It’s an obvious assumption that car insurance companies don’t want you to look for cheaper rates. Consumers who do rate comparisons are likely to buy a new policy because they stand a good chance of finding lower prices. A recent study showed that consumers who faithfully checked for cheaper rates saved an average of $850 each year compared to those who never shopped around.
If finding budget-friendly rates on auto insurance is your ultimate target, learning how to find companies and compare car insurance can make it easier to find better rates.
To save the most money, the best way to find lower priced car insurance rates in Buffalo is to start comparing rates regularly from companies who provide auto insurance in New York. Rate comparisons can be done by following these guidelines.
- Gain an understanding of how insurance companies determine prices and the measures you can take to prevent rate increases. Many rating factors that drive up the price like speeding tickets, careless driving and a substandard credit score can be amended by making minor changes in your lifestyle.
- Request price quotes from direct carriers, independent agents, and exclusive agents. Exclusive and direct companies can only quote rates from a single company like Progressive and State Farm, while independent agents can provide price quotes for many different companies. Click to view companies
- Compare the new rates to the price on your current policy and determine if cheaper Taurus coverage is available in Buffalo. If you find a better price and buy the policy, verify that coverage does not lapse between policies.
- Tell your current agent or company of your intent to cancel your current auto insurance policy and submit the required down payment along with the signed application for the new policy. Don’t forget to store the proof of insurance certificate in an accessible location in your vehicle.
A good tip to remember is to make sure you’re comparing identical coverage information on every quote request and and to get price quotes from as many companies as possible. Doing this ensures an apples-to-apples comparison and a complete price analysis.
If you have a current car insurance policy, you should be able to find better prices using the tips covered below. This information will help educate you on how to effectively get price quotes and some tricks to saving. But New York car owners should learn how insurance companies market insurance on the web because rates are impacted by many factors.
Where can I get cheap Buffalo Ford Taurus insurance?
The majority of larger companies such as GEICO, State Farm and Progressive allow consumers to get insurance quotes from their websites. Comparing Ford Taurus insurance rates online is pretty painless because it’s just a matter of typing in your coverage information as detailed in the form. After you submit the form their quoting system will obtain reports for credit and driving violations and returns a price quote determined by many factors.
Getting online rate quotes for Ford Taurus insurance in Buffalo helps simplify price comparisons, and it is imperative to perform this step in order to get the lowest possible payments on auto insurance.
To find out what other companies charge, check out the auto insurance providers below. If you have coverage now, it’s recommended you input your coverages as close as possible to your current policy. Doing this assures you will be getting rate comparison quotes for similar coverage.
The companies in the list below are ready to provide comparison quotes in Buffalo, NY. If you want to find cheap auto insurance in Buffalo, we suggest you get rates from several of them to get the most competitive price.
Car insurance statistics and figures
The information displayed next outlines different insurance rates for Ford Taurus models. Having a good grasp of how policy rates are calculated can help guide drivers when making decisions when shopping around.
Model | Comp | Collision | Liability | Medical | UM/UIM | Annual Premium | Monthly Premium |
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Taurus SE | $198 | $342 | $248 | $14 | $74 | $876 | $73 |
Taurus SEL | $220 | $402 | $248 | $14 | $74 | $958 | $80 |
Taurus SEL AWD | $220 | $402 | $248 | $14 | $74 | $958 | $80 |
Taurus Limited | $220 | $402 | $248 | $14 | $74 | $958 | $80 |
Taurus Limited AWD | $220 | $464 | $248 | $14 | $74 | $1,020 | $85 |
Taurus SHO AWD | $244 | $464 | $248 | $14 | $74 | $1,044 | $87 |
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Data based on married female driver age 50, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $100 deductibles, and New York minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include homeowner, safe-driver, multi-policy, multi-vehicle, and claim-free. Rates do not factor in specific location information which can lower or raise coverage prices considerably.
Comparison of full coverage and liability-only policies
The diagram below compares Ford Taurus car insurance rates with full physical damage coverage compared to only buying liability only. The costs are based on no driving violations, no at-fault accidents, $100 deductibles, drivers are not married, and no additional discounts are factored in.
Should you be buying full coverage?
There is no definitive guideline that is best for determining when to drop physical damage coverage on your policy, but there is a general guideline you can use. If the annual cost of having full coverage is 10% or more of replacement cost minus your deductible, the it may be a good time to stop paying for full coverage.
For example, let’s pretend your Ford Taurus replacement value is $4,000 and you have $1,000 physical damage deductibles. If your vehicle is totaled, the most your company will settle for is $3,000 after the policy deductible has been paid. If you are currently paying more than $300 annually for full coverage, then it may be the right time to buy liability only.
There are some cases where dropping physical damage coverage is not financially feasible. If you still owe a portion of the original loan, you must maintain physical damage coverage to protect the lienholder’s interest in the vehicle. Also, if you can’t afford to buy a different vehicle if your current one is damaged, you should keep full coverage in place.
Lower the Price of Car Insurance with These Tips
It’s important that you understand the factors that aid in calculating the rates you pay for car insurance. If you understand what determines base rates, this enables informed choices that will entitle you to lower car insurance prices. Many different elements are part of the calculation when you quote your car insurance policy. Some are obvious such as traffic violations, but other factors are not as apparent such as your marital status or your financial responsibility.
The itemized list below are some of the most common factors used by your company to calculate premiums.
- Your career may increase rates – Do you work in a high-stress field? Occupations like fire fighters, airline pilots, and stock brokers tend to pay the highest rates attributed to high stress and lots of time spent away from family. Other jobs such as scientists, historians and retirees pay the least.
