Compare 1996 Mercury Cougar Insurance Rates

Finding low cost premium rates for insurance coverage can be frustrating for beginners to comparison shopping online. With literally dozens of companies competing online, it can quickly become a difficult mission to compare premium rates.

Don’t overlook these auto insurance discounts

Properly insuring your vehicles can get expensive, but there could be available discounts that could drop your premiums quite a bit. Certain discounts will be triggered automatically at the time you complete a quote, but lesser-known reductions have to be asked about before you get the savings. If you check and find you aren’t receiving every discount possible, you are just wasting money.

  • Student Discounts – Being a good student could provide a savings of up to 20% or more. Most companies allow this discount well after school through age 25.
  • Distant College Student Discount – who live away from home at college and leave their car at home can be insured at a reduced rate.
  • Federal Employees – Having worked for a branch of the government could qualify for a slight premium decrease on Cougar coverage with certain companies.
  • Discounts for Safe Drivers – Insureds without accidents could pay up to 40% less on Cougar coverage than less cautious drivers.
  • Online Discount – Many larger companies provide a small discount for buying your policy on your computer.
  • Accident Forgiveness Coverage – Not a discount per se, but certain companies will let one accident slide without getting socked with a rate hike as long as you don’t have any claims prior to being involved in the accident.
  • Auto/Home Discount – If you insure your home and vehicles with one company you will save over 10 percent off each policy depending on the company.
  • Auto/Life Discount – Insurance carriers who offer life insurance give a small discount if you purchase some life insurance too.

You should keep in mind that most credits do not apply to all coverage premiums. The majority will only reduce specific coverage prices like liability, collision or medical payments. So even though they make it sound like you can get free auto insurance, auto insurance companies aren’t that generous.

A list of auto insurance companies and some of their more popular discounts are shown below.

  • State Farm offers discounts including good driver, multiple policy, multiple autos, Drive Safe & Save, student away at school, and safe vehicle.
  • Progressive includes discounts for multi-policy, continuous coverage, homeowner, good student, and online quote discount.
  • Travelers has savings for save driver, IntelliDrive, early quote, multi-policy, good student, and continuous insurance.
  • American Family offers premium reductions for multi-vehicle, air bags, Steer into Savings, accident-free, mySafetyValet, and bundled insurance.
  • Liberty Mutual may offer discounts for multi-car, preferred payment discount, new move discount, multi-policy, newly married, and new graduate.

Before you buy a policy, ask every company which credits you are entitled to. Savings may not apply to policyholders in every state. If you would like to view providers who offer cheap auto insurance quotes, click this link.

Informed drivers can slash their insurance costs

One of the most helpful ways to save on car insurance is to to have a grasp of some of the elements that come into play when calculating your policy premiums. If you have a feel for what determines base rates, this enables you to make decisions that may reward you with lower rates.

  • Premiums impacted by vehicle usage – The higher the mileage driven every year the more you’ll pay to insure it. A lot of companies price each vehicle’s coverage determined by how the vehicle is used. Autos that do not get driven very much can get a lower rate than cars that get driven a lot. Ask your agent if your car insurance declarations sheet correctly shows annual mileage, because improper ratings can cost you money. Having an incorrect usage rating on your Cougar can cost quite a bit.
  • GPS tracking and theft deterrents lower prices – Choosing to buy a car with a theft deterrent system can save you some money. Systems that thwart theives like tamper alarm systems, vehicle immobilizer technology and General Motors OnStar all hinder vehicle theft.
  • You may save more by combining policies – Most car insurance companies apply discounts for people that have more than one policy, otherwise known as a multi-policy discount. Discounts can add up to five, ten or even twenty percent. Even with this discount applied, it’s in your best interest to comparison shop to verify if the discount is saving money.
  • Increase physical damage deductibles and save – Comprehensive and collision coverage deductibles represent how much money you are willing to pay if a claim is determined to be covered. Insurance for physical damage to your car, termed comprehensive and collision coverage on your policy, is used to repair damage to your car. Some instances where coverage would apply would be rearending another vehicle, hail damage, and damage caused by road hazards. The more expense you are required to pay out-of-pocket, the lower your rates will be on Cougar coverage.
  • Stay claim-free and save – Companies award the lowest premiums to insureds who are not frequent claim filers. If you are the type of insured that files lots of claims you can look forward to increased rates or even have your policy non-renewed. Auto insurance is intended for the bigger claims that can’t be paid out-of-pocket.

When to get professional advice

When buying the right insurance coverage, there is no “best” method to buy coverage. Every insured’s situation is different.

For instance, these questions can help discover whether or not you would benefit from professional advice.

