When shopping for cheaper insurance, do you get confused by the sheer number of auto insurance sources that you can choose from? Lot’s of other drivers are too. Washington people have so many sources available that it can really be a real difficult job to compare rates on Toyota Avalon Hybrid insurance. Lots of people think Seattle has many things to offer, but high auto insurance rates can make it hard for many drivers to meet other financial obligations.
Inconceivable but true, over 70% of consumers have been with the same company for four years or more, and just under half have never taken the time to shop around. American drivers could save themselves 47% a year, but most undervalue the rate savings if they switched to a more affordable policy.
The goal of this article is to familiarize you with how car insurance works and also save some money in the process If you currently have a car insurance policy, you should be able to cut your premiums using the techniques presented in this article. But Washington drivers do need to learn how insurance companies determine premium rates and use this information to your advantage.
Lower rates by qualifying for discounts
Some providers do not advertise every discount they offer very well, so the following is a list of both well-publicized in addition to some of the lesser obvious credits that may apply to you. If you are not receiving all the discounts you deserve, it’s possible you qualify for a lower rate.
- Onboard Data Collection – Drivers that enable driving data collection to track their driving habits through the use of a telematics system such as Drivewise from Allstate or Snapshot from Progressive could see a rate decrease as long as the data is positive.
- Life Insurance – Not every insurance company offers life insurance, but if they do you may earn a lower rate if you buy some life insurance too.
- Discount for Swiching Early – Some insurance companies provide a discount for switching companies prior to your current Avalon Hybrid insurance policy expiration. Ten percent is about the average savings.
- Organization Discounts – Being in qualifying clubs or civic groups can get you a small discount on your bill.
- Claim Free – Claim-free drivers can earn big discounts as compared to accident-prone drivers.
- Discount for Good Grades – Excelling in school can get you a discount of up to 25%. The good student discount can last well after school through age 25.
- Driver Training Discounts – Completing a course in driver safety may get you a small discount and make you a better driver.
- First Accident Forgiveness – This isn’t a discount exactly, but certain companies will forgive one accident without the usual rate increase if you are claim-free for a certain period of time.
- Driver’s Education for Students – Have your child successfully take a driver’s education course in high school.
- Seattle Homeowners Pay Less – Being a homeowner can save a few bucks because of the fact that having a home demonstrates responsibility.
Discounts reduce rates, but you should keep in mind that most credits do not apply to the entire policy premium. Most cut specific coverage prices like physical damage coverage or medical payments. So when the math indicates adding up those discounts means a free policy, it doesn’t quite work that way. But any discount should help reduce your policy premium.
Larger insurance companies and their offered discounts can be found below.
- 21st Century offers premium reductions for automatic seat belts, anti-lock brakes, defensive driver, theft prevention, and teen driver.
- State Farm has savings for Drive Safe & Save, student away at school, driver’s education, good student, and accident-free.
- AAA may have discounts that include good driver, education and occupation, good student, AAA membership discount, anti-theft, multi-policy, and multi-car.
- Liberty Mutual policyholders can earn discounts including good student, multi-policy, safety features, hybrid vehicle, new move discount, teen driver discount, and newly retired.
- Progressive discounts include online signing, good student, multi-vehicle, homeowner, multi-policy, online quote discount, and continuous coverage.
When quoting, ask each company or agent which discounts can lower your rates. Savings may not apply to policies in Seattle. To view insurance companies offering insurance discounts in Washington, follow this link.
How to compare Seattle Toyota Avalon Hybrid insurance quotes
The majority of larger companies like State Farm, GEICO and Progressive make it easy to get pricing on their websites. Doing online quotes for Toyota Avalon Hybrid insurance in Seattle is possible for anyone because it’s just a matter of typing in your coverage preferences on the page. Behind the scenes, the company’s rating system pulls credit information and your driving record and returns a price determined by many factors.
Being able to quote online for Toyota Avalon Hybrid insurance in Seattle makes it a lot easier to compare rates and it is imperative to perform this step if you are searching for a lower rate.
In order to find out how much you can save on auto insurance, check out the auto insurance providers below. To compare your current rates, we recommend you complete the form with the coverage information exactly as shown on your declarations page. This helps ensure you’re receiving an apples-to-apples comparison for similar coverage.