- Bundle and save – Most major companies afford lower prices to insureds who consolidate policies with them such as combining an auto and homeowners policy. Even if you’re getting this discount you may still want to compare Ford Taurus rates in Buffalo to confirm you are receiving the best rates possible. You may still find a better deal by splitting coverages up.
- Credit score impacts prices – An insured’s credit score can be a huge factor in determining what you pay. Therefore, if your credit is lower than you’d like, you could potentially save money when insuring your Ford Taurus by repairing your credit. Insureds with excellent credit scores tend to be more responsible than drivers who have poor credit scores.
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Performance influences insurance rates – The performance of the car you own makes a significant difference in determining your rates. Smaller low performance passenger vehicles usually have the lowest rates, but the final cost of insurance is determined by many other factors.
The next chart assumes a married male driver age 40, full coverage with $1000 deductibles, and no discounts or violations. The chart compares Ford Taurus insurance premiums compared to other makes and models that have a range of performance rating factors.
- Vehicles with better crash test results cost less to insure – Safer cars tend to be cheaper to insure. These vehicles result in less severe injuries and fewer serious injuries translates into fewer and smaller insurance claims and more competitive rates for policyholders.
- Marriage is a factor – Being married helps lower the price on your car insurance policy. Having a significant other demonstrates that you tend to be more responsible it has been statistically shown that drivers who are married file infrequent claims.
- Allowing your car insurance to lapse raises car insurance rates – Not maintaining insurance can get you a ticket and you may have a hard time finding new coverage because you let your coverage have a gap. In addition to paying higher premiums, failure to provide proof of insurance may earn you a license revocation or jail time. You may have to provide proof of insurance in the form of an SR-22 filing with the New York department of motor vehicles.
- Do you have enough liability protection? – A critical coverage on your policy, liability insurance will protect you in the event that you are ruled to be at fault for damages caused by your negligence. Liability insurance provides legal defense coverage which can be incredibly expensive. Liability insurance is quite affordable compared to insuring for physical damage coverage, so buy as much as you can afford.
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Insurance losses for a Ford Taurus – Companies use past insurance losses to help determine costs. Models that historically have a higher amount or frequency of claims will have higher rates for specific coverages. The next table illustrates the insurance loss data for Ford Taurus vehicles.
For each coverage type, the statistical loss for all vehicles, as an average, is equal to 100. Numbers that are below 100 suggest losses that are better than average, while percentage values above 100 indicate higher probability of having a loss or an increased likelihood of larger losses.
Insurance Loss Ratings for Ford Taurus Vehicles Vehicle Model Collision Property Damage Comp Personal Injury Medical Payment Bodily Injury Ford Taurus 2WD 109 88 134 115 115 101 Ford Taurus 4WD 120 78 141 124 Ford Taurus SHO 4WD 143 96 185 84 103 BETTERAVERAGEWORSEEmpty fields indicate not enough data collected
Data Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety for 2013-2015 Model Years
Car insurance does more than just protect your car
Even though it can be expensive, maintaining insurance is a good idea for several reasons.
- Just about all states have minimum liability requirements which means you are required to buy a specific level of liability insurance coverage in order to drive the car legally. In New York 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 have a loan on your Taurus, almost every bank will make it mandatory that you buy full coverage to guarantee payment of the loan. If you do not pay your insurance premiums, the bank or lender will purchase a policy for your Ford at a significantly higher premium and require you to reimburse them a much higher amount than you were paying before.
- Car insurance preserves both your assets and your Ford Taurus. It also can pay for medical bills for not only you but also any passengers injured in an accident. As part of your policy, liability insurance also covers all legal expenses up to the policy limit if anyone sues you for causing an accident. If mother nature or an accident damages your car, comprehensive and/or collision insurance will cover the damage repairs after a deductible is paid.
The benefits of carrying adequate insurance are without a doubt worth the cost, specifically if you ever have a liability claim. An average driver in America overpays more than $810 a year so you should quote your policy with other companies each time the policy renews to help ensure money is not being wasted.
Car insurance company ratings
Picking the top insurance provider can be a challenge considering how many different companies there are to choose from in Buffalo. The rank data in the next section could help you choose which auto insurers you want to consider shopping prices with.
Company | Value | Customer Service | Claims | Customer Satisfaction | A.M Best Rating | Overall Score |
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The General | 96 | 100 | 92 | 91% | A- | 95 |
Mercury Insurance | 87 | 96 | 100 | 87% | A+ | 93.4 |
The Hartford | 88 | 96 | 91 | 93% | A+ | 92.6 |
Progressive | 84 | 94 | 99 | 90% | A+ | 92.4 |
Travelers | 84 | 93 | 100 | 87% | A++ | 92.3 |
State Farm | 84 | 93 | 95 | 87% | A++ | 91 |
Farmers Insurance | 87 | 92 | 90 | 85% | A | 90.6 |
Erie Insurance | 92 | 90 | 82 | 88% | A+ | 88.5 |
Safeco Insurance | 85 | 91 | 87 | 86% | A | 88.4 |
USAA | 71 | 93 | 98 | 87% | A++ | 88 |
GEICO | 73 | 93 | 95 | 85% | A++ | 87.1 |
21st Century | 85 | 85 | 91 | 89% | A | 86.9 |
Liberty Mutual | 72 | 91 | 97 | 83% | A | 86.4 |
AAA Insurance | 85 | 85 | 88 | 86% | A | 85.8 |
Nationwide | 71 | 90 | 93 | 83% | A+ | 84.9 |
Allstate | 69 | 92 | 92 | 83% | A+ | 84.4 |
American Family | 77 | 96 | 80 | 85% | A | 83.8 |
Esurance | 70 | 80 | 89 | 77% | A+ | 79.2 |
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Data Source: Insure.com Best Car Insurance Companies