Have you stopped to think about how your auto insurance company compares to others in the same sector? Do you know for sure that you are paying the best price and getting quality coverage? Do you pay a high price for full coverage? And in thinking about the last time you contacted your insurer, were you treated with respect? Did the representative care about your concerns or questions? Were you content with your experience or no?

Too often the car insurance bill is causally ignored by policyholders who assume they have already found the best way to insure their vehicle and the people who drive it. Unless you have recently checked out the competition, there is a good chance you are not getting the best out there. Here are a few things policyholders can do to effectively compare their current provider and price with others that are available.

Get Your Quotes
When a driver is ready to get a better price on their policy or find an insurer who will tend to their needs, they go to Online Auto Insurance. We have the best way for consumers to find what they are looking for: better auto insurance. Our comparison tool is quite easy to use, really, and it doesn’t take much time. On top of these conveniences, it’s free. Users can begin by entering their zip code in the appropriate box on our homepage or on most of our Webpages, found at the top of the page, and then click “Go”. Following this will be a short series of questions that will need answering by the future policyholder. Some of the questions pertain to the driver’s information, while the rest of the questions concern the vehicle to be insured.

There are some things you may want handy before beginning to answer the questions. Having these things close by will make the answering process go even quicker for you. Have ready the following:

• Driver’s name
• Driver’s age and birth date
• Vehicle’s VIN
• Current mileage and estimated annual mileage of vehicle
• Vehicle’s year, make, and model
• Location where vehicle is stored at night/address of owner

With this information nearby, you are prepared to answer the questions accurately. The beautiful thing about OnlineAutoInsurance.com is we don’t ask for your personal information, such as your driver’s license or social security number, during this process. It’s possible that other companies will require this information, saying it’s necessary to give you an accurate quote. We believe as long as you answer the questions truthfully, you will receive an accurate estimate. We are also aware of the risk of identity theft and want to help you protect your name by omitting this step from our process.

Another advantage to using our site for your vehicle insurance comparison is once the questions are finished and your quotes are available, you have the option to purchase any of the policies offered. In some instances, a valid proof of insurance card can be printed directly from the home computer for immediate use. This feature comes in handy for all drivers who need this proof to reinstate a license or registration.

Now that you have your quotes, compare those prices against each other. While looking for the cheapest price, you may discover that there’s a wide price gap between the same policies from different companies, or perhaps they vary by only a few dollars. If price isn’t the only factor you wish to compare, continue on with your comparison by checking the companies’ customer service abilities.

Compare Customer Service
There are a few ways you can go about comparing a company’s customer service. The first is by checking out their rankings among third-party companies. These companies are to rate the car insurance companies while staying unbiased. One such company is JD Power. They offer rankings to different departments within the company, such as billing, contacting the insurer, pricing, policy offerings, and the overall experience.

Another option would include talking to family and friends about their experiences with past and current auto insurance providers. Find out what it was like for them to talk with a representative of the company, the ease in filing a claim and the time it took to fill it, and if they would recommend using the insurer. Look for patterns within the same companies as people describe their experiences. Third-party companies, who provide rankings on customer service, interview a large number of people to complete their findings, while in this instance you’d only be talking to a small group.

A third way to compare customer service is after you’ve collected the above information and have narrowed down your list, call those companies individually if you can’t decide on who to choose. By contacting each insurer, you can get a better feel for how they treat their customers. Search their Website for easiness of paying bills or options to file a claim.

Compare Finances
Hopefully consumers aren’t overlooking another important aspect of a company during a comparison; the company’s financial stability. More and more companies are fizzling away during this time of economic hardship, and it’s much better for consumers to be safe than sorry and check out this aspect of the company. AM Best is, again, another third-party company that helps out consumers by giving them unbiased information. They evaluate the company’s ability to pay out future claims based on how much money they have in the bank. They rate each company with a letter grade, mirroring typical academic marks. We offer quotes from top rated car insurance companies.

An accident can be a stressful time for those involved. Once a driver has filed a claim with their insurer, they expect that claim to be taken care of and the appropriate repair and medical bills to be paid. An insurer who does not have a strong financial status may either postpone payment of bills or worse yet, not pay them at all. It is this reason why we stress that every policyholder should know the financial status of their insurance provider.

Completing an auto insurance comparison by using these three factors – price, customer service, and financial stability – will help any consumer find the best auto insurance provider.