Will Switching Auto Insurers Cost You More?
Being a loyal customer has fringe benefits. You may be able to qualify for a discount, if you stay with your auto insurance company for a certain period of time. Some insurers offer a discount for as much as 30 percent off your premium for renewing your policy with them. Find out about loyalty discounts, when you get auto insurance quotes.
Auto insurance companies offer their customers all sorts of discounts: good driver discounts, safety feature discounts, low-mileage discounts as well as loyalty discounts. Insurers want to keep your business. So, many will offer you a discount anywhere from 10 percent to 30 percent, if you have a policy with them for a year or more. Many will also give you an additional discount on your premium for insuring other vehicles with them. The problem is that you lose your loyalty discount, when you take your business to another insurer. When you’re shopping around for car insurance, find out about all the ways you can save money on your premium.
A measure in California would have allowed drivers to keep this discount in some form. Proposition 17 would have let policyholders switch to another car insurance company and hold on to their continuous-coverage discounts. Under the existing state law, auto insurers can’t offer the discount to new customers. Californian voters recently defeated this ballot proposition.
Proposition 17 would have given insurance companies the right to offer what are also called persistency discounts to customers of other insurers who have not let their policies lapse for more than 90 days in the previous five-year period. If the measure had passed, about 80 percent of Californian drivers would have qualified for this continuous-coverage discount, according to some reports.
In a highly charged campaign, consumer groups opposed the measure, contending that the measure would raise rates would raise rates for other policyholders. They argued that insurance companies would pass along the cost of these discounts to other customers. Insurers countered that changing the law would encourage more competition among insurance companies, benefiting all motorists.
Continuous coverage usually refers to the length of time you have had your vehicle insured without a break in coverage. Most insurance companies look at your auto insurance history to help them determine what kind of driver you are and the risk involved in insuring you. Auto insurance companies typically consider drivers with gaps in their auto insurance coverage as more risky to insure than drivers who have maintained their coverage.
Make sure you don’t have gaps in your auto insurance coverage, when you get auto insurance quotes. Even if you let your insurance lapse for one day, you may wind up paying more for auto insurance. To avoid causing a gap in your coverage when you switch auto insurance companies, make sure you buy your new coverage first and then cancel your previous policy.
When you are ready to buy a new policy, you can call agents in your local area, contact insurance companies directly or use InsuranceQuotes.com to instantly get competitive auto insurance quotes from the nation’s leading insurance providers. Simply fill out a simple online form on InsuranceQuotes.com to find the right insurance coverage at the best possible price. Take the time to protect you and your family today.
