Are you trying to find the cheapest Toyota Highlander Hybrid insurance in Durham? Trying to find better insurance prices for a Toyota Highlander Hybrid in North Carolina can turn out to be an all-consuming task, but you can use our auto insurance buying tips and make it easy. There is a better way to compare auto insurance rates and you need to know the proper way to get price quotes for your Toyota and obtain the lowest possible price from Durham insurance agents and online providers.
Smart consumers take time to price shop coverage occasionally due to the fact that insurance prices trend upward over time. Even if you got the lowest quotes on Toyota Highlander Hybrid insurance in Durham on your last policy you can probably find a lower rate today. Ignore everything you know about auto insurance because it’s time to teach you how to quote online to save money, get proper coverage and the best rates.
The best way we recommend to compare insurance rates in your area takes advantage of the fact most insurance companies participate in online systems to give free rates quotes. To get started, all you need to do is give them some information such as if your license is active, how much coverage you want, your education level, and if you’re married. That rating data is then submitted to multiple top-rated companies and they provide comparison quotes very quickly.
To compare rates for your Toyota Highlander Hybrid now, click here and complete the quick form.
The car insurance companies shown below are ready to provide free rate quotes in North Carolina. In order to find the cheapest auto insurance in North Carolina, we recommend you compare several of them to get a more complete price comparison.
Do you qualify for discounts?
Insuring your vehicles can cost a lot, but discounts can save money and there are some available to help bring down the price. Most are applied at the time you complete a quote, but some must be asked about before you get the savings.
- Safety Restraint Discount – Forcing all vehicle occupants to buckle up can save up to 10 percent (depending on the company) off PIP or medical payments premium.
- Telematics Devices – Drivers that enable driving data collection to scrutinize vehicle usage through the use of a telematics system such as Progressive’s Snapshot and State Farm’s In-Drive could save a few bucks if they have good driving habits.
- Good Student – Getting good grades may save you up to 25%. The discount lasts well after school through age 25.
- Waiver for an Accident – This one is not really a discount per se, but a few companies such as Liberty Mutual, Allstate and State Farm may permit one accident before hitting you with a surcharge if you have no claims prior to being involved in the accident.
- Active Military Service – Being deployed in the military could trigger a small discount.
- Drivers Ed for Students – Make teen driver coverage more affordable by requiring them to take driver’s ed class in school or through a local driver safety program.
- Pay Upfront and Save – By making one initial payment rather than spreading payments over time you could save up to 5%.
One thing to note about discounts is that most credits do not apply to the overall cost of the policy. Most only cut the price of certain insurance coverages like medical payments or collision. If you do the math and it seems like having all the discounts means you get insurance for free, company stockholders wouldn’t be very happy.
For a list of car insurance companies that offer some of these discounts in Durham, click this link.
What if I want to buy from local Durham insurance agents?
A lot of people prefer to get professional advice from a licensed agent and there is nothing wrong with that. Most agents are trained risk managers and help file insurance claims. A nice benefit of comparing rate quotes online is you can get cheap insurance rates and also buy local.
After filling out this short form, the coverage information gets sent to local insurance agents who can give free rate quotes for your business. It makes it easy because there is no need to do any legwork due to the fact that quote results will go to you directly. In the event you want to get a comparison quote from a particular provider, you can always search and find their rate quote page and fill out the quote form the provide.
Finding the right insurer requires more thought than just the price. These are some questions you should get answers to.
- Is the agent CPCU or CIC certified?
- Do they have any clout with companies to ensure a fair claim settlement?
- Are they involved in claim handling?
- What insurance company do they write the most business with?
- How are they compensated?
- Is coverage determined by price?
- Is auto insurance their primary focus in Durham?
- If your car is in the repair shop, do you have coverage for a rental car?
Pick the best car insurance agent in Durham for you
If you need to find a reliable insurance agent, it’s helpful to know the types of agencies and how they differ in how they can insure your vehicles. Agencies in Durham can be categorized as either independent agents or exclusive agents. Both types can insure your vehicles, but it’s a good idea to understand the difference in how they write coverage since it could factor into the kind of agent you use.
Exclusive Insurance Agents
These agents generally can only insure with one company such as State Farm, Allstate, or Farmers Insurance. These agents are unable to provide rate quotes from other companies so keep that in mind. Exclusive agents are well trained in insurance sales which helps overcome the inability to quote other rates. Some people will only purchase coverage from exclusives mainly due to the brand name instead of buying on price only.
