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Using Car Insurance Quotes The Right Way

It's not fun to spend time looking for affordable car insurance. While getting quotes can speed up the process, you still need to know what to with the quotes after you get them. If the cost is your main criteria, you risk buying a policy that does not provide sufficient financial protection for you and your family. That's why you should consider the following information when you use car insurance quotes to find a policy that meets your coverage and financial needs.
Factors Affecting Your Rates
There is a multitude of factors insurance companies use when calculating the rates. Here are the most important ones:
Age - anyone who's too young or too old is considered to be the highest risk for insurers so these drivers end up paying more for coverage.
Sex - male drivers are more risky while driving and get ticketed more often so their rates are higher than female drivers.
Driving record - a clean driving record always results in significant discounts for drivers older than 25 but younger than 65.
Vehicle - the model of your car will also affect your rates significantly depending on repair costs, safety and theft rates.
Marital status - single people pay more for insurance because insurers believe married drivers take fewer risks when driving.
Credit score - financially responsible car owners get better rates than drivers with low credit scores or poor credit histories.
These are the most important factors, but there are even more variables at play. You may be able to find out which factors a particular insurer uses by asking them. However, asking insurance agents may be not the best source of information. They simply enter information into the program and rates are calculated automatically.
Things To Consider
With a general understanding of how rates are calculated, you are ready to begin comparing car insurance quotes. There are several aspects of the quotes you need to consider to find the best deal:
Final Price - rates are only a portion of the total picture. There are extra fees and deductibles to consider as well. If everything is comparable, choose the policy with lower deductibles so you have less money you will be required to pay out of your own pocket.
Coverage Extent - as long as the type of coverage is the same, review the maximum coverage included in each quote and choose the policy with higher policy limits.
Things Not Included - knowing what a policy does not cover is just as important as what it does. If a particular policy has more exclusions than the other but comes at the same cost, it's obvious that you need to choose the one with more coverage included.
Your budget should always be the main context for reviewing car insurance quotes. The main goal is to find a policy that offers good coverage at a reasonable rate. Stop looking for the cheapest policy unless that is all your budget will allow. Remember, you can get car insurance quotes any time you want to make changes to your coverage, get a new one, or switch providers.