February 17, 2010

5 Factors To Determine The Best Auto Insurance Quotes Besides Price

It’s easy to quickly find a number of auto insurance quotes online, but finding the best auto insurance quotes is a bit harder. It’s certainly a simple matter to look at prices to find the lowest possible premiums for a policy, and this is the course of action that many drivers take. However, there’s much more to finding a great insurance policy than simply looking at rates. Coverage levels are crucial if a driver is ever involved in any sort of accident, and it’s also important to know whether your insurer will pay out claims promptly (or at all). Therefore, when looking at auto insurance quotes online, it’s well worth any driver’s time to consider a few factors besides price.

Customer reviews are a great indicator of whether an insurer is providing adequate services and coverage to its policy holders. They’re also easy to track down–simple Google searches can show numerous reviews that give insight into a company’s reputation. You should also look at a company’s profile on the Better Business Bureau to see how they deal with customer complaints and problems. Another good indicator to research is whether or not a certain auto insurance company has a history of federal or state insurance law violations. Any significant history of violations is a serious red flag, and indicates that a company might not operate honestly and might be hiding some unpleasant surprises in your policy’s fine print.

Speaking of fine print, by the way, every driver should carefully read a policy contract before signing it, paying special attention to any exclusions listed. An auto insurance quote might seem too good to be true, but if special exclusion terms make payouts unlikely in the event of an accident, the policy isn’t worth very much. Cost comparison websites generally don’t list all of the terms of an auto insurance contract, but you’ll always have a chance to look them over before buying a new policy. You should also consider any additional coverages offered in auto insurance quotes–things like accident forgiveness and solid roadside assistance can make a policy worth quite a bit more.

A low rate doesn’t necessarily mean that an auto insurance company is hiding something, and many inexpensive policies offer great coverage, fantastic customer service, and quick and dependable payouts after accidents. However, you’ll need to carefully read your policy and do a bit of research on each quote that you receive in order to determine whether this is the case. Researching your quotes can take a bit of extra time, but it pays off significantly in the long run.