Automobile insurance can often be a large percentage of your monthly budget. Are you certain that your current policy offers you the best value for your money? Here are two price comparison charts for automobile insurance. The first chart reviews three online insurance comparison quote sites and the second chart compares prices of four well known insurance companies. Keep in mind that these are primarily price comparisons. When it comes to insurance, you need to also consider the reliability of the insurance company. Will they be there when you need them? Will they provide what they have promised? These additional questions should be kept in mind when making an ultimate decision.
The following factors were used in the price comparison:
Drivers | 2 – Female, age 41 and Female, age 16 |
Vehicles | 2 – 2004 SUV, valued at $17,575 and 2003 Car, valued at $32,065 |
Comprehensive | $500 deductible |
Collision | $500 deductible |
Towing & Rental | Yes |
Bodily Injury & Property Damage | $20,000 person/$40,000 accident/$15,000 property |
Uninsured/Underinsured Bodily Injury | $20,000 person/$40,000 accident |
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Property Damage | $15,000 |
Medical Payments | No Coverage |
Personal Injury Protection | No Coverage |
ONLINE INSURANCE COMPARISON QUOTE WEBSITES
| Website | Monthly Premium | Review |
| insure.com | $450.50 | Provided only a total premium; did not breakdown price of individual components of the policy. Returned quote from only one company - AIG. Most costly of all quotes obtained. |
| esurance.com | $365.66 - esurance $649.33 - State Farm | Slightly less information/criteria must be entered in order to obtain a quote. Provided a price breakdown of each individual component and allows you to easily modify the component criteria to obtain new quote. For instance, if you decide to increase or decrease the collision deductible, simply change the amount and the site will return a new price based on the change in deductible. Although the website gives the appearance that this is an insurance comparison site, esurance is actually an insurance company. The first quote returned is for esurance only. You can obtain a price comparison but in this case it returned only one other company. It did not provide a price breakdown for the other company which was State Farm. When I went to State Farm's own website and obtained a price quote, the amount was far less than what this site claimed it would be. |
| insweb.com | $192.95 | Provided only a total premium; did not breakdown the price of individual components of the policy. Returned quote from only one company - Amica. When the criteria was changed to eliminate the 16-year-old driver and the 2003 vehicle, two quotes were returned. |
INSURANCE COMPARISON QUOTES
| Company | Monthly Premium | Review |
| Geico | $373.00 | A non-obstrusive pop-up appeared while I was entering information and offered me the opportunity to chat with a live customer service person. Provided a breakdown price of the individual components. User friendly. |
| Farmers Insurance Group | $251.00 | Only residents of California, Colorado and Nevada can obtain online quotes. I did talk to a local agent and received a quote very quickly. I have dealt with Farmers Insurance previously and they have always provided outstanding customer service. |
| State Farm | $241.72 | Website was user friendly but I was unable to save the quote. In fact, when I tried to save the quote I was taken to a blank screen and I was then unable to return to my data. Of course, this was most likely just a temporary malfunction. |
| Allstate | $270.00 | Provided a total quote only; did not breakdown the price of individual components of the policy. User friendly. |
Other articles in this series:
- Auto Insurance: What Type of Policy Do You Need?
- Auto Insurance Discounts
- Should You Purchase Comprehensive and Collision Coverage?
Have a question about auto insurance? If so, post your question in the Home Finance forum today.
