How Much Does 2010 Volkswagen Passat Car Insurance Cost?

If you are new to getting insurance quotes online, you may be bewildered thanks to the incredible selection of insurers competing for your business.

Consumers need to check insurance prices before your policy renews because insurance prices change regularly. Just because you found the best deal for Passat coverage six months ago you can probably find a lower rate today. Forget all the misinformation about insurance because I’m going to teach you how to use the internet to lower your annual insurance bill.

Shopping for affordable protection is easy if you know what you’re doing. Essentially everyone who has to buy insurance should be able to find lower rates. Nevertheless, vehicle owners should learn the way companies price online insurance.

How to buy car insurance online

When comparison shopping, there are several ways to obtain and compare prices from many car insurance companies in your state. The quickest method to find affordable Volkswagen Passat insurance rates is to get quotes online. This can be accomplished using a couple different methods.

The most efficient way consumers can make multiple comparisons is an all-inclusive rate comparison like this one (opens in new window). This form keeps you from doing boring form submissions for each company you want a rate for. A single, simple form will return quotes from multiple companies. It’s the fastest way to compare.

A different way to find better pricing is going to the website for every company you want to comare and go through the quote process again. For examples sake, we’ll assume you want to get rates from Farmers, Liberty Mutual and GMAC. In order to compare rates, you need to spend time on each company’s site and enter your policy data, which is why the first method is more popular. For a list of companies in your area, click here.

Which method you use is up to you, but make sure you use apples-to-apples information with each company. If each company quotes differing limits it’s not possible to find the best deal for your Volkswagen Passat. Just slight variations in coverages could skew the results. And when price shopping your coverage, making a lot of price comparisons provides better odds of finding the best rates. Some regional insurers cannot provide rate quotes online, so it’s recommended that you also compare rates on coverage from those companies, too.

Insurance advertising gotchas

Well-known insurance companies like 21st Century, Allstate and State Farm constantly bombard you with television and radio advertisements. They all seem to make the promise that people will save if you get a free insurance quote and switch your policy. How does each company make the same claim?

Companies quote their best rates for the type of driver that will not have excessive claims. An example of this type of risk profile might be described as between the ages of 30 and 50, is a homeowner, and chooses high deductibles. Someone who fits that profile will get a cheap rate quote and will most likely cut their rates substantially.

Insureds who fall outside those standards will get higher premiums and this results in the driver buying from a lower-cost company. The wording the ads use say “drivers who switch” but not “everyone who gets a quote” save that much. This is how companies can truthfully lure you into getting a quote.

This really emphasizes why you really need to get insurance quotes from several different companies. It’s just too difficult to predict with any certainty which company will be your best fit.

Save with these premium-slashing discounts

The cost of insuring your cars can be expensive, but companies offer discounts that you may not know about. Some of these disounts will be visible at the time you complete a quote, but some may not be applied and must be requested specifically before they will apply.

• Seat Belts Save more than Lives – Drivers who require all occupants to use a seat belt could cut 10% or more off the medical payments premium.
• Drivers Education – Teen drivers should enroll in driver’s education as it will make them better drivers and lower rates.
• Air Bag Discount – Factory options such as air bags or motorized seat belts can get savings up to 30%.
• Senior Citizen Discount – Older drivers are able to get a discount up to 10% for Passat coverage.
• Safety Course Discount – Taking a course that instructs on driving safety can save you 5% or more and make you a better driver.

You should keep in mind that some of the credits will not apply to your bottom line cost. Most cut the price of certain insurance coverages like comprehensive or collision. So even though they make it sound like all the discounts add up to a free policy, you’re out of luck.

Auto insurance companies that may offer quotes with these benefits include:

• Progressive
• SAFECO
• American Family
• MetLife
• Geico
• The Hartford

If you want cheaper insurance quotes, ask each insurance company which credits you are entitled to. Some of the earlier mentioned discounts may not be available in every state. To view insurers who offer cheap car insurance quotes, click this link.

Do I need special coverages?

When choosing coverage for your personal vehicles, there is no “best” method to buy coverage. Everyone’s needs are different.

