Is Accident Forgiveness Car Insurance Right For You?
Some California car insurance companies are ready to go in the modern day with new offers, while others are still falling behind. I find that a good way to check if a car insurance company is up to the times and actually cares about its customers, is to ask if it offers accident forgiveness. Most car insurance companies do, but there are different ways that you can go about getting this perk.
- Do nothing.
My favorite type of car insurance company is the kind that gives you accident forgiveness with no requirements. There are many companies, such as AllState, who do these, even for brand new customers. They will forgive your first at fault accident, and sometimes your first moving violation as well, so even if you haven’t built up a record with them you won’t see your insurance premium increase after an accident.
- Earn it.
This is another common form of accident forgiveness. Some companies will reward you by letting your first at fault accident or moving violation go without a premium increase if you have been a long time customer with a good history with them and a previously clean driving record.
- Pay for it.
Here you have the kind of accident forgiveness that you want to avoid entirely. There is the occasional car insurance company that will require you to pay a little extra on you car insurance premium if you want to include accident forgiveness on your policy. However, in all of its incarnations I have seen that it only forgives for one accident, just like all the others. If they want you to pay for it, maybe they should offer a little more?
Another thing about this kind is that it is self defeating. You want accident forgiveness so that you don’t have to have your premium increase. If you pay extra for accident forgiveness, it’s as if you never had it and had gotten into an accident right away.
Who Offers Cheap California Auto Insurance Quotes
The best thing that you can do for your California auto insurance premium is to shop around. If you stick with one company, you might get some long time customer perks such as a renewal discount and/or an accident free discount. However, normally these perks are pretty small, and you can do so much better by looking around for good California auto insurance quote.
There are three basic ways to get a California auto insurance quote: through your agent/broker, by yourself on California auto insurance quote comparison websites, or from the California auto insurance company itself. Which is the best way to go? Let’s see.
- Agents.
If you are looking for a California auto insurance quote, then the kind of agent you want will be an independent agent. They’re name is slightly misleading, considering they aren’t entirely independent. However, unlike captive agents, who only give you a California auto insurance quote from one company, they work for several companies and can get you quotes from all of them.
The catch is that agents come with a fee. Normally, you can negotiate this fee, so if you know what you’re doing it might not be too expensive.
- Comparison sites.
This is my favorite way to go. California auto insurance quote comparison websites are everywhere. There are probably a few on this page. Just click on one and fill out the information, and you can get quotes from several different companies with no bias. I find this the best way to start out, because you only have to fill out the information once to get a California auto insurance quote ten different times. Start from here, and write down the companies with the best quotes, and then continue your research.
- Direct company website.
Direct company websites are kind of like captive agents. They are only interested in selling you one California auto insurance quote, so if you’re trying to decide, it’s best to avoid them. You can get the same quotes from the comparison websites. On top of that, there are a few sites that claim to give you the competitor’s rates as well, but normally these aren’t all that they are cracked up to be. I find that the comparison sites are more accurate, and they give you more quotes.
Join a Club Or Organization to Lower Your Car Insurance Rate
I live a busy life, and so for a long time I didn’t bother to join any kinds of clubs or organizations. In fact, except for a brief stint in the Society for Creative Anachronism, I hadn’t been part of a club since high school up until a couple of months ago, when I joined AAA. I quickly began to reap the benefits. When I went to visit my brother in San Francisco, I got fifteen percent off of my hotel room price simply for being a member of AAA. I can’t even begin to list the savings I’ve grabbed for joining that organization.
My favorite one, though, would have to be the better rates I now get on my car insurance premium. I get a ten percent discount through AAA, and along with all of the other discounts I get, I’m riding pretty cheap, a lot cheaper than I was, say, a year ago.
And things like AAA aren’t the only ones you can join. You can also join one of the many car clubs out there for your specific type of car. Normally, the people who join these clubs are the ones who make additions to their car, turn them into high performance cars, or own classic cars. However, even people who don’t normally think more about their car than to get the oil changed can join these clubs.
I joined a club for BMWs last month, even though I’m not a big expert on cars. My deal is the insurance, not the car itself. However, there is a special place in my heart for my 1987 BMW 325i, and so I figured, why not? Well, I haven’t seen the returns on car insurance yet, although when my premium renews I will be getting a 15% discount from this club as well. In the meanwhile, all of the information about this car that I previously knew so little about has been both helpful and interesting.
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