by dbking

When you get a car insurance rate quote, it is important to get the get a lower rate and still get adequate coverage and good service. It does no good to get a cheap priced policy only to find that when your car needs to be fixed you don’t have enough coverage to get the work done.

Before you choose an insurance company there are two things that matter most:

1. How good are they about paying and giving good service.
2. How much money are they charging for the policy

It is not always difficult to find the lowest premium, but if you don’t research the company it may not be obvious how reliable they are until it is too late (that is when you actually need them). Find out how they treat policy holders when they need to file a claim. Do they quickly pay the full amount necessary to respond to claims?      

There are never any guarantees but there are several ways to discover the most reliable insurance companies:

1. Go online to your state’s department of insurance website. Every state has a department that is dedicated to insurance. Most all  of them have a website. On these sites they list helpful information like how many complaints they have per 1000 claims. Experts agree that when insurance shopping it is always a good idea to look at these complaint ratios before purchasing a policy.

If there is no complaint ratio for your state you can check other states that an insurance company does business in and see the complaint ratio for that area. This is not the only criteria to use when shopping for insurance but it can be very revealing in some cases.

It is also a common fact that “high-risk” insurers tend to have the highest complaint ratio among companies according to Brian Sullivan, the editor of a weekly insurance industry publication know as “Auto Insurance Report”.

Bigger claims tend to be more complicated and the “high-risk” companies cover a larger percentage of drivers who get into big accidents. When doing this online research be sure to make a note of the companies with the lower complaint ratios.  

2. Call a few body shops and ask which insurance companies they recommend. Body shop managers deal with insurance companies on a daily basis. Ask them which companies they prefer to work with. Ask them which companies are consistently trying to cut corners on repairs by insisting on used parts or after market parts when fixing a car.

Body shops would rather to work with OEM (original equipment parts) because it makes it easier for them to make sure things fit properly and the job gets done right.

3. Shop for car insurance rate quotes online and save money.

Most of the major insurance companies like, Geico, Progressive, Nationwide and others will now allow you to purchase direct through their website instead of having to go through an insurance agent.

By purchasing direct you can very often save money by cutting out the middle man who makes a commission. If you do buy through a local agent however be aware that many will negotiate…but only if you ask.

Tags: Coverage, Good, Insurance, Online, Quote, Rate, Sure