Top 6 Methods to Save on Auto Insurance in Tigard Oregon

Paying for high-priced auto insurance can drain your bank account and put a big crunch on your finances. Comparison shopping is a smart way to slash your bill and have more diposable income. Since consumers have many different company options, it’s nearly impossible to pick the most cost effective provider.

It’s important to get comparison quotes once or twice a year due to the fact that insurance rates trend upward over time. Even if you got the lowest rates last year other companies may now be cheaper. So just forget all the misinformation about auto insurance because you’re going to get a crash course in the best methods to save on auto insurance.

Pricing the best protection in Tigard is easy if you know what you’re doing. If you are insured now or need a new policy, you can use these techniques to cut your premiums and still get good coverage. Oregon consumers just need to know the proper methods to shop over the internet.

Cut your premium with these six discounts

Properly insuring your vehicles can get expensive, but discounts can save money and there are some available that can drop the cost substantially. Some discounts apply automatically at the time of purchase, but a few need to be requested specifically in order for you to get them. If you’re not getting every credit possible, you’re paying more than you need to.

• Drive Safe and Save – Drivers who avoid accidents can pay as much as 50% less than their less cautious counterparts.
• Driver Safety – Taking a driver safety course could possibly earn you a 5% discount depending on where you live.
• Pay Upfront and Save – If you pay your bill all at once instead of paying each month you could save up to 5%.
• Student in College – Children who live away from home and do not have a car may be able to be covered for less.
• Drive Less and Save – Keeping the miles down can earn better rates on cars that stay parked.
• No Accidents – Good drivers with no accidents pay less when compared with accident-prone drivers.

It’s important to note that some credits don’t apply the the whole policy. Most only cut the cost of specific coverages such as collision or personal injury protection. Just because you may think having all the discounts means you get insurance for free, companies don’t profit that way. But any discount will reduce your premiums.

To see a list of companies offering auto insurance discounts in Tigard, click here.

Low Cost Tigard Auto Insurance

Cutting your Tigard auto insurance rates can be surprisingly simple. You just need to spend a little time getting comparison quotes from different insurance companies. This is very easy and can be done in a couple of different ways.

1. The best way to get the best comparison quotes would be an industry-wide quote request form click to view form in new window. This type of form eliminates the need for boring form submissions for each company. A single form will return price quotes from auto insurance companies with the best prices.
2. A more time consuming way to compare prices requires you to visit the website of each company to request a price quote. For sake of this example, let’s assume you want rates from GEICO, Allstate and American Family. You would have to visit each site and enter your information, and that’s why the first method is more popular. For a list of links to insurance companies in Tigard, click here.
3. The most time-consuming method to compare rates is to spend your day driving to insurance agents’ offices. The ability to buy insurance online can eliminate the need for a local agent unless you prefer the professional advice of a local Tigard agent. However, consumers can get the lowest quotes online and still use a local agent. We’ll cover that shortly.

Which method you use is up to you, but ensure you are comparing exactly the same coverages and limits for every quote you compare. If you compare mixed coverages it’s impossible to truly determine the lowest rate in Tigard.

Educate yourself about auto insurance coverages

Understanding the coverages of a auto insurance policy aids in choosing appropriate coverage and proper limits and deductibles. Policy terminology can be confusing and nobody wants to actually read their policy. These are the normal coverages found on most auto insurance policies.

Auto liability insurance

Liability coverage protects you from injuries or damage you cause to other people or property. Liability coverage has three limits: bodily injury for each person, bodily injury for the entire accident, and a limit for property damage. You commonly see policy limits of 25/50/25 that translate to $25,000 in coverage for each person’s injuries, $50,000 for the entire accident, and a limit of $25,000 paid for damaged property. Alternatively, you may have one limit called combined single limit (CSL) which combines the three limits into one amount without having the split limit caps.

Liability can pay for claims such as court costs, loss of income, medical expenses, attorney fees and structural damage. The amount of liability coverage you purchase is your choice, but consider buying as high a limit as you can afford. Oregon state minimum liability requirements are 25,000/50,000/20,000 but drivers should carry higher limits.

Collision protection

Collision insurance pays to fix your vehicle from damage resulting from colliding with a stationary object or other vehicle. You will need to pay your deductible and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.

Collision insurance covers claims like backing into a parked car, colliding with a tree, sideswiping another vehicle, crashing into a ditch and crashing into a building. Paying for collision coverage can be pricey, so consider removing coverage from vehicles that are older. You can also bump up the deductible to save money on collision insurance.

Comprehensive coverage (or Other than Collision)

This pays to fix your vehicle from damage from a wide range of events other than collision. You first have to pay a deductible then your comprehensive coverage will pay.

Comprehensive coverage protects against things such as a broken windshield, damage from getting keyed, vandalism and theft. The maximum amount a auto insurance company will pay at claim time is the ACV or actual cash value, so if your deductible is as high as the vehicle’s value consider removing comprehensive coverage.

Insurance for medical payments

Medical payments and Personal Injury Protection insurance kick in for immediate expenses for hospital visits, chiropractic care and EMT expenses. They are used to fill the gap from your health insurance policy or if you do not have health coverage. Coverage applies to all vehicle occupants in addition to any family member struck as a pedestrian. PIP coverage is not universally available but it provides additional coverages not offered by medical payments coverage

Uninsured Motorist or Underinsured Motorist insurance

Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage protects you and your vehicle from other motorists when they are uninsured or don’t have enough coverage. Covered losses include hospital bills for your injuries and damage to your vehicle.

Due to the fact that many Oregon drivers have only the minimum liability required by law (which is 25/50/20), it only takes a small accident to exceed their coverage. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage should not be overlooked. Usually your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverages are similar to your liability insurance amounts.

In the end, you save

In this article, we presented a lot of tips how to compare auto insurance prices online. The key thing to remember is the more times you quote, the better likelihood of reducing your rate. You may even find the lowest priced auto insurance comes from some of the lesser-known companies. Some small companies may have significantly lower rates on certain market segments than the large multi-state companies such as State Farm and Allstate.

When trying to cut insurance costs, make sure you don’t buy lower coverage limits just to save a few bucks. In many cases, drivers have reduced comprehensive coverage or liability limits to discover at claim time that saving that couple of dollars actually costed them tens of thousands. Your aim should be to purchase a proper amount of coverage at an affordable rate.

Lower-priced auto insurance can be bought on the web in addition to many Tigard insurance agents, so you should be comparing quotes from both to have the best selection. There are still a few companies who do not provide online quoting and many times these regional insurance providers only sell through independent insurance agents.