Free Auto Insurance Quotes and Safety Features in Cars

Looking for free auto insurance quotes? When looking to move to a new insurer or shopping for a policy for a car you are about to buy, getting free auto insurance quotes is a good way to compare and contrast the choices you are given. Aside from looking for the cheapest car insurance quotes however, you can also lower your premium by making sure that your vehicle has safety features not only for your own safety but also for you to save some money along the way.

Seat belts and airbags for example are two very basic yet very important things a car should have. These two things can save your life and the lives of your passengers in case an accident happens. This will also save you lots of money on your car insurance premium.

Having other safety features such as ESC or Electronic Stability Control. This safety feature will help you stop impending skids on the road therefore giving you more control over your car even in an event where you are already expected to not have control over it. This is a highly advanced safety feature and this is something you should look for when planning to buy a new car.

Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems are also a great addition to your car's safety features. Under-inflated tires are dangerous and this is something that you definitely should avoid. Your car's Tire Pressure Monitoring System will do this for you though making it one less of the things you should worry about. Other new safety features include blind spot monitoring systems and systems that send you an alarm the minute you start leaning slowly to another lane. The latter prevents those who are tired or sleepy from getting into an accident while on the road.

There are also safety features that need to be installed and this includes booster seats for your small children. Websites that provide free auto insurance quotes usually ask for the safety features of your car before sending you a quote so it is better to have these than pay a high price for your premium.

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Vehicle insurance and driver's age

There are many things that affect a driver's insurance rates. Starting with the car he or she drives to the place where its registered - all these small pieces of data are analyzed by the insurance company and used to determine the rates they'll charge this particular customer. But of all the factors that the insurance companies will use there's one particular piece of data that you just can't do anything about - your age. That's right, your age also has impact on how much you will have to pay for having your car insured. And for some age groups this impact isn't as good as they would like it to be.

As with any other factor involved in calculating insurance rates, the age of the driver helps the insurance company to determine the likelihood of filing a claim. In other words, from the insurer's perspective your age can determine the probability of you having a traffic accident during a given period of time. And if this may seem quite vague they have the statistics on their side. According to statistical analysis different age groups tend to produce different numbers of accidents with teens and seniors being the most likely to have traffic problems while the middle age being the safest of all drivers. Let's look closer at this observation.

Drivers aged less than 25 tend to get the highest car insurance quotes of all age groups because they produce more accidents in general. First of all, young drivers lack the driving experience for avoiding certain risky situations. Moreover, teens tend to behave more risky in general thanks to the well known attitude common in this particular age. So we have a mix of factors that allows the insurers to act as they usually do - set higher rates. Of course, this doesn't mean that all teen drivers are necessarily bad drivers. But it's when the majority determines the rates for the minority and there's little you can do about it.

Middle age drivers on the other hand already have plenty of driving experience on their hands to behave more responsibly on the road. Besides, most people tend to get more cautious and laid back with age that's why you won't see so many housewives or business executives speeding on the highways as there are teens doing such things. That's why drivers aged between 25 and 55 tend to have the lowest car insurance quotes in general.

However, at a certain point age stops being an advantage and turns into a disadvantage. This happens around the age of 55 and goes onwards with each year passing. From this age the quotes you get start to increase steadily and around 65 will go up even at a faster phase. This is explained by the fact that senior drivers tend to produce more accidents than the average driver yet the reasons in this case are different from those at teen age. Older car owners usually develop health conditions that may affect their driving abilities and speed of reaction. That's why they usually get higher car insurance quotes just like teens do.

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Auto insurance quotes and other insurance products

One of the main differences between auto insurance and other types of insurance services is that if you choose not to insure your car it's not just your personal choice but a legal offense. All other insurance products are purely optional, even though life can make them rather necessary in certain situations. For example, health insurance isn't required by law but imagine going to the hospital for care without having an insurance plan - you'll spend thousands of dollars out of own pocket. House insurance isn't required as well but in case your house gets burnt down wouldn't it be much better if you had the insurance in the first place? Insurance products in general are a great method for minimizing your risks and eliminating the financial impact of situations that are beyond your control or forecast. But if you put your mind to it you can actually optimize your costs by using different types of insurance products at the same time.

Let's take a typical situation within most families in this country. You have at least one car in the household, so there's an auto insurance policy on your hands, all the family members have health insurance and the house is probably insured too. This leaves us with three insurance policies most often purchased from different providers. Of course, it's better to get auto insurance quotes from a company that specializes in providing auto insurance and having your house covered with a company that focuses on real estate insurance. It sounds very logic from the first view. But if we say that you may actually get better rates when buying all these things from a single insurer?

