICO and Progressive.

Informative consumer insurance sites

Additional detailed information is available at the Alaska Division of Insurance website. Alaska consumers can read enforcement actions against agents and companies, report car insurance fraud, get help finding coverage, and find out which companies have the most complaints.