It’s shocking but a large majority of insurance policyholders in Florida have stayed with the same insurance company for at least four years, and virtually 40% of consumers have never compared insurance rates at all. The average driver in the U.S. could save as much as 47% every year, but most undervalue how much money they would save if they switch to a new company.
Really, the only way to get affordable car insurance rates in Jacksonville is to annually compare prices from insurers who provide auto insurance in Florida. Prices can be compared by completing these steps.
- Get a basic knowledge of policy coverages and the steps you can take to keep rates down. Many policy risk factors that cause rate increases like careless driving and an imperfect credit history can be improved by making lifestyle changes or driving safer.
- Compare prices from exclusive agents, independent agents, and direct providers. Direct and exclusive agents can only provide price estimates from a single company like GEICO or State Farm, while independent agents can quote rates for many different companies.
- Compare the new rate quotes to your existing policy to see if you can save by switching companies. If you find a lower rate, make sure there is no coverage gap between policies.
- Provide proper notification to your current company of your intention to cancel your current policy and submit a down payment along with a completed application to your new insurance company. Once the paperwork is finalized, keep your new certificate verifying coverage along with the vehicle’s registration papers.
A tip to remember is to try to compare the same amount of coverage on each quote and and to get price quotes from as many carriers as you can. This enables a fair rate comparison and a good representation of prices.
Smart Buyers Can Save Money
Smart consumers have a good feel for the rating factors that come into play when calculating the price you pay for car insurance. When you understand what positively or negatively impacts your premiums, this allows you to make educated decisions that may result in much lower annual insurance costs.
The factors shown below are some of the most rate-impacting factors that factor into premiums.
- High coverage deductibles lower rates – Insurance for physical damage to your car, also called comprehensive and collision insurance, is used to repair damage to your vehicle. Some coverage claims are a broken side mirror, hail damage, and damage from a fallen tree branch. Comp and collision deductibles represent how much money you are required to spend before a claim is paid by your company. The more expense the insured has to pay upfront, the bigger discount you will receive.
- Big cities have higher costs – Choosing to live in areas with lower population has it’s advantages when insuring your vehicles. Drivers who live in large cities tend to have more aggressive driving styles and longer commute times. Lower population translates into fewer accident claims.
-
Avoid tickets and save – Careful drivers have lower premiums compared to drivers with tickets. Getting just one speeding ticket or other violation can increase rates by twenty percent. Drivers unfortunate enough to have flagrant violations like hit and run, DWI or reckless driving convictions may find they need to prove financial responsibility with their state’s licensing department in order to prevent their license from being revoked.
The information below shows how traffic citations and fender-benders can raise Chevy Tahoe car insurance rates for different ages of insureds. The data is based on a single female driver, comp and collision included, $500 deductibles, and no discounts are factored in.
- Rental and towing coverage may not be needed – Insurance policies have a lot of extra bells and whistles that may not really be needed if you aren’t diligent. Things like coverage for rental cars, accident forgiveness, and motor club memberships are probably not needed. You may think they are a good idea when deciding what coverages you need, but your money might be better spent on other coverage so eliminate the coverages to reduce your premium.
- Limits of liability – A critical coverage on your policy, liability insurance kicks in when you are determined to be liable for damages from an accident. Liability insurance provides you with a defense in court starting from day one. This coverage is very inexpensive when compared to the cost of physical damage coverage, so drivers should buy more than the minimum limits required by law.
-
Loss probability for a Chevy Tahoe – Insurance companies use data from past claims to help calculate premium costs. Models that the data determines to have a higher amount or frequency of claims will be charged more to insure. The table below shows the actual insurance loss data for Chevy Tahoe vehicles.
For each policy coverage type, the claim amount for all vehicles averaged together is a value of 100. Percentage values below 100 indicate a favorable loss history, while numbers that are greater than 100 show a trend for more claims or a tendency for losses to be larger than average.
Chevrolet Tahoe Insurance Claim Statistics Vehicle Make and Model Collision Property Damage Comp Personal Injury Medical Payment Bodily Injury Chevrolet Tahoe 4dr 2WD 82 90 105 70 63 88 Chevrolet Tahoe 4dr 4WD 83 89 103 68 62 80 BETTERAVERAGEWORSEStatistics Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety for 2013-2015 Model Years
Premium rates and analysis
The rate information displayed below outlines different insurance costs for Chevy Tahoe models. Knowing how policy rates are formulated can be of help when making smart choices when buying a policy.
| Model | Comp | Collision | Liability | Medical | UM/UIM | Annual Premium | Monthly Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tahoe LS 2WD | $368 | $544 | $546 | $32 | $164 | $1,654 | $138 |
| Tahoe LS 4WD | $414 | $544 | $546 | $32 | $164 | $1,700 | $142 |
| Tahoe LT 2WD | $414 | $544 | $546 | $32 | $164 | $1,700 | $142 |
| Tahoe LT 4WD | $414 | $544 | $546 | $32 | $164 | $1,700 | $142 |
| Tahoe LTZ 2WD | $414 | $640 | $546 | $32 | $164 | $1,796 | $150 |
| Tahoe LTZ 4WD | $414 | $640 | $546 | $32 | $164 | $1,796 | $150 |
| Get Your Own Custom Quote Go | |||||||
Cost estimates assume single male driver age 30, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $250 deductibles, and Florida minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include safe-driver, homeowner, multi-vehicle, multi-policy, and claim-free. Price information does not factor in specific zip code location which can alter auto insurance rates noticeably.
