Are you sick and tired of paying out the nose to insure your Ford every month? You are in the same boat as millions of other consumers. Having so many insurance companies to choose from, it can be challenging to pick the lowest cost car insurance company.
Smart consumers take time to do rate comparisons once or twice a year because prices change frequently. Despite the fact that you may have had the best rates on Explorer insurance on your last policy a different company probably has better rates today. There is a lot of bad advice regarding auto insurance online but we’re going to give you some solid techniques on how to buy auto insurance cheaper.
Comparing auto insurance rates can be exhausting if you don’t utilize the most efficient way. You can spend your afternoon talking about coverages with local insurance agents in your area, or you could use online quotes to achieve your goal.
Most car insurance companies participate in a marketplace that enables customers to enter their policy data once, and each company can provide price quotes based on that information. This saves time by eliminating quotation requests to each individual auto insurance company.
To access this free quoting program, click here to open in new window.
One minor caviat to getting quotes like this is you don’t know exactly which insurance companies you will receive quotes from. So if you want to select specific providers for rate comparison, we have a listing of auto insurance companies in your area. Click here for list of insurance companies.
It doesn’t matter which method you choose, just compare apples-to-apples quote information with every price quote. If your comparisons have unequal deductibles or liability limits you can’t possibly determine which rate is truly the best.
Auto insurance companies do not advertise all their discounts in an easy-to-find place, so we took the time to find some of the more common as well as the least known ways to save on car insurance. If they aren’t giving you every credit you qualify for, you’re just leaving money on the table.
Drivers should understand that most discount credits are not given to the entire cost. The majority will only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like comprehensive or collision. So even though it sounds like having all the discounts means you get insurance for free, you won’t be that lucky.
To see a list of insurance companies with the best car insurance discounts, click here.
When it comes to buying the best insurance coverage, there really is not a “perfect” insurance plan. Your needs are not the same as everyone else’s so your insurance needs to address that. For instance, these questions might help in determining if your insurance needs would benefit from an agent’s advice.
If you’re not sure about those questions but you know they apply to you then you might want to talk to a licensed insurance agent. To find an agent in your area, fill out this quick form or you can go here for a list of companies in your area. It’s fast, doesn’t cost anything and may give you better protection.
Consumers constantly see and hear ads for the lowest price auto insurance by Allstate and Progressive. All the companies make the same claim of big savings after switching to their company.
But how can every company make almost identical claims? It’s all in the numbers.
Insurance companies have a certain “appetite” for the type of customer that makes them money. A good example of a profitable customer could possibly be between the ages of 40 and 55, has no driving citations, and chooses high deductibles. A customer getting a price quote that hits that “sweet spot” is entitled to the best price and is almost guaranteed to pay quite a bit less when switching companies.
Consumers who don’t qualify for this ideal profile will be quoted higher premiums and this can result in the customer not buying. The ads say “drivers who switch” not “everyone that quotes” save money. That is how insurance companies can confidently advertise the way they do. This emphasizes why you need to get as many comparisons as possible. It’s not possible to predict which company will provide you with the cheapest Ford Explorer insurance rates.
Having a good grasp of your policy can help you determine appropriate coverage for your vehicles. Car insurance terms can be impossible to understand and reading a policy is terribly boring. These are typical coverage types found on the average car insurance policy.
Liability auto insurance – Liability coverage provides protection from injuries or damage you cause to other people or property in an accident. It consists of three limits, bodily injury for each person, bodily injury for the entire accident, and a limit for property damage. You might see policy limits of 25/50/25 which stand for $25,000 bodily injury coverage, a limit of $50,000 in injury protection per accident, and a limit of $25,000 paid for damaged property.
Liability can pay for claims such as emergency aid, repair bills for other people’s vehicles, court costs and structural damage. How much liability coverage do you need? That is your choice, but buy as much as you can afford.
Medical payments coverage and PIP – Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage pay for immediate expenses like funeral costs, ambulance fees, EMT expenses and nursing services. The coverages can be utilized in addition to your health insurance policy or if there is no health insurance coverage. They cover all vehicle occupants as well as being hit by a car walking across the street. Personal Injury Protection is not universally available but can be used in place of medical payments coverage
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage – Your UM/UIM coverage gives you protection when other motorists do not carry enough liability coverage. This coverage pays for medical payments for you and your occupants as well as damage to your 2009 Ford Explorer.
Because many people only purchase the least amount of liability that is required, their liability coverage can quickly be exhausted. So UM/UIM coverage is very important.
Comprehensive coverage – Comprehensive insurance covers damage caused by mother nature, theft, vandalism and other events. A deductible will apply then the remaining damage will be covered by your comprehensive coverage.
Comprehensive coverage protects against things such as hail damage, fire damage, damage from a tornado or hurricane and vandalism. The maximum payout you’ll receive from a claim is the cash value of the vehicle, so if your deductible is as high as the vehicle’s value it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.
Collision coverages – Collision coverage pays to fix your vehicle from damage resulting from a collision with a stationary object or other vehicle. You first must pay a deductible and then insurance will cover the remainder.
Collision coverage protects against things like damaging your car on a curb, rolling your car and scraping a guard rail. Collision is rather expensive coverage, so analyze the benefit of dropping coverage from lower value vehicles. Drivers also have the option to choose a higher deductible in order to get cheaper collision rates.
Cheap 2009 Ford Explorer insurance is available from both online companies as well as from independent agents, and you need to price shop both in order to have the best price selection to choose from. A few companies don’t offer online quoting and usually these small insurance companies provide coverage only through local independent agents.
As you shop your coverage around, you should never sacrifice coverage to reduce premiums. In many cases, someone sacrificed liability coverage limits and learned later that the few dollars in savings costed them thousands. Your aim should be to purchase plenty of coverage at an affordable rate.