Feel like you’re a prisoner to overpriced auto insurance? Trust us when we tell you you’re not alone.
Companies like GEICO, Progressive and Allstate constantly bombard you with catchy ads and it is challenging if not impossible to sift through the bull and take the time to shop coverage around.
Insuring your fleet can be pricey, but there could be available discounts to reduce the price significantly. Some discounts apply automatically at the time of purchase, but some must be asked for before you will receive the discount.
As a disclaimer on discounts, most discount credits are not given the the whole policy. Most only reduce individual premiums such as collision or personal injury protection. Just because it seems like you could get a free auto insurance policy, companies don’t profit that way. But any discount will help reduce the cost of coverage.
Some people prefer to visit with an insurance agent and that is just fine! One of the best bonuses of getting online price quotes is you can get the best rates and still have an agent to talk to. And providing support for local businesses is definitely important in smaller rural communities.
To make it easy to find an agent, after completing this short form, the coverage information is instantly submitted to companies who will compete for your coverage. There is no reason to even leave your home due to the fact that quote results will go to the email address you provide. It doesn’t get any easier! You can find the lowest rates and a licensed agent to work with.
When researching a good insurance agency, you must know there are a couple different types of agents that differ in how they can insure your vehicles. agents are either captive or independent.
These agents are not required to write business for one company but instead can place your coverage with any number of different companies and potentially find a lower price. To transfer your coverage to a different company, the business is moved internally and that require little work on your part. When comparison shopping, you should always contact multiple independent agents to have the most options to choose from.
Captive agents can only place business with one company like Farmers Insurance or State Farm. They generally cannot give you multiple price quotes so they have to upsell other benefits. These agents are very knowledgeable in insurance sales which helps them sell insurance even at higher premiums.
To view a full list of agencies, visit this site.
Selecting an insurance agent should depend on more than just the price. These are valid questions to ask:
Once you have received good answers to your questions and locked in a price quote, you may have just found an auto insurance agent that can properly service your auto insurance policy.
State Farm and Allstate consistently run television and radio advertisements. All the companies make an identical promise of big savings if you change to their company. How do they all make the same claim?
All companies have a preferred profile for the type of customer that is profitable for them. An example of a driver they prefer could be between 30 and 50, has no driving citations, and has a high credit rating. A driver who fits that profile will qualify for the lowest rates and as a result will probably save when switching.
Drivers who fall outside these standards must pay higher premiums and this can result in business not being written. The ads say “drivers who switch” not “everybody who quotes” save money. That’s the way companies can truthfully claim big savings.
This illustrates why it’s extremely important to quote coverage with many companies. It’s impossible to know which company will provide you with the cheapest rates.
Learning about specific coverages of your auto insurance policy aids in choosing the right coverages and proper limits and deductibles. Policy terminology can be impossible to understand and even agents have difficulty translating policy wording. These are the usual coverages offered by auto insurance companies.
Coverage for medical payments
Med pay and PIP coverage provide coverage for bills for chiropractic care, doctor visits and EMT expenses. They are used to cover expenses not covered by your health insurance policy or if you are not covered by health insurance. Coverage applies to not only the driver but also the vehicle 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
Liability auto insurance
Liability coverage provides protection from damage or injury you incur to a person or their property. It protects you against claims from other people, and doesn’t cover damage sustained by your vehicle in an accident.
Liability coverage has three limits: per person bodily injury, per accident bodily injury, and a property damage limit. You commonly see policy limits of 50/100/50 which stand for $50,000 in coverage for each person’s injuries, a limit of $100,000 in injury protection per accident, and a limit of $50,000 paid for damaged property. Alternatively, you may have a combined single limit or CSL that pays claims from the same limit with no separate limits for injury or property damage.
Liability insurance covers claims like loss of income, emergency aid, pain and suffering, legal defense fees and repair bills for other people’s vehicles. The amount of liability coverage you purchase is up to you, but consider buying as high a limit as you can afford.
Collision coverage protection
Collision insurance will pay to fix damage to your Compass resulting from colliding with another vehicle or an object, but not an animal. You have to pay a deductible and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.
Collision coverage protects against claims such as driving through your garage door, backing into a parked car, damaging your car on a curb and sustaining damage from a pot hole. Collision coverage makes up a good portion of your premium, so consider dropping it from vehicles that are 8 years or older. Drivers also have the option to raise the deductible to bring the cost down.
Uninsured and underinsured coverage
Your UM/UIM coverage protects you and your vehicle’s occupants from other motorists when they either have no liability insurance or not enough. Covered losses include hospital bills for your injuries and also any damage incurred to your Jeep Compass.
Since a lot of drivers only carry the minimum required liability limits, their liability coverage can quickly be exhausted. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage is very important. Most of the time the UM/UIM limits do not exceed the liability coverage limits.
Comprehensive coverages
Comprehensive insurance will pay to fix damage OTHER than collision with another vehicle or object. You first must pay your deductible and then insurance will cover the rest of the damage.
Comprehensive insurance covers claims like damage from flooding, hail damage, a tree branch falling on your vehicle, theft and rock chips in glass. The most your auto insurance company will pay is the actual cash value, so if the vehicle’s value is low consider dropping full coverage.
You just learned some good ideas how to shop for Jeep Compass insurance online. The key thing to remember is the more quotes you get, the better likelihood of reducing your rate. Drivers may discover the most savings is with a smaller regional carrier. These smaller insurers may often insure only within specific states and give getter rates than their larger competitors like Progressive or GEICO.
Cheap Jeep Compass insurance can be purchased from both online companies and with local insurance agents, so compare prices from both in order to have the best chance of saving money. Some insurance providers do not offer you the ability to get quotes online and most of the time these small, regional companies sell through independent agents.