Listed below is a list of exclusive agencies in Durham that are able to give comparison quotes.
- Marty Lindsey – State Farm Insurance Agent
1852 Hillandale Rd – Durham, NC 27705 – (919) 479-9671 – View Map - Allstate Insurance Agent: Caufield Agency
4845 Industry Ln Ste D – Durham, NC 27713 – (919) 493-7471 – View Map - Debbie Leonard – State Farm Insurance Agent
3702 Hillsborough Rd #2b – Durham, NC 27705 – (919) 383-3887 – View Map
Independent Agents (or Brokers)
Agents of this type can quote rates with many companies so as a result can place your coverage through many different insurance companies and help determine which has the cheapest rates. If they quote lower rates, they can switch companies in-house and you don’t have to switch agencies. If you need cheaper insurance rates, you absolutely need to compare prices from several independent insurance agents to ensure the widest selection of prices. Most can insure with less well-known companies which can be an advantage.
Below are Durham independent insurance agencies that are able to give price quotes.
- Superior Insurance of Durham
3825 S Roxboro St #118 – Durham, NC 27713 – (919) 224-8034 – View Map - Bull City Insurance
121 Sherron Rd #302 – Durham, NC 27703 – (919) 596-0671 – View Map - Insurance Pros: Paradis James
3200 Croasdaile Dr # 603 – Durham, NC 27705 – (919) 294-6613 – View Map
Once you have received answers to your satisfaction to any questions you may have as well as a price you’re happy with, chances are good that you have found an auto insurance agent that is a good match to adequately provide insurance. It’s important to know that you have the power to cancel a policy at any time so don’t think that you’re stuck with the insurance policy for the full term.
Toyota Highlander Hybrid Insurance Price Factors
An important part of buying insurance is that you know some of the things that go into determining your car insurance rates. If you understand what determines base rates, this empowers consumers to make smart changes that can help you get lower car insurance prices. Multiple criteria are taken into consideration when you quote your car insurance policy. Some are pretty understandable such as your driving history, but some are more obscure such as your marital status or your commute time.
Shown below are a few of the things used by insurance companies to determine your rates.
Extra coverages push up prices – Policies have optional add-on coverages that sound like a good idea at the time on your Highlander Hybrid policy. Coverages like rental car reimbursement, towing coverage, and extra life insurance coverage may be wasting your money. They may seem good when talking to your agent, but your money might be better spent on other coverage so eliminate them to save money.
Vehicle features can affect car insurance rates – Selecting a car model with a theft deterrent system can help lower your premiums. Theft prevention features such as tamper alarm systems, vehicle immobilizer technology and General Motors OnStar all help stop your vehicle from being stolen.
Combine policies and save money – Some car insurance companies provide a discount to clients that have more than one policy. It’s known as a multi-policy discount. The discount can add up to ten or even fifteen percent. Even if you already get this discount, you may still want to compare other company rates to help ensure you have the lowest rates.
High credit rating translates to low prices – Having a bad credit rating is likely to be a major factor in determining what you pay for car insurance. People that have very high credit ratings tend to be better drivers and file fewer claims as compared to drivers with lower ratings. So if your credit leaves room for improvement, you could be paying less to insure your Toyota Highlander Hybrid by improving your credit score.
The type of car, truck or SUV you drive affects your premiums – The performance of the vehicle you drive makes a huge difference in determining your rates. Small economy passenger cars usually have the lowest rates, but the final cost of insurance is determined by many other factors.
Is you employer costing you more? – Careers like real estate brokers, business owners, and financial analysts have the highest rates attributed to intense work requirements and long work hours. Conversely, occupations like scientists, engineers and homemakers generally pay rates lower than average.
Liability limits are a factor – The liability coverage on your policy is the protection when you are ruled to be at fault for causing damage or personal injury in an accident. It will provide legal defense coverage to attempt to prove you were not liable. This coverage is relatively inexpensive compared to insuring for physical damage coverage, so buy as much as you can afford.
Toyota Highlander Hybrid claim probability – Companies take into consideration historical loss data for every vehicle when they set coverage costs for each model. Models that the data determines to have higher losses will have higher rates. The information below illustrates the insurance loss data for Toyota Highlander Hybrid vehicles.
