What strategies can I use to find affordable auto insurance coverage from a reputable carrier?
Shop, shop, shop. You should look around every 2-3 years. You never know which carrier is buying business, and which would like to dump some. They ALL do it from time-to-time.
Besides, each time you shop, you can reassess your needs and coverages needed. Don’t be like my friend, who, as a 20-something, bought auto insurance with a famous company and left it alone for 50 years. He had purchased a plan with $25/50,000 Bodily Injury and $10,000 Physical Damages limits, which were fine in 1970, but last year his wife ran a stop sign and totaled a vintage Model-T that was headed to a car show. It was worth $30,000 and the driver ran up medical bills of around $40,000. It has cost my friend a total of $35,000 out-of-pocket so far. The pain & suffering aspect of the case hasn’t even been settled yet, and this will end up being an additional out-of-pocket expense.
If you’re offered a really low rate by an auto insurance company you’ve never heard of, ask these two questions: (1) Is the insurance company an “admitted carrier”? And (2) Is the company an offshore company? If the answer to either question is ‘yes’, simply do not even consider purchasing insurance from them.
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