The auto insurance companies shown below are our best choices to provide free rate quotes in Seattle, WA. If more than one company is shown, we suggest you click on several of them to get the most competitive price.
The Toyota Avalon Hybrid Insurance Cost Equation
Lots of things are taken into consideration when pricing auto insurance. Some are obvious like an MVR report, but others are not quite as obvious like your vehicle usage and annual miles driven. A large part of saving on car insurance is knowing the different types of things that are used to determine your premiums. When consumers understand what determines premiums, this empowers consumers to make smart changes that can help you get cheaper rates.
- Marriage reduces risk – Having a wife or husband may cut your premiums compared to being single. It translates into being more mature and responsible and it’s statistically proven that married drivers tend to file fewer claims.
- Alarm systems lowers car insurance rates – Owning a car with a theft deterrent system can help lower your premiums. Theft prevention features like tamper alarm systems, vehicle immobilizer technology and General Motors OnStar all help stop auto theft.
- Drive fewer miles and save – The higher the miles on your Toyota annually the more you’ll pay to insure your vehicle. Most companies calculate rates based upon how the vehicle is primarily used. Autos that sit idle most of the time qualify for better rates as compared to vehicles used primarily for driving to work. An incorrectly rated Avalon Hybrid can result in significantly higher rates. It’s a good idea to make sure your vehicle rating properly reflects the proper vehicle usage.
- Rates may be lower depending on your employer – Careers like military personnel, airline pilots, and miners generally pay higher premiums than the average policyholder due to intense work requirements and extremely grueling work hours. On the flip side, careers like professors, historians and performers pay lower than average rates.
- Insure car and home with the same company – Lots of companies allow better rates to people that have more than one policy in the form of a multi-policy discount. Discounts can amount to as much as ten percent or more Even with this discount applied, it’s in your best interest to compare other Seattle Avalon Hybrid insurance rates to confirm you are receiving the best rates possible.
- Insurance loss statistics a Toyota Avalon Hybrid – Companies use past insurance losses to help determine the price you pay. Models that have higher frequency or amount of claims will cost more for specific coverages.
The information below illustrates the historical loss data for Toyota Avalon Hybrid vehicles. For each policy coverage type, the claim probability for all vehicles, as a total average, is set at 100. Percentage numbers below 100 suggest a positive loss record, while numbers above 100 show a trend for more claims or tendency to have higher losses.
Toyota Avalon Hybrid Insurance Claim Statistics
Specific Toyota Model Collision Property Damage Comp Personal Injury Medical Payment Bodily Injury Toyota Avalon Hybrid 120 72 132 107 85 80 Statistics Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety for 2013-2015 Model Years
Can’t I compare prices from local Seattle car insurance agents?
Certain consumers just want to visit with an insurance agent and that can be a smart move One of the great benefits of price shopping on the web is the fact that drivers can get better rates but also keep your business local. Supporting local insurance agencies is especially important in Seattle.
By using this short form, your coverage information is sent to agents in your area that give free quotes for your business. You don’t have to find an agent since rate quotes are delivered directly to you. It’s the lowest rates without having to waste a lot of time. If you need to compare prices from a specific car insurance provider, you just need to search and find their rate quote page and complete a quote there.
Pick the best car insurance agent in Seattle for you
When searching for local Seattle agents, it’s helpful to know the different types of agents from which to choose. Insurance agencies in Seattle are categorized either independent (non-exclusive) or exclusive.
Independent Car Insurance Agents (or Brokers)
Agents that elect to be independent are not restricted to one company so they have the ability to put coverage with an assortment of companies and find you cheaper rates. If they find a lower price, an independent agent can move your coverage and you won’t have to switch agencies.
When comparing car insurance prices, you will want to get rate quotes from several independent insurance agents to have the most options to choose from. Most also write with companies you’ve never heard of who may have lower rates.
The following is a list of independent insurance agents in Seattle that may be able to give rate quotes.
