You probably remember when you shopped for a car insurance quote for your first car, you spent two or three days sitting at the kitchen table with the phone book open to INSURANCE, making phone call after phone call, trying to find the best insurance quote possible on a clunker for a teenage budget.
Those days are past. Of course, you always have the phone calling option if you have deep roots or connections to a specific insurance company or a local agent, but if not, move with the times! Make use of the ease of online insurance quotes.
Numerous insurance companies are vying for your business, but how can you reach them all and compare their insurance quotes? The easiest way to reach them is through a multiple-contact online system.
Many Web sites offer a free service online to you, the consumer, for your convenience in car insurance shopping. You simply fill out a quick form and your information is sent to various insurance companies all at once for their evaluation. You spend about five minutes working on the questionnaire and can get as many as five or six insurance quotes back within a day or two.
In the form, you will need to fill out some personal information like your name, birth date, occupation, address and phone number so they can establish your age to come up with an accurate insurance quote and contact you. You may be asked for your driver’s license number and/or your social security number, but you should not be required to give this information out.
When you fill out the online form, you will also need to input the kind of coverage you want so the different insurance companies can work up your quote. You will need to put in the liability limits you want to cover. (Remember, it is always safer to go with higher liability in the case of an accident, and simply raise your deductible on things like collision or comprehensive.) Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage, collision and/or comprehensive coverage will also affect your insurance quote.
You may be asked several times for your zip code, your address, your state or various methods of determining where you live, because your quote is affected by your location. The overall driving habits of everyone else will either raise or lower your insurance rates.
Your car insurance quote will also be affected by who will be driving the car. If you have a teenage driver added to the list of drivers, check on a good student driver discount or a driver’s education discount included in your insurance quote.
When you fill out the online information, you will also need to input information about your driving record. Be as complete as you can, but the insurance companies will probably check your driving record before working up your insurance quote.
The application will also ask about your vehicle information, such as the year, make and model so the companies can make an accurate car insurance quote. Different cars are more expensive to insure.
After you have filled out all the information and submitted it, you will either get an instant free insurance quote, or you will later be contacted by the companies via e-mail or phone. You can then compare the quotes and the benefits that come from them to decide which plan and which company is the best for you.
One last point: If you already have insurance coverage in other areas of your life (such as home or life insurance) from an insurance company, be sure to check with them over the phone for a car insurance quote. You may qualify for a special bulk rate discount for getting multiple types of insurance coverage with them.
D. Blair Thompson