  • Am I covered when driving a rental car?
  • When should my teen driver be added to my policy?
  • Should I get collision insurance on every vehicle?
  • Will my rates increase for filing one claim?
  • Am I covered if I hit a deer?
  • Do I need PIP (personal injury protection) coverage in my state?
  • What are the financial responsibility laws in my state?
  • Am I covered if I hit my neighbor’s mailbox?
  • Does coverage extend to my business vehicle?
  • Are split liability limits better than a combined single limit?

If you can’t answer these questions then you might want to talk to an agent. To find an agent in your area, complete this form.

Don’t believe everything you hear

Respected companies like Geico, State Farm and Progressive constantly bombard you with ads on television and other media. They all seem to state the claim about how much you will save after switching your insurance coverage to their company. How does every company sell you cheaper insurance coverage? Here is how they do it.

Insurance companies can use profiling for the type of insured that is profitable for them. For example, a preferred risk could be between the ages of 30 and 50, has had continuous coverage, and drives less than 7,500 miles a year. Any driver that hits that “sweet spot” is entitled to the best price and have a good chance to save some money.

Potential insureds who do not fit this ideal profile will be quoted higher premium rates which usually ends up with the driver buying from a lower-cost company. The ad wording is “customers who switch” not “everybody who quotes” save that kind of money. That is how companies can advertise the way they do. This really emphasizes why drivers should compare price quotes frequently. It’s just not possible to know which company will have the lowest car insurance rates for your situation.

Auto insurance coverage information

Knowing the specifics of a insurance policy aids in choosing which coverages you need for your vehicles. The terms used in a policy can be ambiguous and even agents have difficulty translating policy wording.

Auto liability – This protects you from damage that occurs to people or other property that is your fault. It protects YOU from legal claims by others. Liability doesn’t cover your own vehicle damage or injuries.

It consists of three limits, bodily injury per person, bodily injury per accident and property damage. As an example, you may have policy limits of 100/300/100 that translate to a limit of $100,000 per injured person, a total of $300,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident, and a total limit of $100,000 for damage to vehicles and property.

Liability coverage pays for claims like bail bonds, legal defense fees, medical services, funeral expenses and court costs. How much liability should you purchase? That is a decision to put some thought into, but you should buy as large an amount as possible.

Comprehensive coverage – This pays for damage from a wide range of events other than collision. You need to pay your deductible first and the remainder of the damage will be paid by comprehensive coverage.

Comprehensive coverage protects against things like damage from getting keyed, falling objects, theft and hitting a bird. The highest amount you can receive from a comprehensive claim is the ACV or actual cash value, so if the vehicle’s value is low it’s probably time to drop comprehensive insurance.

Collision coverages – This coverage will pay to fix damage to your Cougar caused by collision with a stationary object or other vehicle. You will need to pay your deductible and the rest of the damage will be paid by collision coverage.

Collision can pay for things like driving through your garage door, hitting a parking meter, sustaining damage from a pot hole, crashing into a ditch and damaging your car on a curb. Collision is rather expensive coverage, so consider dropping it from lower value vehicles. Drivers also have the option to choose a higher deductible to save money on collision insurance.

Medical payments coverage and PIP – Coverage for medical payments and/or PIP provide coverage for expenses such as pain medications, hospital visits and X-ray expenses. They are used to cover expenses not covered by your health insurance program or if you lack health insurance entirely. Medical payments and PIP cover both the driver and occupants as well as any family member struck as a pedestrian. PIP is not available in all states but it provides additional coverages not offered by medical payments coverage

Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage – Uninsured or Underinsured Motorist coverage protects you and your vehicle from other drivers when they either have no liability insurance or not enough. Covered losses include hospital bills for your injuries and damage to your Mercury Cougar.

Since a lot of drivers only carry the minimum required liability limits, their liability coverage can quickly be exhausted. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage is very important.

Make a quick buck

As you restructure your insurance plan, it’s not a good idea to buy lower coverage limits just to save a few bucks. There are many occasions where an accident victim reduced physical damage coverage only to find out that it was a big mistake. Your strategy should be to buy enough coverage at the best possible price but still have enough coverage for asset protection.

You just learned a lot of techniques to shop for 1996 Mercury Cougar insurance online. The most important thing to understand is the more times you quote, the higher your chance of finding affordable insurance. Consumers may even find the best price on insurance is with a company that doesn’t do a lot of advertising.

Insureds change insurance companies for many reasons like an unsatisfactory settlement offer, delays in paying claims, high prices or questionable increases in premium. It doesn’t matter what your reason, finding a new insurance company can be easy and end up saving you some money.

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