For example, these questions might point out whether or not you will benefit from professional help.

• Do I need medical payments coverage since I have good health insurance?
• Is my dog or cat covered if injured in an accident?
• Can I get a multi-policy discount?
• Is my custom paint covered by insurance?
• Do I really need UM/UIM coverage?
• Does my policy cover me when driving someone else’s vehicle?
• What is no-fault insurance?
• Should I buy more coverage than the required minimum liability coverage?

If you’re not sure about those questions but you know they apply to you, you might consider talking to an agent. If you don’t have a local agent, simply complete this short form.

Car insurance coverage considerations

Knowing the specifics of car insurance aids in choosing which coverages you need and proper limits and deductibles. The coverage terms in a policy can be ambiguous and coverage can change by endorsement.

Uninsured or underinsured coverage

This coverage protects you and your vehicle’s occupants from other motorists when they either are underinsured or have no liability coverage at all. It can pay for injuries sustained by your vehicle’s occupants as well as your vehicle’s damage.

Since many drivers carry very low liability coverage limits, it only takes a small accident to exceed their coverage. So UM/UIM coverage is important protection for you and your family. Usually the UM/UIM limits are similar to your liability insurance amounts.

Comprehensive protection

Comprehensive insurance coverage will pay to fix damage OTHER than collision with another vehicle or object. You first must pay your deductible and the remainder of the damage will be paid by comprehensive coverage.

Comprehensive insurance covers things such as damage from flooding, damage from getting keyed, hitting a bird, hail damage and theft. The most you’ll receive from a claim is the ACV or actual cash value, so if the vehicle’s value is low consider removing comprehensive coverage.

Collision protection

Collision insurance covers damage to your Passat from colliding with another vehicle or an object, but not an animal. A deductible applies and then insurance will cover the remainder.

Collision can pay for claims such as scraping a guard rail, backing into a parked car and rolling your car. Collision is rather expensive coverage, so you might think about dropping it from older vehicles. Drivers also have the option to choose a higher deductible to bring the cost down.

Liability

This provides protection from injuries or damage you cause to other people or property. It protects you against other people’s claims, and doesn’t cover your own vehicle damage or injuries.

Liability coverage has three limits: per person bodily injury, per accident bodily injury, and a property damage limit. You commonly see policy limits of 100/300/100 which means a $100,000 limit per person for injuries, $300,000 for the entire accident, and a limit of $100,000 paid for damaged property. Alternatively, you may have one number which is a combined single limit that pays claims from the same limit without having the split limit caps.

Liability coverage pays for claims such as attorney fees, repair costs for stationary objects, pain and suffering, medical services and funeral expenses. How much coverage you buy is a personal decision, but you should buy as high a limit as you can afford.

Medical expense coverage

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage pay for expenses for EMT expenses, doctor visits, ambulance fees, funeral costs and pain medications. They are often used in conjunction with a health insurance plan or if you lack health insurance entirely. It covers you and your occupants in addition to if you are hit as a while walking down the street. PIP is only offered in select states but it provides additional coverages not offered by medical payments coverage

Be Smart and Buy Smart

Insureds who switch companies do it for any number of reasons including delays in paying claims, being labeled a high risk driver, denial of a claim and even high rates after DUI convictions. Regardless of your reason for switching companies, finding a new company can be easy and end up saving you some money.

When shopping online for auto insurance, do not buy less coverage just to save a little money. There have been many cases where someone sacrificed physical damage coverage and discovered at claim time that their decision to reduce coverage ended up costing them more. Your focus should be to buy enough coverage at the best price, but do not skimp to save money.

We just presented some good ideas how you can get a better price on 2010 Volkswagen Passat insurance. The most important thing to understand is the more times you quote, the higher the chance of saving money. You may even discover the best rates are with some of the lesser-known companies.

Additional detailed information can be found in these articles:

• Top Signs Your Brakes are Giving Out (State Farm)
• Information for Teen Drivers (Geico)
• Older Driver Statistics (Insurance Information Insitute)
• How to Avoid Staged Accidents (State Farm)
• Electronic Stability Control FAQ (iihs.org)