Cheap Car Insurance: Best Ways to Save

If you’re on the hunt for who has the cheapest car insurance in Nashville, we can help. Let’s break down the best ways lower your bill, starting with the ones with the biggest potential savings.

Compare quotes from multiple companies

Comparison shopping is one the best ways to find cheap car insurance because rates easily vary by hundreds of dollars among companies. Car insurance quotes are always free and easy to get, so comparing rates is a good use of time.

We can connect you to insurers to get rates and personalized service. Simply fill out a quote request to the right to get started.

Here’s a look at how premiums can vary among insurers. These rates are based on premiums reported by our users with good driving records and coverage above the state minimums.

Nationwide average premiums

Company	Average annual premium
Shelter Insurance Co.	$1,272
The Hartford	$1,308
Erie	$1,344
American Family	$1,380
Ameriprise	$1,392
21st Century Insurance	$1,428
Travelers	$1,476
Auto-Owners	$1,488
Allied	$1,536
Mapfre Insurance	$1,548
AAA / Auto Club	$1,560
Dairyland Insurance	$1,560
COUNTRY Financial	$1,560
State Farm	$1,572
Farmers	$1,572
Mercury	$1,584
Safeco	$1,608
USAA	$1,620
Nationwide	$1,620
American National Insurance	$1,620
Geico	$1,632
Allstate	$1,632
Safeway Insurance	$1,644
Commerce Insurance	$1,656
MetLife Auto & Home	$1,668
Amica	$1,668
Liberty Mutual	$1,728
Citizens (Florida only)	$1,752
Esurance	$1,776
Progressive	$1,788
The General	$1,788
Infinity Insurance	$1,800
National General Insurance	$1,800
Elephant	$1,824
Windhaven (Florida only)	$1,830
Plymouth Rock Assurance	$1,920
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Maintain good credit

Did you know that having poor credit can affect your car insurance rates even more than an accident or ticket? While improving credit can take months or years, it pays off in multiple ways:

• Cheaper homeowners insurance
• Better rates if you get a mortgage.
• Lower rates for car loans.
• Better credit card rates and access to cards with perks.

Auto insurers say that poor credit correlates to a higher chance someone will make a claim. So they often use “credit-based insurance scores” as a major factor in pricing. The practice is banned in California, Hawaii and Massachusetts.

Keep your driving record clean

Getting moving violations often leads to a rate increase at renewal time and can ruin your chances for cheap car insurance. Reckless driving, DUIs and speeding tickets are some of the worst for rate increases. Insurers typically check your DMV record before renewal time and adjust rates accordingly.

Some insurers offer a “good driver” discount when you keep a clean record for a certain number of years. If you get a ticket or have an accident, you’ll lose the discount.

Causing a car accident or making a claim could also lead to a rate increase at renewal time.

Here’s a look at how much your rate might go up after an accident or speeding ticket, based on premiums reported by EverQuote users who had an accident or ticket vs. those who didn’t.

Buy your home or renters insurance from your auto insurance company

The discount for “bundling” home and auto insurance from the same insurer is generally one of the bigger discounts you can get. You can typically also bundle auto insurance with renters, condo, mobile home or manufactured home insurance.

Reduce your car insurance to the state-required minimum

If you’re simply looking to get on the road the cheapest way possible, buying only the minimum state-required auto insurance will get you there. We don’t recommend this, but it is a way to get the cheapest car insurance possible.

The trade-off is that you could be personally on the hook for thousands of dollars in damage if you cause a large accident. You can be sued for any damage amount that goes above your car insurance limits.

Find your state’s minimum amount of car insurance.

And remember that liability insurance doesn’t cover any damage to your own vehicle. For that you need collision insurance and comprehensive insurance.

If you have a car loan or lease, your lender or leasing company likely requires that you have collision and comprehensive insurance. If so, you can’t drop them until the loan is paid off.

More ways to get cheap car insurance

Here are more ways to get cheaper auto insurance.

Ask your agent to review potential car insurance discounts. It doesn’t hurt to make sure you’re getting all the savings you’re entitled to. The car insurance discounts below are easy to come by, and ask your agent if you qualify for others:

• Anti-lock brakes
• Anti-theft system
• Air bags
• Automatic seat belts

Discounts will vary by company. You might be able to get a discount for paying in full rather than monthly, for signing up for automatic bill pay, or by using paperless billing.

Geico, for example, has discounts for a wide range of alumni associations and membership groups, such as being a member of the National Audubon Society.

Choose an insurance-friendly vehicle. Insurance companies look at the “claims history” of vehicles. If other drivers of your model of car tend to crash a lot or make insurance claims, rates for the vehicle can rise for everyone. Here’s a a recommended State Farm Nashville Insurance Agent.

Drop collision and comprehensive coverage on older cars. There’s no need to pay for insurance that has little potential benefit. That could be the case if you’re paying for comprehensive and collision insurance on an older vehicle.

Collision and comprehensive coverage pays for damage to your vehicle for problems like hail, theft, animal collisions and crashes into objects like trees and other cars. The most it will pay is the value of your vehicle, minus your deductible. On an older vehicle, that may not amount to much.

Save insurance for big problems. Another way to get cheap auto insurance is to avoid making some types of claims. A claim can lead to a rate increase at renewal time. If you crash into someone, they can make a claim on your liability insurance — there’s no way around that. But if you dent your bumper by hitting a pole, you can decide whether you want to make a claim on your collision coverage and risk a rate increase.