These days we conduct so much of our lives online that it just makes sense to shop for car insurance online as well. There are a number of excellent car insurance shopping sites on the market, all promising to find you the very lowest price on the car insurance coverage you need. Even so, it is important to understand that while these sites certainly do have merit, they have their limitations as well. Finding the best price on the car insurance coverage you need often requires a combination of online shopping and good old fashioned telephone calls.

Taking this combination approach to car insurance shopping will help you overcome some of the limitations inherent in these sites, while at the same time allowing you to capture the value these sites provide. A good car insurance comparison site can do in a matter of minutes what it would have taken you days or even weeks to do – namely compare the rates and coverage for dozens of different insurance companies. The results provided by these sites provide a good baseline for your shopping. The key is to complement those results with your own savvy shopping methods.

Determining Your Coverage Needs

One thing that online car insurance sites cannot do is determine how much coverage you really need. While some sites do provide guidance in this area, it is critical that you do your own analysis to determine the best level of coverage for you and your family.  Having sufficient liability coverage in place is especially critical – simply going with the state mandated minimum coverage amounts can leave you dangerously underinsured.

Sitting down with a CPA or financial planner to determine not only your insurance needs but your overall financial needs can be a good move. This will allow you to determine the best coverage levels before you start shopping online for the car insurance you need.

Not All Companies Participate

Another important limitation of those online car insurance comparison sites is that it is likely that not all car insurers doing business in your area participate in the comparison sites. Before you get started, have a look around the site and look for a list of participating car insurance companies. Then get out the phone book and go through the list of car insurance companies listed there. Circle the ones that do not participate in the online site so you can contact them directly.

It is also a good idea to get quotes from several different online comparison sites, since each site will have a different list of participating companies.  This will give you the biggest variety to choose from as you shop, and increase your odds of finding the best policy for the lowest possible price.

Apples to Apples

Before you start gathering quotes it is important to write down all the specifications for your policy, including the levels of deductibles, the presence or absence of collision coverage and the level of liability and property damage coverage. Having all of this information in front of you will make it easier to enter your data accurately, and this will ensure that all the quotes you receive are for the same level of coverage. You can then use those save coverage levels when you contact additional insurers directly. Having this information at your disposal will make comparison shopping a lot easier.

Once those quotes start coming back it is important to review them carefully. While your goal is to get the most coverage for the least possible amount of money, beware of quotes that seem unrealistically low. If you do receive a quote that is significantly lower than all the rest, be sure to check out the ratings for the insurance company – the last thing you want is to have your car insurance company go out of business when you need them the most.

With some savvy shopping and some online tools you can find a great policy at a price you can afford. The key is to understand both the benefits and the limitations of both online car insurance sites and traditional shopping methods.