When shopping for insurance, plan to get quotes from at least three different insurers because rates can vary widely—even for the same coverage on the same car and driver.
Your options for getting quotes include:
• Agents employed by an insurance company to sell only that company’s policies (State Farm, Allstate or many others)
• Brokers, who sell policies for more than one insurance company (There may be a one-time fee, but it could be negotiable and might be offset by the savings a broker can get you by shopping your policy around to multiple insurers; additional fees each time you renew or make a policy change should be a red flag.)
• Insurance companies that sell directly to consumers (typically by phone or online—Geico and Progressive are two examples)
• Websites that sell policies online for more than one insurer (online brokers) or that connect customers who request a quote online with participating insurance agents (lead generators) but you can enter “auto insurance quotes” into a search engine and you’ll find many others.)
There are also services, such as NerdWallet, that don’t sell insurance but let you compare prices (www.nerdwallet.com/insurance/compare-car-insurance-rates). These are not firm quotes, but they give you an idea of the range of prices and which insurance companies might be on the high and low ends of the spectrum. A few things to keep in mind:
• Make sure to keep the coverage limits the same in each quote request so that you can make an "apples-to-apples" comparison.
• When you use quote sites, you may not get instant insurance quotes— your information might instead be given to insurance companies that will contact you later.
• The lowest price is not always the best option—be sure to check the company’s financial strength, claims service record and customer satisfaction rankings.
• Online quote requests require you to submit personal information about yourself, your car and your insurance needs—each form typically takes 10-15 minutes.
