Save on 1998 Mercedes-Benz CL-Class Insurance Rates

Want the cheapest auto insurance rates for your Mercedes-Benz CL-Class? Are you sick and tired of robbing Peter to pay Paul to make your auto insurance payment? You have the same problem as the majority of other consumers.

Big companies like Geico and Progressive continually hit you with fancy advertisements and it is difficult to see through the deception and find the best price available.

Five tips to get cheap insurance premiums

When buying car insurance it’s important to understand some of the factors that help determine your policy premiums. When you understand what determines premiums, this allows you to make good choices that will entitle you to better car insurance rates.

The itemized list below are some of the factors car insurance companies consider when setting your prices.

• Lower premiums for cars with good safety ratings – Vehicles with high crash test scores tend to have better insurance rates. Safer cars help reduce the chance of injuries in an accident and better occupant protection translates into fewer and smaller insurance claims which can mean better rates for you. If the Mercedes-Benz CL-Class scored at minimum an “acceptable” rating on the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety website you may pay a lower rate.
• How many miles do you drive? – The more you drive your Mercedes-Benz each year the higher your rates will be. A lot of companies price each vehicle’s coverage based on their usage. Vehicles left parked in the garage cost less to insure than vehicles that have high annual mileage. It’s always a good idea to double check that your car insurance coverage is showing the proper vehicle usage, because improper ratings can cost you money. Incorrect rating for your CL-Class may be costing you higher rates.
• Do you know you’re credit rating? – An insured’s credit score factor in determining what you pay for car insurance. So if your credit can use some improvement, you could potentially save money when insuring your 1998 Mercedes-Benz CL-Class by improving your credit score. People that have very high credit ratings tend to be better risks to insure than drivers who have lower credit ratings.
• Incidental coverages you don’t use – There are quite a few additional extra coverages that you can get tricked into buying on your CL-Class policy. Coverage for things like coverage for rental cars, towing coverage, and membership fees are probably not needed. These may sound like a good investment when talking to your agent, but if you don’t need them eliminate them to save money.
• Consolidate policies to earn discounts – Many insurers will award lower prices to insureds that have more than one policy such as combining an auto and homeowners policy. Discounts can amount to 10 percent or more. Even though this discount sounds good, it’s always a smart idea to check prices from other companies to help guarantee you have the best rates. Consumers may find lower rates by splitting coverages up.

Ways to get insurance quotes

To find more affordable prices, there are a couple of ways to compare prices from all the different companies. The easiest way to find the cheapest 1998 Mercedes-Benz CL-Class insurance rates is to jump online and get quotes. This is very easy and can be done by using one of the methods below.

1. One of the best ways consumers can make multiple comparisons is to use a rate comparison form (click to open form in new window). This method keeps you from doing separate forms for each company. One form submission gets you coverage quotes from multiple companies.
2. A different way to analyze rates requires a trip to the website for every company you want to comare and get a separate price quote. For example, we’ll assume you want to view quotes from Liberty Mutual, State Farm and American Family. In order to get each rate, you would have to spend time going to each site individually and enter your information, which is why the first method is quicker. To view a list of companies in your area, click here.

However you get your quotes, be sure you’re using apples-to-apples coverage limits on every quote. If each company quotes different coverage information it’s not possible to determine which company has the best rates. Slightly different insurance coverages or limits may result in large price differences. Just remember that comparing a wide range of rates gives you a better chance of getting more affordable insurance. Not every company does online rate quotes, so it’s necessary to compare rates from the smaller companies as well.

Insurance companies are expert advertisers

Well-known insurance companies like State Farm and Allstate seem to constantly run ads in print and on television. All the companies make the point that you’ll save big if you change your coverage to them. How can each company give you a better price? It’s all in how they say it.

All the different companies have a preferred profile for the right customer that will not have excessive claims. One example of a preferred risk may need to be a married male, has a clean driving record, and drives less than 7,500 miles a year. Anybody who meets those qualifications gets the lowest premium rates and will cut their rates substantially.

Potential customers who may not quite match the requirements will be charged higher premiums and ends up with the driver buying from a lower-cost company. If you listen to the ad wording, they say “drivers who switch” not “all people who quote” save that much when switching. That’s why insurance companies can confidently make those statements.

Because of these techniques, you really should get insurance quotes as often as possible. It’s impossible to know which insurance companies will have the lowest rates.

More affordable rates with these auto insurance discounts

Auto insurance is neither fun to buy or cheap, but there are discounts available to reduce the price significantly. Most are applied at the time you complete a quote, but less common discounts must be manually applied before they will apply.

• Club Memberships – Joining a qualifying organization could earn you a nice discount when getting a insurance quote.
• Active Service Discounts – Being deployed in the military may lower your premium rates slightly.
• Accident Waiver – Not a discount per se, but a handful of insurance companies may permit one accident before raising your premiums so long as you are claim-free prior to being involved in the accident.
• Accident-Free Discounts – Claim-free drivers can earn big discounts as opposed to bad drivers.
• Driver Training Discounts – Participating in a course in safe driver could save 5% or more and make you a better driver.
• Government Employees – Active or retired federal employment can earn a discount up to 10% for CL-Class coverage with some auto insurance companies.
• Early Renewal Discounts – A few insurance companies allow discounts for switching policies before your current policy expires. This discount can save up to 10%.