- Secord Agency Insurance
265 NE 45th St – Seattle, WA 98105 – (206) 783-4024 – View Map - Propel Insurance: Marinkovich Stephen
925 4th Ave #3200 – Seattle, WA 98104 – (206) 676-4216 – View Map - Seattle Insurance
2414 SW Andover St – Seattle, WA 98106 – (206) 937-4613 – View Map
Exclusive Agents
Exclusive insurance agents can only provide pricing for a single company such as State Farm, AAA, and Liberty Mutual. They generally cannot shop your coverage around so always compare other rates. Exclusive agencies are very knowledgeable on the products they sell which can be an advantage. Consumers often purchase coverage from exclusives mostly because of the brand legacy rather than low rates.
Below is a list of exclusive agencies in Seattle willing to provide comparison quotes.
- Andy Hubbard – State Farm Insurance Agent
1515 NW 52nd St a – Seattle, WA 98107 – (206) 789-4211 – View Map - Jeff Kalvelage – State Farm Insurance Agent
315 N 36th St #201 – Seattle, WA 98103 – (206) 588-0559 – View Map - Allstate Insurance: Josh Boender
4453 California Ave SW – Seattle, WA 98116 – (206) 932-2191 – View Map
Deciding on a car insurance agent should include more criteria than just a cheap price quote. Before buying a policy in Seattle, get answers to these questions.
- Will they give you a referral list?
- How many years of experience in personal auto insurance do they have?
- How long has their agency been open in Seattle?
- Are there any discounts for paying up front?
- Which company do they place the most coverage with?
After you get good answers in addition to an acceptable price estimate, you’ve probably found an auto insurance agent that is reputable and can provide car insurance coverage.
Three main reasons to buy car insurance
Despite the high cost, paying for car insurance is required in Washington but it also protects you in many ways.
- Most states have minimum liability requirements which means the state requires a specific level of liability protection if you want to drive legally. In Washington these limits are 25/50/10 which means you must have $25,000 of bodily injury coverage per person, $50,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident, and $10,000 of property damage coverage.
- If you took out a loan on your Toyota, it’s most likely the lender will make it a condition of the loan that you have insurance to protect their interest in the vehicle. If you do not keep the policy in force, the lender may have to buy a policy to insure your Toyota at a more expensive rate and require you to reimburse them a much higher amount than you were paying before.
- Car insurance protects both your assets and your Toyota Avalon Hybrid. It will also reimburse you for medical transport and hospital expenses for both you and anyone you injure as the result of an accident. Liability coverage also covers legal expenses if you are named as a defendant in an auto accident. If you receive damage to your vehicle caused by a storm or accident, your car insurance policy will pay to repair the damage minus the deductible amount.
The benefits of carrying enough insurance definitely exceed the price paid, especially with large liability claims. Unknowingly, the average driver is currently overpaying as much as $869 every year so you should quote rates at least once a year to ensure rates are inline.
Do the work, save more money
Lower-priced car insurance in Seattle can be purchased from both online companies and from local agencies, so you should compare both in order to have the best price selection to choose from. There are still a few companies who don’t offer online price quotes and usually these regional carriers work with local independent agencies.
People who switch companies do it for a number of reasons such as questionable increases in premium, lack of trust in their agent, extreme rates for teen drivers or delays in paying claims. It doesn’t matter what your reason, switching companies is pretty simple and you could end up saving a buck or two.
When you buy Seattle auto insurance online, make sure you don’t reduce coverage to reduce premium. In too many instances, someone sacrificed liability limits or collision coverage to discover at claim time that it was a big mistake. The goal is to buy a smart amount of coverage at the lowest possible cost, not the least amount of coverage.
More information is located below:
- Uninsured Motorist Statistics (Insurance Information Institute)
- Who Has Affordable Seattle Car Insurance Rates for Low Credit Scores? (FAQ)
- What Auto Insurance is Cheapest for High Mileage Drivers in Seattle? (FAQ)
- Who Has Affordable Auto Insurance Quotes for a Jeep Wrangler in Seattle? (FAQ)
- How Much are Auto Insurance Quotes for 18 Year Olds in Seattle? (FAQ)
- What Car Insurance is Cheapest for College Graduates in Seattle? (FAQ)
- Who Has the Cheapest Seattle Auto Insurance Quotes for Homeowners? (FAQ)
- How Much is Seattle Auto Insurance for a Honda Accord? (FAQ)
- Insurance losses by make and model (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
- When is the Right Time to Switch Car Insurance Companies? (Allstate)
- Young Drivers: The High Risk Years Video (iihs.org)