Save on 1997 Chevrolet S-10 Insurance Cost

Trying to find cheaper car insurance rates for your Chevrolet S-10? Nobody I know anticipates paying for car insurance, in particular when their premiums are through the roof.

Drivers have many auto insurance companies to choose from, and although it’s nice to be able to choose, it can be more challenging to find a good deal.

Choosing the best insurance company for you is easy if you know what you’re doing. Just about every driver who has to buy auto insurance will be able to find better rates. But vehicle owners must understand how big insurance companies determine prices and use this information to your advantage.

Car insurance companies offer many discounts

Some companies do not advertise the entire discount list in an easy-to-find place, so the list below gives a summary of some of the best known as well as some of the hidden ways to save on car insurance.

• College Student Discount – Youth drivers who attend college more than 100 miles from home and won’t have access to an insured vehicle may be able to be covered for less.
• Multiple Vehicles – Buying a policy with several vehicles on one policy can get a discount for every vehicle.
• Good Driver Discount – Safe drivers can save as much as half off their rates on S-10 insurance than drivers with accident claims.
• Accident Forgiveness Coverage – This one is not really a discount per se, but a handful of insurance companies will forgive one accident before hitting you with a surcharge if your claims history is clear for a certain period of time.
• Online Discount – Certain car insurance companies will give a small break just for signing your application on the internet.
• Military Rewards – Having an actively deployed family member may lower your rates slightly.
• ABS Brakes – Vehicles with ABS and/or traction control can stop better under adverse conditions and the ABS can save up to 10%.
• Early Signing – Some larger companies reward drivers for switching companies before your current expiration date. Ten percent is about the average savings.
• Driver Safety – Completing a course that instructs on driving safety could cut 5% off your bill and make you a better driver.
• Seat Belt Usage – Buckling up and requiring all passengers to use a seat belt could cut 10% or more off the PIP or medical payment premium.

Policy discounts save money, but most credits do not apply to the overall cost of the policy. The majority will only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like collision or personal injury protection. So even though they make it sound like all the discounts add up to a free policy, nobody gets a free ride.

Larger car insurance companies and their possible discounts are:

• Geico may include discounts for emergency military deployment, driver training, anti-theft, seat belt use, air bags, federal employee, and defensive driver.
• Travelers offers premium reductions for hybrid/electric vehicle, driver training, good student, multi-policy, and early quote.
• Farm Bureau offers discounts for driver training, good student, safe driver, renewal discount, and 55 and retired.
• Liberty Mutual may offer discounts for good student, new move discount, teen driver discount, hybrid vehicle, safety features, and preferred payment discount.
• American Family includes discounts for good driver, mySafetyValet, air bags, good student, and TimeAway discount.
• Progressive discounts include online quote discount, online signing, multi-policy, multi-vehicle, homeowner, continuous coverage, and good student.

If you want cheap auto insurance quotes, ask every insurance company which credits you are entitled to. Savings may not be offered in your area. To choose providers who offer cheap car insurance quotes, click here.

How to buy car insurance online

Performing a rate comparison can be challenging if you aren’t aware of the best way to get rate quotes. You can waste a few hours (or days) discussing policy coverages with insurance companies in your area, or you could use online quoting to get rate comparisons in just a few minutes.

Most major companies participate in an industry program where prospective buyers complete one form, and each participating company returns a rated price for coverage. This system prevents you from having to do quote requests for every car insurance company. To access this free quoting program, click here (opens in new window).

The only drawback to using this type of system is buyers cannot specifically choose which carriers to get pricing from. So if you prefer to pick specific insurance companies for rate comparison, we have a page of car insurance companies in your area. Click here to view list.

Whichever way you use, try to use exactly the same coverage data for each comparison quote. If you enter different data you will not be able to determine which rate is truly the best. Slightly different insurance coverages or limits may result in large price differences. And when price shopping your coverage, making a lot of price comparisons increases your odds of finding more affordable insurance. Not every company provides rate quotes online, so you should also compare price estimates from them, too.

Get cheap insurance prices by understanding these factors

One of the most helpful ways to save on insurance coverage is to to have a grasp of the rating factors that are used to determine the level of your policy premiums. If you have some idea of what impacts premium levels, this allows you to make good choices that can help you get big savings. Many things are taken into consideration when you get your auto insurance bill. Most are fairly basic like an MVR report, but other criteria are more transparent like where you live and annual miles driven.

Shown below are some of the major factors utilized by car insurance companies to help set your rate level.

• Lower premiums for vehicles with better crash test results – Vehicles that have high safety ratings get lower rates. Highly rated vehicles help reduce the chance of injuries in an accident and better occupant protection means less claims paid which can mean better rates for you. If your Chevy S-10 scored better than four stars on Safercar.gov or an “acceptable” rating on iihs.org it may cost less to insure.
• Credit rating impact insurance coverage premiums – Having a good credit score can be a huge factor in determining what you pay. Insureds with very high credit ratings tend to be more responsible and file fewer claims as compared to drivers with poor credit scores. So if your credit history is not that good, you could save money insuring your 1997 Chevrolet S-10 if you clean up your credit.
• Rural vs Urban Areas – Choosing to live in less populated areas of the country is a good thing when shopping for auto insurance. Drivers who live in large cities tend to have more traffic problems and higher rates of accident claims. Lower population translates into fewer accident claims and also fewer theft and vandalism claims.
• Lower rates with a multi-policy discount – Some companies give a discount to clients that buy multiple policies such as combining an auto and homeowners policy. The discount can add up to ten or even fifteen percent. Even if you qualify for this discount already, drivers will still want to comparison shop to verify if the discount is saving money. You may still find better rates by buying insurance from more than one company.
• Traffic violations can increase premiums – Getting just one chargable violation can increase the cost of insurance substantially. Attentive drivers receive lower rates than their less careful counterparts. Drivers with license-revoking violations such as DUI or willful reckless driving may find that they have to to submit a SR-22 form with their state’s licensing department in order to prevent their license from being revoked.
• Premiums are high for teenagers – Young drivers have been known to be easily distracted when driving therefore insurance coverage rates are much higher. Adding a teen driver onto a policy can break the bank. More mature drivers are more responsible, file fewer claims and get fewer tickets.