We need to note that most discounts do not apply to the entire cost. Some only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like comp or med pay. Despite the appearance that all those discounts means the company will pay you, it doesn’t quite work that way. But all discounts should help reduce your policy premiums.

The best auto insurance companies and some of the premium reductions they offer can be read below.

• State Farm has savings for good driver, anti-theft, multiple policy, defensive driving training, passive restraint, and student away at school.
• Geico may have discounts that include five-year accident-free, multi-vehicle, multi-policy, anti-theft, driver training, and seat belt use.
• Allstate includes discounts for premier plus, FullPay discount, eSmart discount, auto/life discount, senior citizen, good student, and EZ pay plan discount.
• SAFECO offers premium reductions for drive less, anti-theft, anti-lock brakes, homeowner, multi-car, and safe driver.
• Farm Bureau has discounts for youthful driver, multi-vehicle, driver training, safe driver, multi-policy, and renewal discount.
• Progressive offers discounts for continuous coverage, homeowner, multi-policy, multi-vehicle, good student, online quote discount, and online signing.
• AAA may include discounts for multi-car, good driver, good student, anti-theft, pay-in-full, education and occupation, and multi-policy.

When getting free insurance quotes, it’s a good idea to every insurance company what discounts are available to you. Some of the earlier mentioned discounts might not be offered in your area. If you would like to see a list of insurers that provide some of the discounts listed above, click this link.

Insurance coverage can get complicated

When it comes to choosing adequate coverage for your vehicles, there really is no one size fits all plan. Each situation is unique and your policy should reflect that. These are some specific questions may help highlight whether your personal situation would benefit from an agent’s advice.

• Do I have coverage if my license is suspended?
• Can my teen drive my company car?
• Who is covered by my policy?
• Is my cargo covered for damage or theft?
• Is my 1998 Mercedes-Benz CL-Class covered for smoke damage?
• How much can I save by bundling my policies?

If it’s difficult to answer those questions, you might consider talking to a licensed insurance agent. To find an agent in your area, take a second and complete this form or you can go here for a list of companies in your area.

Insurance coverages 101

Understanding the coverages of your insurance policy can be of help when determining appropriate coverage at the best deductibles and correct limits. The coverage terms in a policy can be impossible to understand and reading a policy is terribly boring. Listed below are the normal coverages found on the average insurance policy.

Comprehensive coverages

This pays to fix your vehicle from damage that is not covered by collision coverage. You first must pay your deductible then your comprehensive coverage will pay.

Comprehensive can pay for claims like hitting a deer, damage from getting keyed and vandalism. The most you’ll receive from a claim is the actual cash value, so if the vehicle’s value is low consider dropping full coverage.

Coverage for medical payments

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage pay for expenses like chiropractic care, doctor visits, funeral costs and ambulance fees. They are often used to fill the gap from your health insurance policy or if you are not covered by health insurance. They cover you and your occupants and will also cover being hit by a car walking across the street. PIP coverage is only offered in select states but can be used in place of medical payments coverage

Coverage for collisions

This pays to fix your vehicle from damage caused by collision with another car or object. You will need to pay your deductible and then insurance will cover the remainder.

Collision can pay for things such as scraping a guard rail, crashing into a building, driving through your garage door and colliding with another moving vehicle. Collision coverage makes up a good portion of your premium, so consider dropping it from vehicles that are older. You can also bump up the deductible to bring the cost down.

Uninsured and underinsured coverage

This protects you and your vehicle from other motorists when they do not carry enough liability coverage. Covered claims include injuries sustained by your vehicle’s occupants as well as your vehicle’s damage.

Since a lot of drivers only carry the minimum required liability limits, it doesn’t take a major accident to exceed their coverage limits. That’s why carrying high Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage is a good idea. Usually your uninsured/underinsured motorist coverages are similar to your liability insurance amounts.

Liability auto insurance

This protects you from damage that occurs to other’s property or people in an accident. It protects YOU against other people’s claims, and does not provide coverage for your own vehicle damage or injuries.

It consists of three limits, bodily injury for each person, bodily injury for the entire accident, and a limit for property damage. You might see limits of 50/100/50 which stand for a $50,000 limit per person for injuries, a total of $100,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident, and property damage coverage for $50,000. Some companies may use one limit called combined single limit (CSL) which combines the three limits into one amount with no separate limits for injury or property damage.

Liability coverage pays for claims such as repair costs for stationary objects, pain and suffering and medical services. How much coverage you buy is your choice, but buy as much as you can afford.

In conclusion

As you shop your coverage around, it’s a bad idea to skimp on critical coverages to save a buck or two. In too many instances, someone sacrificed uninsured motorist or liability limits and found out when filing a claim that the few dollars in savings costed them thousands. Your goal is to get the best coverage possible at an affordable rate while not skimping on critical coverages.

Throughout this article, we presented a lot of tips how to reduce 1998 Mercedes-Benz CL-Class insurance premium rates online. The most important thing to understand is the more price quotes you have, the better your chances of lowering your prices. You may even find the best premium rates are with the smaller companies. These companies often have lower prices on specific markets than the large multi-state companies such as Allstate, Geico and Progressive.

For more information, link through to the resources below:

• Understanding your Policy (NAIC.org)
• Cellphones, Texting and Driving (iihs.org)
• Credit Impacts Car Insurance Rates (State Farm)
• What does Personal Injury Protection (PIP) Cover? (Allstate)
• Five Steps to Filing an Auto Insurance Claim (Insurance Information Insitute)