Finding the best car insurance policy can be a complicated task that will make you pull your hair out. A task that you would rather avoid, so once you get one you just go with it year after year. That is not the best way to approach it, though. In fact, it is the farthest out there that you would ever want to go.
There are some steps that you can take to find a better policy, without a whole lot of effort. Yes, it will take some time out of your day, but it is not rocket science.
- Know What You Need: You need to know what you need before you try and get it. In other words, if you have an expensive car that would cost a mint to replace, you will want the best insurance that you can get. But if you have a car that is not even worth the value of the paint on it you would want to get the lowest amount that the law allowed. You need to know what insurance you need. Just remember that third-party insurance is the bottom end of the spectrum. The amount required by law only covers damage done to the outside party. Comprehensive insurance is the one that covers damage done to all parties involved, including your own.
- Compare Plans: As soon as you know what you need it is time to compare various policies from as many carriers as possible. The best way to do this is to use an online comparison platform, such as iSelect, and let them do the searching for you. Their platform will take some information from you and then match you to some of their partners that fit your needs. When doing this step, you are not only looking at the difference in cost but the innards of the contracts as well.
- Added Coverages: These are usually just called add-ons. They have added policy protections that you may want, for a price. If an aspect of a policy is a make-it-or-break-it type of scenario for you it would be beneficial for you to add it to your basic policy. The entire contract can be modified to match everything that you need, but it can stay under the price point that you want. Make sure that you do not go crazy adding cool things on. Only add what you need and remove anything else that has been added that you will never need.
- Ease of Claims Process: You hope that you will never need to file a claim, but if the time does ever come you need to know that it will be handled quickly and accurately. Check into the process that you must go through. Ask what their pay-through ratios are. If any of this strikes you wrong move on to the next option on your list.
- Terms and Conditions: Always, always, always read through the entire contract before you commit to anything. Do not skip over any of the riders or small print because it could be a deal-breaker that you want to know about upfront. If you do not understand something, find out what it means. Research, talk to the agent or get guidance from a lawyer.
Getting the best insurance policy is not as hard as you would think. If you follow the steps outlined above it will go easy and smooth. You may have some other ideas about what makes a good policy, which you can check into as well. Everything that makes a good car insurance policy will be what you expect from it. It could be the best in the world to me, but not mean anything to you.