For each coverage type, the claim probability for all vehicles, regardless of make or model, is considered to be 100. Percentage values below 100 imply a favorable loss record, while percentage values above 100 point to more losses or larger claims.
| Specific Toyota Model | Collision | Property Damage | Comp | Personal Injury | Medical Payment | Bodily Injury |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toyota Highlander Hybrid 4dr 4WD | 111 | 143 |
Empty fields indicate not enough data collected
Statistics Source: Insurance Institute for Highway Safety for 2013-2015 Model Years
Auto insurance is an important decision
Despite the high cost of buying insurance for a Toyota Highlander Hybrid in Durham, paying for auto insurance may not be optional for several reasons.
- Most states have mandatory insurance requirements which means you are required to carry a minimum amount of liability in order to get the vehicle licensed. In North Carolina these limits are 30/60/25 which means you must have $30,000 of bodily injury coverage per person, $60,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident, and $25,000 of property damage coverage.
- If you took out a loan on your Toyota Highlander Hybrid, it’s most likely the lender will make it a condition of the loan that you carry insurance to guarantee their interest in the vehicle. If you cancel or allow the policy to lapse, the bank will be required to insure your Toyota at a significantly higher premium and force you to pay for the much more expensive policy.
- Auto insurance preserves both your car and your assets. It will also provide coverage for many types of medical costs that are the result of an accident. One policy coverage, liability insurance, also pays expenses related to your legal defense if you cause an accident and are sued. If your vehicle suffers damage from an accident or hail, comprehensive (other-than-collision) and collision coverage will pay to repair the damage.
The benefits of having auto insurance definitely exceed the cost, especially with large liability claims. The average driver in North Carolina is currently overpaying as much as $750 every year so you should quote and compare rates at least once a year to make sure the price is not too high.
Persistent drivers can save
As you prepare to switch companies, do not skimp on coverage in order to save money. There have been many cases where drivers have reduced liability coverage limits to discover at claim time they didn’t have enough coverage. Your strategy should be to find the BEST coverage at the best price, not the least amount of coverage.
Consumers switch companies for any number of reasons including delays in responding to claim requests, high prices, delays in paying claims or even extreme rates for teen drivers. Whatever your reason, finding a new insurance company is pretty easy and you might even save some money in the process.
In this article, we presented many ideas to lower your Toyota Highlander Hybrid insurance premium rates in Durham. It’s most important to understand that the more rate comparisons you have, the better chance you’ll have of finding inexpensive Durham car insurance quotes. Consumers could even find that the lowest premium rates come from a small mutual company.
How to find affordable quotes for Toyota Highlander Hybrid insurance in Durham
The most effective way to get cheaper Toyota Highlander Hybrid insurance is to start comparing prices regularly from providers in Durham. Price quotes can be compared by completing these steps.
- Step 1: Try to learn a little about what coverages are included in your policy and the things you can change to keep rates in check. Many things that drive up the price like high-risk driving behaviors and an unacceptable credit rating can be eliminated by making minor driving habit or lifestyle changes.
- Step 2: Quote rates from exclusive agents, independent agents, and direct providers. Direct and exclusive agents can only give rate quotes from one company like GEICO and Allstate, while independent agencies can quote prices from multiple insurance companies. View a list of agents
- Step 3: Compare the price quotes to your existing policy and see if you can save money. If you can save some money and buy the policy, verify that coverage does not lapse between policies.
The critical component of shopping around is to use similar limits and deductibles on every quote request and and to get price estimates from every company you can. Doing this guarantees a fair price comparison and a better comparison of the market.
To learn more, feel free to browse the articles below:
- Winter Driving (Insurance Information Institute)
- Who Has Affordable Car Insurance for First-time Drivers in Durham? (FAQ)
- Who Has Affordable Durham Car Insurance Quotes for a Subaru Impreza? (FAQ)
- Who Has Affordable Car Insurance Rates for a GMC Sierra in Durham? (FAQ)
- Who Has Cheap Durham Auto Insurance for Business Use? (FAQ)
- Teen Driving Statistics (GEICO)
- Determining Your Vehicle’s Value and Repair Cost (Insurance Information Institute)
- Self-driving cars won’t replace humans (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
- Alcohol Impaired Driving FAQ (iihs.org)