When you have bought a new car or want to change from your current car insurer, the question of how to get car insurance bothers you quite often. To you, car insurance is the company that will accept to cover your feared risks of loss at a considerable premium.
How to Get Car Insurance
1. Assess why you need a car insurance
Different people get a car insurance for different reasons. Some people take car insurance coverage to protect third parties. Others take car insurance coverage to protect their cars and their lives.
Do proper soul-searching and identify the convincing reason why you need car insurance. This should inform you of the ideal type of car insurance you will shop for in the market.
2. Determine the type of car insurance you want
There are many types of car insurance you could get. These are dictated by different things, making some covers optional and others mandatory.
One thing that dictates the type of car insurance you should get is the mode of purchase for your car. If your car is bought on loan or in a lease contract, dealers will often demand you to have comprehensive insurance. This is to help get compensation for their cars if they totalled or get stolen before your full repayment of the loan.
If you bought your car insurance on cash, comprehensive insurance could be optional, and you could decide to settle for third-party insurance.
The state you live in could also dictate the type of car insurance you can have for your car. Furthermore, the risks of loss that cars driven in certain states are exposed to could also dictate the car insurance coverage you should have for your car.
For instance, if you live in a state with a high percentage of underinsured and uninsured drivers, it is wise to take underinsured and uninsured insurance coverage, even if it is an add-on. If you live in a state where your car is at risk of being stolen, then getting comprehensive insurance could be ideal.
3. Gather the relevant information
After determining the type of car insurance you want, gather the relevant personal and car information. The kind of information insurers demand will have slight discrepancies, depending on the coverage you are shopping for. If you are unsure what information you should provide to insurer, you can get their agent to educate you on what to provide.
In some cases, these agents can also expose you to more types of car insurance that you never knew existed. You could consider taking these as add-ons. So reach out to an agent to make the most informed decision.
The most obvious information required is:
- Your driving license
- Type and model of your car
- Your place of residence
- Intended use of the car
- Your insurance history
4. Decide the route to take and get your car insurance
You have many viable methods when it is time to get into the market and shop for your car’s insurance coverage.
a. Shopping directly with insurer
This is where you contact or walk into the offices of car insurers. Here, you negotiate with them about the type of car insurance you want for your car. From the insurer’s side, they inform you whether they accept covering your risks of losses or not.
On acceptance, they specify which insurance will cover your feared risk of loss. They also provide you with a quote for each of these coverages.
You could repeat this process with different insurance companies. You could list on coverages they offer, risks of loss accepted and quotes for each cover.
b. Shopping with an agent
An agent could work for single or several insurance companies. Captive agents work for one insurance company. Independent agencies work for multiple insurance companies.
A captive agent represents a large insurance company in areas of residents where a potential customer is. A captive agent makes reaching such insurers easy without long-distance travel or complicated phone calls. A captive agent will simplify your shopping process directly with an insurance company.
An independent agency can have more custom covers because they work for different insurance companies. They can combine multiple insurance companies’ covers and give you custom car cover that suits your car. These ease the entire journey of dealing with multiple captive agencies or insurance companies.
5. Compare quotes
Compare the quotes based on their prices, what they cover and deductibles where applicable. Weigh different offers based on how much they protect the risk of loss you wish was covered by your car.
Do not just assume a cover is the best because it is the cheapest. It is better to buy the right car insurance coverage rather than the cheap insurance cover that does not cover your feared risks of loss.
6. Pay your car insurance policy
Once you have ascertained the coverage that will provide the most value for your money, make for necessary payments as agreed with the insurance company. At this point, try to exploit the options available to get your chosen car insurance coverage at a lower price. If you had an old policy for your car and you were switching to another insurer, notify your previous insurer for policy cancellation.
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