Of course, not all insurance companies provide the entire spectrum of insurance services as even large insurers tend to put their focus on specific types of products. But there are still companies that can provide you with all the basic insurance policies you may need starting with car insurance to house insurance. And they usually provide significant discounts to customers who actually choose to get all the policies from them at once. Sounds very attractive, doesn't it?

In reality, of course, you don't buy all types of insurance at once. You get auto insurance quotes when you buy an auto and start looking for home insurance after moving into your new house and that rarely takes place at the same time. Usually you would just compare quotes for the same types of products form different companies without even thinking about getting it from the provider you have other insurance products purchased from. But now you know that this option is there to consider and you should think about it every time you get another insurance product.

For example, you're comparing auto insurance quotes for a car you've bought for your spouse. First of all, consider getting it insured with the same company that has your primary car covered - most insurers offer significant rate cuts when you cover tow or more vehicles under the same policy. But even if the auto insurance quotes you get from the company you already have policies with aren't the most competitive learn how big is the discount they offer for having different insurance products with them - it will certainly make any policy really attractive.

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Car insurance: Do I need it if I drive, but don't own the car?

What happens if you drive but don't own a car? Do you need to buy an insurance policy if you don't have a car? The basic answer is no and yes.

You have a driver's license, generally use public transit, don't own a car, and only drive a couple of times a year when you rent a car or borrow a friend's for a couple of days-- you probably don't need to invest in car insurance. When you rent a car, you should pay for the rental insurance. When you borrow your friends car just check with him or her to find out what the limitations on his policy are so you don't complicate things. Understand that if you are in an accident and his insurance is maxed out you will be liable for any additional payments for property damage or medical damages.

However, if you are using a friend's car more than a couple of times a year (and a couple of days at a time) then his policy may not want to pay out for your indiscretions if you are in an accident. If you rent more than a couple times a year, more like once a month, or every couple of months for a couple of weeks, then you might find it saves you money to buy your own Non-Owners auto insurance policy.

It is good to shop around for Non-Owner auto insurance quotes. You will be surprised to see the diversity in prices. However, they are based on the type of coverage you need and your driving history. A good non-owners policy will give you coverage for PIP (personal injury protection), uninsured, or underinsured driver, liability, and medical. You have the option of including rental reimbursements, towing, moving the up the collision to comprehensive. The basic coverage, depending on your driving history and your location should be between $500 to $1000 per year. Be advised that a non-owner policy will only kick in to pay damages after any other insurance pays out. So your friend's policy might be charged for your accident and it could affect his insurance premium. Nevertheless, it is better to carry the coverage because it minimizes his costs and protects you.

Take the time to review different insurance company's car insurance rates, and let us help you review multiple non-owner auto insurance quotes to help you find the right one.

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Prove you have low milage, drive safely and cheap car insurance is yours

It's curious how quickly an idea either takes off or dies the death. What was casually called pay-as-you-go has now become a highly competitive market. If you ever wanted proof of just how competitive, you only have to look at the court roster where you find Progressive suing State Farm and The Hartford for alleged infringement of patents. You may well throw up your hands in despair. We are used to seeing technology companies accuse each other of copying the other's patent for an on/off switch, but patents also cover any business ideas that no one has registered using those words before. So Progressive claims it registered the idea of using technology to monitor how far and how well people drive and to offer discounts to all the safest drivers. Now we have to wait for a judge to say how obvious this business plan is and that it should never have been registered as a patent. Until then, attorneys are collecting their usual high fees to fight it out to the death.

So what exactly is Progressive offering that it feels must be defended so aggressively? In most states, this insurer was the first to offer a black box for monitoring driving behaviour. The most recent version is called Snapshot. What makes this so interesting is you can run it for a one month's trial while holding your existing policy. This gives you a direct comparison and tells you exactly how much you will save if you make the switch. If you decide not to switch, there's no comeback. Progressive simply recovers the hardware link and looks for business elsewhere.

Why is the best chance for cheap car insurance? The answer comes in two different ways. The first relates to the number of miles you drive and the time of day you drive them. The statistics show low milage drivers have the smallest numbers of accidents, particularly if you drive at off-peak times. Second we come to the way you drive. Gentle acceleration, modest braking, no violent swerving all indicate a safe driver. That earns you cheap car insurance. All the insurer has ever wanted is proof you are safe. Now technology supplies that information you can earn maximum discounts.

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