3 Tips to Make Shopping for Insurance Easier

Shopping around for insurance is a smart move. Paying for home insurance, auto insurance, or renters insurance is necessary to protect assets. But it's not fun to have this money coming out of a checking account every month. And overpaying could leave even less money for other important financial goals. 

The good news is, many people can get great prices on premiums if they know how to shop for coverage wisely. These three tips can help make the process easy and can maximize the chances of finding the most affordable coverage options. 

1. Know what coverage you want 

Before shopping around for insurance, it's important to know what kind of coverage is necessary. For example, when buying auto insurance, consumers typically need:

• Liability coverage to pay for losses caused to others.
• Collision and comprehensive coverage to pay for losses caused to the policyholder in a crash or by other covered losses such as vandalism or theft.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage to pay for damages in the event of an accident with a driver lacking sufficient coverage.

Some other kinds of coverage may be needed or desired as well, such as personal injury protection to pay for minor medical bills and lost wages in states where it's required, and gap insurance that pays the difference between what a car is worth and what is owed on it if the car is declared a total loss.  

Research the types of home insurance and types of auto insurance now before shopping around. It's also important to know the desired policy limits (the maximum the policy pays out) and the desired deductible (the out-of-pocket costs a policyholder incurs when making a covered claim). 

By deciding exactly what coverage is necessary before shopping, consumers can get more accurate quotes and compare them more easily. Consumers can specify exactly the types of protection they want and find out how much a policy with all those coverages would cost from different insurers.  

2. Have your information ready

Insurers ask for information when shopping for coverage. For example, when buying auto insurance, companies will want to know:

• The address where the vehicle will be kept
• The vehicle's make, model, and year
• Safety features the vehicle has
• Everyone who will be driving the vehicle
• The driving record of all potential drivers 

Usually, it's helpful to have the car's VIN number as this can help an insurer look up information about the vehicle. Insurers may also want to know about affiliations, such as employers or clubs a policyholder is a member of, as sometimes discounts are available for working in a certain industry or being part of a specific organization.

Collecting this information before shopping around will make it faster and easier to get accurate quotes based on exactly who and what the policy will cover. 

3. Take advantage of online quotes

Finally, it can be much easier to get insurance quotes online than to try to call agents or speak with individual insurance companies directly. Most insurers provide quick online rate quotes, and it's easy to compare them side by side after inputting the desired information. 

By taking these three steps, consumers can find out how much their desired policy will cost. Often, it makes sense to choose the insurer offering the lowest price, but be sure to check J.D. Power Customer Satisfaction ratings. Don't forget to look at online reviews of the insurer and the National Association of Insurance Commissioner's complaint database. This can help you ensure you are choosing an affordable insurer and finding one that has a good reputation for actually taking care of customers.