Difference between liability only and full coverage rates
The chart below shows the difference between Chevy Tahoe premium costs when comparing full coverage to state minimum liability only. The prices are based on no claims or violations, $1,000 deductibles, marital status is single, and no discounts are applied.
Should you buy full coverage or liability only?
There is no specific rule of when to eliminate physical damage coverage, but there is a broad guideline. If the annual cost of coverage is about 10% or more of the replacement cost minus the deductible, then you might want to consider buying only liability coverage.
For example, let’s say your Chevy Tahoe claim settlement value is $4,000 and you have $1,000 full coverage deductibles. If your vehicle is totaled in an accident, the most your company will settle for is $3,000 after the deductible is paid. If it’s costing you more than $300 annually for comprehensive and collision coverage, then it’s probably a good time to buy liability coverage only.
There are some scenarios where dropping full coverage is not advised. If you haven’t satisfied your loan, you have to carry full coverage in order to keep the loan. Also, if you don’t have enough money to buy a different vehicle if your current one is totaled, you should not buy liability only.
Affordable Jacksonville car insurance rates with discounts
The price of auto insurance can be rather high, but there are discounts available that could drop your premiums quite a bit. A few discounts will automatically apply when you get a quote, but some discounts are required to be manually applied prior to receiving the credit.
- Multiple Policy Discount – If you can bundle your home and auto insurance and insure them with the same company they may give you a discount of up to 20% and get you affordable Chevrolet Tahoe insurance rates in Jacksonville.
- Theft Prevention System – Cars equipped with tracking devices and advanced anti-theft systems are stolen less frequently so companies will give you a small discount.
- No Claim Discounts – Claim-free drivers are rewarded with significantly better rates on Jacksonville auto insurance quote when compared to bad drivers.
- Auto/Life Discount – Some car insurance companies give a small discount if you purchase a life insurance policy as well.
- Telematics Devices – Policyholders that allow companies to track vehicle usage by installing a telematics device such as Snapshot from Progressive or Drivewise from Allstate may get a rate reduction if they have good driving habits.
- Student in College – Any of your kids who are enrolled in higher education away from home and do not take a car to college could qualify for this discount.
- Pay Early and Save – If you can afford to pay the entire bill instead of monthly or quarterly installments you may reduce your total bill.
Don’t be surprised that many deductions do not apply to all coverage premiums. Most only reduce individual premiums such as medical payments or collision. So even though you would think all those discounts means the company will pay you, that’s just not realistic.
The chart below compares Chevy Tahoe annual premium costs with and without discounts applied to the policy premium. The rate quotes are based on a male driver, no claims or violations, Florida state minimum liability limits, comp and collision included, and $500 deductibles. The first bar for each age group shows premium with no discounts. The second shows the rates with multi-car, marriage, safe-driver, multi-policy, homeowner, and claim-free discounts applied.
Popular car insurance companies and a partial list of their discounts are included below.
- GEICO offers discounts including anti-lock brakes, five-year accident-free, military active duty, multi-vehicle, and daytime running lights.
- USAA may offer discounts for annual mileage, good student, family discount, driver training, vehicle storage, and loyalty savings.
- Progressive offers premium reductions for good student, multi-vehicle, continuous coverage, multi-policy, online signing, online quote discount, and homeowner.
- American Family may have discounts that include bundled insurance, defensive driver, early bird, mySafetyValet, and air bags.
- Esurance discounts include multi-policy, paid-in-full, Switch & Save, homeowner, and safety device.
- Farmers Insurance has discounts for pay in full, multi-car, bundle discounts, distant student, early shopping, alternative fuel, and mature driver.
- State Farm offers discounts for passive restraint, defensive driving training, anti-theft, multiple autos, good driver, accident-free, and student away at school.
When getting free Jacksonville auto insurance quotes, it’s a good idea to every prospective company what discounts are available to you. Some of the discounts discussed earlier may not be available in your state. If you would like to choose from a list of car insurance companies that offer many of these discounts in Florida, click here to view.
Quote more and you will save more
When you buy Jacksonville auto insurance online, don’t be tempted to buy less coverage just to save a little money. There have been many cases where drivers have reduced full coverage only to regret that their decision to reduce coverage ended up costing them more. Your strategy should be to buy a smart amount of coverage for the lowest price but still have enough coverage for asset protection.
In this article, we presented a lot of tips how to reduce Chevy Tahoe insurance car insurance rates online in Jacksonville. The most important thing to understand is the more providers you compare, the more likely it is that you will get a better rate. Consumers may even find the best car insurance rates are with a small mutual company.
Consumers change insurance companies for many reasons like poor customer service, unfair underwriting practices, delays in responding to claim requests and high rates after DUI convictions. Whatever your reason, switching auto insurance companies can be pretty painless.
For more information, link through to these articles:
- How Does Hitting a Deer Impact Insurance Rates? (Allstate)
- What Auto Insurance is Cheapest for Felons in Jacksonville? (FAQ)
- Who Has Cheap Car Insurance Quotes for a Honda CR-V in Jacksonville? (FAQ)
- What Auto Insurance is Cheapest for a Dodge Ram in Jacksonville? (FAQ)
- Who Has the Cheapest Auto Insurance for a Company Car in Jacksonville? (FAQ)
- Driving in Bad Weather (Insurance Information Institute)
- Cellphones, Texting and Driving (iihs.org)
- Older Driver Statistics (Insurance Information Institute)
- Vehicle Size and Weight FAQ (iihs.org)