Best 10 Ways You Can Buy Car Insurance for Less in Brentwood, TN

Are you tired of paying out the nose to insure your vehicles every month? You are no different than many other Tennessee drivers.

Popular companies such as Allstate, Liberty Mutual and State Farm increase brand awareness with fancy advertisements and it is difficult to ignore the flying pigs and cute green geckos and take the time to shop coverage around.

Comparison of Car Insurance in Brentwood

Comparing car insurance rates can be exhausting if you don’t know the easiest way. You could spend your day driving to local insurance agents in Brentwood, or you could use online quotes to get rate comparisons in just a few minutes.

Most of the larger companies are enrolled in a marketplace where insurance shoppers send in one quote, and each participating company returns a competitive quote for coverage. This system prevents you from having to do quote requests to each company.

To enter your information into the quoting system, click here to start a free quote.

The single downside to comparing rates this way is that consumers can’t choose which carriers to get quotes from. So if you want to choose from a list of companies to receive pricing from, we have a listing of car insurance companies in Tennessee. Click to view list.

It’s up to you which method you use, but ensure you’re using identical information for every quote you compare. If your comparisons have unequal deductibles or liability limits it’s impossible to decipher which rate is best in Brentwood. Having just a slight variation in coverage limits may result in a large different in cost. And when comparing car insurance rates, know that having more price comparisons will increase your chances of finding a better price.

Ads can be misleading

GEICO, State Farm and Progressive regularly use ads on television and other media. All the companies say the same thing that you can save if you move your coverage to them. How can each company make almost identical claims? This is how they do it.

All the different companies are able to cherry pick for the right customer that makes them money. An example of a profitable customer could be between the ages of 40 and 55, is a homeowner, and drives newer vehicles. Any driver that hits that “sweet spot” will get very good rates and is almost guaranteed to save when switching.

Consumers who are not a match for the requirements will be quoted higher prices which leads to the driver buying from a lower-cost company. The ad wording is “customers who switch” not “everyone that quotes” save that much. That is how companies can claim big savings. This emphasizes why drivers should get a wide range of price quotes. It’s just too difficult to predict which insurance companies will have the lowest rates.

Pay less by taking advantage of these ten discounts

Companies don’t always list every discount very clearly, so we researched some of the more common as well as the least known car insurance savings.

• Own a Home – Owning a house in Brentwood may earn you a small savings because maintaining a house requires personal responsibility.
• Organization Discounts – Being a member of certain professional organizations could qualify you for a break when shopping for car insurance.
• Defensive Driver – Taking a course in driver safety can save you 5% or more depending on where you live.
• Good Student – A discount for being a good student can get you a discount of up to 25%. The good student discount can last up until you turn 25.
• Claim Free – Claim-free drivers can earn big discounts compared to frequent claim filers.
• More Vehicles More Savings – Buying coverage for multiple cars or trucks on one policy qualifies for this discount.
• Discount for Life Insurance – Some companies give a break if you buy life insurance.
• Paperless Signup – A handful of insurance companies give back up to $50 for buying your policy online.
• Drive Safe and Save – Drivers who don’t get into accidents can pay as much as 50% less than their less cautious counterparts.
• Passive Restraints – Vehicles equipped with air bags or motorized seat belts may earn rate discounts of 20% or more.

Drivers should understand that some of the credits will not apply the the whole policy. Most only apply to individual premiums such as comprehensive or collision. So even though it sounds like having all the discounts means you get insurance for free, it doesn’t quite work that way.

To see a list of insurers with the best car insurance discounts in Brentwood, follow this link.

Specific coverages

Learning about specific coverages of your policy helps when choosing the right coverages for your vehicles. Car insurance terms can be ambiguous and coverage can change by endorsement. Listed below are the usual coverages found on the average car insurance policy.

Liability insurance – Liability coverage can cover damage or injury you incur to a person or their property that is your fault. Coverage consists of three different limits, bodily injury for each person injured, bodily injury for the entire accident and a property damage limit. As an example, you may have policy limits of 50/100/50 that translate to a limit of $50,000 per injured person, a per accident bodily injury limit of $100,000, and a limit of $50,000 paid for damaged property.

Liability coverage pays for claims like loss of income, medical expenses, repair costs for stationary objects, bail bonds and medical services. How much liability should you purchase? That is a personal decision, but it’s cheap coverage so purchase as large an amount as possible. Tennessee state minimum liability requirements are 25,000/50,000/15,000 but drivers should carry more liability than the minimum.

Coverage for uninsured or underinsured drivers – This provides protection from other drivers when they either have no liability insurance or not enough. Covered losses include medical payments for you and your occupants and also any damage incurred to your vehicle.

Since a lot of drivers carry very low liability coverage limits (25/50/15 in Tennessee), their liability coverage can quickly be exhausted. So UM/UIM coverage should not be overlooked.

Comprehensive car insurance – This coverage pays to fix your vehicle from damage from a wide range of events other than collision. You first must pay your deductible then the remaining damage will be covered by your comprehensive coverage.

Comprehensive coverage protects against things like theft, damage from a tornado or hurricane, hail damage and rock chips in glass. The maximum payout you can receive from a comprehensive claim is the market value of your vehicle, so if it’s not worth much more than your deductible it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.

Coverage for medical expenses – Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage provide coverage for expenses for X-ray expenses, doctor visits and hospital visits. They are used to fill the gap from your health insurance policy or if you do not have health coverage. Coverage applies to you and your occupants as well as being hit by a car walking across the street. PIP is not an option in every state but it provides additional coverages not offered by medical payments coverage

Collision coverages – This coverage covers damage to your vehicle caused by collision with an object or car. You will need to pay your deductible and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.

Collision coverage protects against things such as hitting a parking meter, sustaining damage from a pot hole, hitting a mailbox and driving through your garage door. This coverage can be expensive, so analyze the benefit of dropping coverage from older vehicles. Drivers also have the option to bump up the deductible in order to get cheaper collision rates.

Even more information is located at the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance website. Consumers can view a list of available companies, find out which companies have the most complaints, and file complaints about a company.

More comparisons equals lower rates

Affordable car insurance is available from both online companies and with local Brentwood insurance agents, and you need to comparison shop both to get a complete price analysis. Some car insurance companies do not offer the ability to get a quote online and most of the time these regional insurance providers sell through independent agents.

As you restructure your insurance plan, don’t be tempted to buy lower coverage limits just to save a few bucks. There have been many situations where someone dropped liability limits or collision coverage only to regret that they should have had better coverage. The proper strategy is to purchase a proper amount of coverage at a price you can afford while still protecting your assets.