Do I just need basic coverages?

When it comes to buying adequate coverage for your vehicles, there isn’t really a cookie cutter policy. Everyone’s situation is unique so your insurance needs to address that. These are some specific questions may help you determine if you would benefit from an agent’s advice.

• Am I getting all the discounts available?
• Does coverage extend to a rental car in a foreign country?
• What happens if I owe more than my 1997 Chevy S-10 is worth?
• What is the difference between comprehensive and collision coverage?
• Does medical payments coverage apply to all occupants?
• How much liability coverage do I need in my state?

If you can’t answer these questions but a few of them apply, then you may want to think about talking to a licensed agent. To find lower rates from a local agent, fill out this quick form or you can also visit this page to select a carrier

Why you might not save $409 a year

Well-known auto insurance companies like State Farm, Allstate and Geico seem to constantly run ads on TV and radio. All the ads have a common claim about savings if you get a free auto insurance quote and switch to their company. How do they all claim to save you money? It’s all in the wording.

Different companies quote the lowest rates for the type of insured that will be a good risk. For example, a driver they prefer might have to be between the ages of 40 and 55, has a clean driving record, and drives a lower-performance vehicle. Any customer that hits that “sweet spot” will get very good car insurance rates and have a good chance to save when switching.

Insureds who do not meet these criteria must pay higher prices with the end result being the driver buying from a lower-cost company. If you pay attention, the ads say “people who switch” not “everyone who quotes” will save that much if they switch. That’s why insurance companies can confidently make those statements. This illustrates why you need to do a price quote comparison at every renewal. Because without a comparison, you cannot know the company that will have the lowest rates.

Information about specific coverages

Understanding the coverages of a insurance policy can help you determine which coverages you need for your vehicles. The terms used in a policy can be difficult to understand and even agents have difficulty translating policy wording. These are typical coverage types found on the average insurance policy.

Uninsured or underinsured coverage – Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage protects you and your vehicle’s occupants when other motorists either are underinsured or have no liability coverage at all. Covered claims include injuries sustained by your vehicle’s occupants as well as your vehicle’s damage.

Because many people only carry the minimum required liability limits, their limits can quickly be used up. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage should not be overlooked.

Collision – Collision coverage covers damage to your S-10 caused by collision with another car or object. You will need to pay your deductible and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.

Collision coverage protects against claims such as colliding with a tree, rolling your car, driving through your garage door and crashing into a building. Paying for collision coverage can be pricey, so analyze the benefit of dropping coverage from vehicles that are 8 years or older. It’s also possible to bump up the deductible to bring the cost down.

Auto liability – Liability insurance protects you from damage that occurs to other people or property by causing an accident. It protects you against claims from other people. It does not cover your own vehicle damage or injuries.

Split limit liability has three limits of coverage: per person bodily injury, per accident bodily injury, and a property damage limit. You commonly see liability limits of 25/50/25 that means you have a limit of $25,000 per injured person, a total of $50,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident, and a limit of $25,000 paid for damaged property.

Liability insurance covers claims like medical services, attorney fees, court costs and medical expenses. How much coverage you buy is a decision to put some thought into, but you should buy as much as you can afford.

Medical expense coverage – Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage kick in for bills like doctor visits, X-ray expenses, nursing services, hospital visits and dental work. They are often used in conjunction with a health insurance policy or if you lack health insurance entirely. Coverage applies to all vehicle occupants in addition to any family member struck as a pedestrian. PIP coverage is not available in all states but can be used in place of medical payments coverage

Comprehensive protection – Comprehensive insurance will pay to fix damage from a wide range of events other than collision. You first must pay your deductible and the remainder of the damage will be paid by comprehensive coverage.

Comprehensive coverage pays for claims such as a tree branch falling on your vehicle, hitting a deer, hail damage and damage from getting keyed. The maximum payout you can receive from a comprehensive claim is the ACV or actual cash value, so if the vehicle is not worth much consider dropping full coverage.

Find Good Coverage for Less

Lower-priced auto insurance is attainable from both online companies in addition to many insurance agents, so you need to quote auto insurance with both in order to have the best price selection to choose from. Some insurance providers may not have the ability to get a quote online and most of the time these regional carriers work with local independent agencies.

When getting auto insurance quotes online, you should never reduce needed coverages to save money. In many cases, someone dropped uninsured motorist or liability limits only to discover later that the few dollars in savings costed them thousands. The proper strategy is to get the best coverage possible at the lowest possible cost, but do not sacrifice coverage to save money.

For more information, feel free to visit these articles:

• Event Data Recorders FAQ (iihs.org)
• Auto Insurance Learning Center (State Farm)
• Frontal Crash Tests (iihs.org)
• Vehicle Insurance in the U.S. (Wikipedia)