by Brian Stevens
Looking for the best car insurance companies? Here's how to find them.
Best Car Insurance Companies
If you've read my previous car insurance articles in EzineArticles.com, you know how to get a great rate on your car insurance. But how do you know the insurance company you purchase your insurance from will be reliable? And how do you know that company will give you good service and pay your claims on time?
Thanks to the Internet there are a number websites that rate insurance companies. Here are four of the best ...
J.D. Power & Associates (jdpower.com)
J.D Power & Associates website provides company ratings based on the opinions of people who actually own insurance policies with those companies. Ratings vary from five circles (their highest rating), to two circles (their worst rating).
This site gives you a good idea of how a company treats its customers, prices it's policies, and pays its claims.
Your State's Department of Insurance Website
Every state has a department of insurance website, and most states publish a list of complaints that have been filed against insurance companies. Complaint ratios tell you how many complaints have been filed against a company for every 1,000 claims. This is a good barometer of how well a company pays its claims.
If your state doesn't publish complaint lists you can visit California's department of insurance website (www.insurance.ca.gov), or New York's department of insurance website (www.ins.state.ny.us) to get this information.
Epinions (epinions.com)
Epinions publishes ratings and reviews from customers who've had dealings with insurance companies. Here you can get the inside scoop on how a company handles its claims and treats its customers.
A.M.Best (ambest.com)
A.M. Best rates insurance companies based on their credit rating and financial strength. These ratings give you a good idea of a company's ability to pay its claims. Ratings vary from A++ to D. Best Car Insurance Rate
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=590137
Showing posts with label companies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label companies. Show all posts
8/22/2007
8/12/2007
Reading the small print and things you should know about car insurance
by Richard Young
How often do we read the small print, not just car insurance but about any contract that we sign up for, I guess that not very many of us do. But it is really important when buying car insurance to know just what we are covered for and what we are not.
When we at www.chooseinsurance.co.uk source insurance on your behalf, all the details of the policy are available for you to see and you will always get these either sent to your home by post, or available to download through e-mail or from the site.
Let us look at some of the beliefs and misconception that exist in the car insurance market. If you buy a comprehensive cover for your car it means just that, or does it. If on your proposal form you have said that your car is always garaged at your home and a garage does not exist, your policy in the event of a claim, particularly theft from outside your house on the road, could be invalid.
You have said that you have no convictions, but when you have been involved in an accident, should the matter go to court and it turns out not to be true, your insurer may not pay out for a claim, very serious if there is an injury claim.
What about driving under the influence of drink or drugs, check the small print to see if you are covered in the event of a bump, even if you were in no way at fault.
You should always check the small print to see what the third party liability covers; millions of pounds could be involved. Remember to check out the conditions that are applied when you take out third party fire and theft car insurance and do not believe that your insurer will pay out for damage to another vehicle if you are involved in an accident that turns out to be your fault, you could be involved in expensive litigation, it really can pay to go the extra mile and have full cover, you may be surprised how little extra it costs.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=579623
How often do we read the small print, not just car insurance but about any contract that we sign up for, I guess that not very many of us do. But it is really important when buying car insurance to know just what we are covered for and what we are not.
When we at www.chooseinsurance.co.uk source insurance on your behalf, all the details of the policy are available for you to see and you will always get these either sent to your home by post, or available to download through e-mail or from the site.
Let us look at some of the beliefs and misconception that exist in the car insurance market. If you buy a comprehensive cover for your car it means just that, or does it. If on your proposal form you have said that your car is always garaged at your home and a garage does not exist, your policy in the event of a claim, particularly theft from outside your house on the road, could be invalid.
You have said that you have no convictions, but when you have been involved in an accident, should the matter go to court and it turns out not to be true, your insurer may not pay out for a claim, very serious if there is an injury claim.
What about driving under the influence of drink or drugs, check the small print to see if you are covered in the event of a bump, even if you were in no way at fault.
You should always check the small print to see what the third party liability covers; millions of pounds could be involved. Remember to check out the conditions that are applied when you take out third party fire and theft car insurance and do not believe that your insurer will pay out for damage to another vehicle if you are involved in an accident that turns out to be your fault, you could be involved in expensive litigation, it really can pay to go the extra mile and have full cover, you may be surprised how little extra it costs.
http://www.goarticles.com/cgi-bin/showa.cgi?C=579623
8/08/2007
Car insurance - how low can you go?
by Chris Rowlands
It is important to remember when looking for a renewal on your policy that you will be assessed on how much of a risk you appear be to the insurer. With this in mind answer any questions carefully, ensuring you don't guess at any answers as this could inadvertently bump up your premium price.
There are several options for you to choose from when beginning your search for a policy so low it's practically doing the limbo.
You can follow the traditional method of searching through your local telephone book, search for companies on the internet and then follow a quote by quote procedure until you find a suitable policy at a cheap price. The other option now available and fast becoming ever prevalent is the comparison site. Use of these sites will allow you to receive quotes from a variety of companies by entering your details once. The work is done by the search engine at the comparison site which applies for quotes on several sites on your behalf. After a very short time your results are returned and usually put into price order for easy viewing. It is important to remember when utilising this type of website that you should never go for simply the cheapest policy as this may not always provide the cover you require. Check the level of cover offered with the policy and if it is adequate and happens to be the cheapest policy then all the better.
