Illinois Car Insurance Quotes And Saving Money

Cheap car insurance in Illinois is possible, especially if you take into consideration the coverages you need and do some shopping around. Here are a few tips.

The more coverages you get, the more you pay. However, there are minimum coverages required by Illinois state law that you must have. These are:

Liability — $20,000 for injury or death per person per accident. $40,000 for injury or death if more than one person is involved per accident.

Property damage — $15,000.

Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage (UIM): $20,000 per person, $40,000 per accident.

Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury insurance: Required if you purchase higher limits of Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage.

These are the minimums and you may want to consider higher limits for peace of mind.

Another way to lower your car insurance costs is to raise your deductible. This is the amount you must pay before your insurance coverages start paying. The difference between a $250 and $500, or $500 and $1,000 deductible in premium cost can be quite a bit.

Also, take advantage of any discounts such as savings for an anti-theft device, insuring your home and auto with the same company, good student, senior driver and more.

Use public transportation and drive less. Car insurance companies often base your rate on how much you drive. If you can limit the number of miles you drive in a week, month or year you could lower your insurance costs.

Finally, one of the biggest — and easiest — ways you can find cheap car insurance in Illinois is to spend some time shopping around. Insurance company rates in Illinois, like in other states, can vary a lot from one company to another. You should get at least three or more different quotes. Make sure to provide the same information regarding coverages and deductibles to each company or agent to get the most accurate comparison.

Thanks to the Internet, this is pretty convenient these days. You can go to each insurance company and request a quote, or visit a comparison Web site that lets you enter your information once and contacts you with several different agents or provides several different quotes back for comparison.

You can get free comparison Illinois car insurance quotes, plus more information about saving on car insurance at LowerYourInsurance.com. The site also includes a handy worksheet to help you when shopping for car insurance. Scott Lunt writes frequently about the insurance industry.