So…who’s offering the best Pennsylvania auto insurance?  26 years ago when I was getting started in this business it used to be pretty simple…find an Erie insurance agent..if they would take you…you had the best rate and best insurance !  Even though Erie is still very competitive with car insurance rates, they are not always the best value for every driver. The “best”  might be the wrong word to describe car insurance ever since the evolution of using credit score in car insurance rating.

So many new companies getting into the car insurance business in pennsylvania has made it very hard to say who’s good and who’s great at writing a good pennsylvania car insurance policy. If low price is your only consideration you could probably get a low price from many companies if your credit rating is excellent. Then it just becomes a journey to find the absolute best coverage you can get for the least amount of money. That’s something we do here every day, searching for the best value for every customer.  Your best bet if you’d rather choose another agent besides us to do your shopping is to steer clear of the agents who write for only one insurance company. Those agents are locked in to working with only one company and can only offer you one option…no benefit to you. Search out an agency who can check with many top insurers and see who is willing to offer you the absolute best rate in pennsylvania car insurance.  Most of these type’s of agency’s are motivated to get you the best deal and to keep checking for you periodically to be sure you’re always getting a fair price.

Buying the minimum insurance coverage in pennsylvania auto insurance can be tempting. In fact our phones ring every day with people asking for “just the minimums” on their pennsylvania auto insurance. Do I mind ? Heck no…we’re glad to give folks exactly what they want….as long as they really do know exactly what they want !

Here’s the thing…we all want to have cheap pennsylvania car insurance..OK I get that part.  Paying for cheap insurance and never using it would be great. As an agent I have an obligation to at least let you know the possible downside of carrying the minimum coverage. Yeah, I know…the naysayer again !  You see, the thing is…I’ve been around long enough to see the “other side” a few too many times.  Here’s one instance that happened this past summer. 

Client #1 is coming home from fishing on the Kinzua reservoir and he’s slowing to turn into his driveway with his boat in tow.  Been a good day and he’s thinking about a cold adult beverage and sitting on the deck for some R & R….when….  CRASH !!!   Enter Client #2- This nice young lady is a college student who works part time at Dominos pizza here in town. Unfortunately she never saw his turning signal and plowed into him at approximately 35 MPH. Might not sound like much but 35MPH into a stopped object is a huge collision. Fortunately she is uninjured but shaken up pretty badly. A trip up to the hospital is next on her schedule…ordered by the paramedics.     Client #1 is uninjured….whew…dodged a bullet there. His truck and boat… on the other hand… are toast.

Few days later the insurance companies have both received the claim reports and started their investigations. Client #2′s insurance company admitted 100% responsibility and issued a check to Client #1 for $5,000 in damages. OK …that will cover the boat motor…almost…now who’s going to pay for the rest of the boat and the new pickup truck?  Glad you asked. Looks like Client #1′s insurance will need to pay for the extra damages since he had very good coverage on both his boat and pickup. Now what happens ?  Well….our young co-ed will get a letter from the fishermans insurance company in an attempt to collect the $35,000 they’ve paid to their policyholder. When the poor young girl admits that she couldn’t possibly pay that amount…she’ll have the option to arrange a repayment schedule or risk losing her driving priveledges until the judgement is satisfied.  There’s the condensed version of not having enough insurance…and the drawbacks.

Only you can decide if carrying the minimum pennsylvania auto insurance is right for your circumstances. If you decide you’re ok with it, you’ll find the best rates right here.

Too many companies advertising car insurance prices in pennsylvania that are hundreds of dollars cheaper than anyone else. Imagine if you could switch companies a few times you’d literally be paying almost nothing for car insurance! Wow, sounds like a plan. Before you get started you might want to take some precautions though.

1. Find out how long the insurance company has been operating in Pennsylvania. In these “soft market” economic times it seems that quite a few companies are expanding their operations into Pa in hopes of grabing some of this easy money. Problem with that theory is that is has never worked in the past. Not that some company could be an exception to the rule, the past history is usually a good indicator of future performance. 
2. Check the AM Best rating of the insurance company offering the great rate. Traditionally, many cash strapped insurers have used aggressive pricing to generate positive cash flow to subsidize other parts of their operation. I’m not suggesting that this is happening by anyone in particular but it’s worth noting. The highest AM best rating is A++ and only a small handful of companies have earned this rating. Anything less than an A is over three rungs down the ladder and worth some closer inspection, in my opinion.
3. Pennsylvania car insurance quotes can be misleading if you are not properly informed about coverage. Many things that seem simple to myself are certainly not things you’d be inclined to ask about. Apples to Apples comparisons are critical. For instance, Full or Limited tort options can vary your premium by 15%   Dropping the underinsured motorist coverage on your quote can easily lower the premium by $100 per vehicle.  Both of these are very important coverage and you need to understand what you’re compromising by eliminating or reducing the coverage. In the case of many online quoting services it is quite normal to quote the pennsylvania minimum coverage.
4. Be sure your percs aren’t going to dissappear when you change companies. As Erie insurance agents we see many long term percs that clients could not ever earn through other companies. Many times some of the percs are worth paying a few dollars extra to get or keep. Unless you’ve been informed about the pros and cons of switching, you need to be sure you got a fair comparison.

Getting a feel for what the market has to offer is what a smart buyer needs to do. If your Erie insurance agent only represents one company or if you have State Farm, Nationwide or one of those companies who only allow their agents to represent one company you need to go one more step. We offer quotes from 10 of the top companies in the state and sometimes the rates will vary dramatically between companies. Do yourself a favor and get our comparison and educate yourself about what’s really a good bargain.

The best way to control car insurance rates for teenage drivers in Pennsylvania is by maintaining a clean driving record. There is nothing that will make a premium jump more than an accident or speeding ticket. Teens need to understand that there are major consequences for irresponsible behavior behind the wheel and mistakes that they make now could end up costing thousands of dollars down the road.

You can expect to pay about $1,000 -$2,000 a year to add a teen driver on to your car insurance policy. There are ways to cut the expense though if the teen is a good student or involved in civic groups like the Boy Scouts. Insurance companies do offer discounts for teens who display responsible behavior and are getting consistently good grades in school.

Another way to limit car insurance rates for teenage drivers in Pennsylvania is to have the teen complete a drivers safety above and beyond their basic drivers training. Completion of a safe drivers course will result in cost savings on insurance. These classes are also great if a teen would get a ticket or be involved in a minor wreck. Pennsylvania allows drivers to wipe points off of their driving record by attending state approved drivers intervention programs. Many of our insurers will give a 10% discount upon receipt of proof of a completed driver training course.

The type of car that your teenager drives will also have a great deal of influence on the cost of insuring the vehicle. Putting them in a safe car will mean lower premiums. Cars that fall into this category are the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Volkswagen Jetta, Honda CRV and Nissan Xterra. Cars that are among the most expensive to insure are the Nissan GT-R, Dodge Viper, BMW 6 and the Ford Shelby. You can figure that any type of sports car is going to be much more expensive to insure than a four door small family sedan. Many insurers are using a term called “collision experience” to rate the cars that is based on a % of the vehicles are involved in accidents and the average cost of each claim. Traditionally young drivers have been attracted to two door models and this has led to much higher collision experience in those models. If you can go with a four door sedan that is rated well for safety features your teenagers insurance premium may be dramatically reduced. 

It also can save you money if the car that your teen drives is an older model vehicle. Buying them a car that is only worth a few thousand dollars can generate auto insurance savings because you do not need to carry collision coverage on the vehicle. Best advice is to call before you buy any car and get the rate before you plunk down the cash for the car.