So what can you do to increase that premium? Here are some suggestions:
1: When entering information for a quote, ensure you are accurate, for example giving a more precise mileage can shrink your premium price noticeably. If you state you expect to travel 15,000 miles instead of 10,000 you are increasing your level of risk by 50% as you will be on the road for 5,000 miles extra. Utilising M.O.T documents (if you have them) will allow you guess at a pretty accurate mileage as long as your circumstances have not changed.
2: Be careful when entering your job title, of course if you are retired there is little you can do here and believe me we're all jealous. On a serious note however; the way you describe your job title can impact hugely on your car insurance quote. For example, describing yourself as a journalist instead of selecting reporter can save £90 on the average policy. This follows a similar theme with most job descriptions, so as you can imagine it may be worth quoting a couple of times with different job titles (as long as accurate; straying too far from the truth could result in voiding of policy at a later date).
3: Always review the excess you will be expected to "stump up" on a prospective policy in the event of a claim. This can vary drastically from one insurer to another. Offering a higher voluntary excess can save money on your premium price but will mean having to find a bigger lump sum in the event of an accident or claim. Believe me; trying to produce £500 out of thin air can be fun at times.
4: Where you keep you car overnight can play its part in your premium price too. If you can ensure your car us garaged overnight instead of left on the street you will save money on your car insurance policy. Again you must be honest here, as in the event of your vehicle being stolen this will be an area that is investigated. Of course suggesting you have a garage when you don't is not a good idea and trying to produce evidence of this "garage" to the police when filing a crime report could prove to be interesting.
5: My last few tips concern the features that are offered with a prospective policy. You may be inadvertently paying for a feature you do not require, such as legal protection or personal injury. Most insurers will allow you to remove these from the policy making it cheaper. Think about this carefully before doing so, as you may find a need for these features at a later date (especially if you're the suing type; just a joke of course). Along with your general excess you will find extra's such as windscreen excess or young drivers excess, checking these before you commit to purchasing a policy could save you money in the long run.
Finally, if you can find an insurance company who will combine car insurance along with perhaps house insurance or similar you may save a large amount of money. This is worth looking into as packaging policies ultimately makes things cheaper and easier to manage.
goarticles.com
It is important to remember when looking for a renewal on your policy that you will be assessed on how much of a risk you appear be to the insurer. With this in mind answer any questions carefully, ensuring you don't guess at any answers as this could inadvertently bump up your premium price.
There are several options for you to choose from when beginning your search for a policy so low it's practically doing the limbo.
You can follow the traditional method of searching through your local telephone book, search for companies on the internet and then follow a quote by quote procedure until you find a suitable policy at a cheap price. The other option now available and fast becoming ever prevalent is the comparison site. Use of these sites will allow you to receive quotes from a variety of companies by entering your details once. The work is done by the search engine at the comparison site which applies for quotes on several sites on your behalf. After a very short time your results are returned and usually put into price order for easy viewing. It is important to remember when utilising this type of website that you should never go for simply the cheapest policy as this may not always provide the cover you require. Check the level of cover offered with the policy and if it is adequate and happens to be the cheapest policy then all the better.
So what can you do to increase that premium? Here are some suggestions:
1: When entering information for a quote, ensure you are accurate, for example giving a more precise mileage can shrink your premium price noticeably. If you state you expect to travel 15,000 miles instead of 10,000 you are increasing your level of risk by 50% as you will be on the road for 5,000 miles extra. Utilising M.O.T documents (if you have them) will allow you guess at a pretty accurate mileage as long as your circumstances have not changed.
2: Be careful when entering your job title, of course if you are retired there is little you can do here and believe me we're all jealous. On a serious note however; the way you describe your job title can impact hugely on your car insurance quote. For example, describing yourself as a journalist instead of selecting reporter can save £90 on the average policy. This follows a similar theme with most job descriptions, so as you can imagine it may be worth quoting a couple of times with different job titles (as long as accurate; straying too far from the truth could result in voiding of policy at a later date).
3: Always review the excess you will be expected to "stump up" on a prospective policy in the event of a claim. This can vary drastically from one insurer to another. Offering a higher voluntary excess can save money on your premium price but will mean having to find a bigger lump sum in the event of an accident or claim. Believe me; trying to produce £500 out of thin air can be fun at times.
4: Where you keep you car overnight can play its part in your premium price too. If you can ensure your car us garaged overnight instead of left on the street you will save money on your car insurance policy. Again you must be honest here, as in the event of your vehicle being stolen this will be an area that is investigated. Of course suggesting you have a garage when you don't is not a good idea and trying to produce evidence of this "garage" to the police when filing a crime report could prove to be interesting.
5: My last few tips concern the features that are offered with a prospective policy. You may be inadvertently paying for a feature you do not require, such as legal protection or personal injury. Most insurers will allow you to remove these from the policy making it cheaper. Think about this carefully before doing so, as you may find a need for these features at a later date (especially if you're the suing type; just a joke of course). Along with your general excess you will find extra's such as windscreen excess or young drivers excess, checking these before you commit to purchasing a policy could save you money in the long run.
Finally, if you can find an insurance company who will combine car insurance along with perhaps house insurance or similar you may save a large amount of money. This is worth looking into as packaging policies ultimately makes things cheaper and easier to manage.
goarticles.com
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