Automobile Insurance Purchasing Information

The Story:
I stumbled upon a nice auto insurance company in PA that beat my previous insurance company by 50% while increasing my coverage. Impossible right? Wrong. I swear it's true. They are a smaller company and able to offer such low rates because they don't advertise. [Warning the next few lines are speculation] Since there only method of advertising is by way of mouth (free) they are able to underwrite some pretty low premiums. Another thing that works for them is they don't deal with the "high risk" group of individuals because they don't market to the masses. Well, unfortunately, I have moved to a state which they don't offer coverage and I am looking for a comparable company in my current state. So I tried to find my current company online and try the same method in my new state to find the diamond in the rough. And the following is what I came up with.

The Information
Most, if not all, states have a department dedicated to insurance. On your state's insurance department's web site you should be able to find a wealth of information to help you choose an insurance carrier. Some states gather average premium amount data and put it all in a neat report for you to consider. Other states will give you what percentage of policy holders are with which carrier. It has been my experience that you can get lower premiums with the companies that have a lower percentage of the total policy holders. On these sites you will also find information about the terms that make up a policy. For example; do you know what your state minimum Bodily Injury Liability limits are and what exactly does "Bodily Injury Liability" mean? What's the difference between full tort and limited tort and if your state defaults to full tort or not? This information can be found on your state's Insurance web site.If you're looking for auto insurance and want to get quotes from multiple companies and you are worried about the number of credit checks negatively impacting your credit score, you shouldn't be. First off, the type of credit check done when looking for auto insurance is different from the check done to open a credit account. Second, multiple inquires, such as insurance quotes, done in a relatively short time span are understood to be for comparison shopping and not credit abuse. Last tip and possibly the most important… Once you have chosen the company you think you want to go with, call a personal injury/automobile accident attorney, need not be someone you know. Make sure you have   a paralegal/secretary/lawyer (don't ask the receptionist) on the line and ask if the company you have chosen to do business with is a good insurance carrier; do they pay out quickly in the event of an accident. Some companies just have bad reputations in the legal world and the attorney will know this.

Some state insurance sites for reference:
New Jersey - http://www.state.nj.us/dobi/index.html
Pennsylvania - http://www.ins.state.pa.us/ins/cwp/view.asp?a=1339&Q=544190&PM=1
Maine - http://maine.gov/pfr/insurance/license_search.htm
Delaware - http://www.delawareinsurance.gov/
Ney York - http://www.ins.state.ny.us/