Auto Insurance Rates – What’s the Deal and How Does an Independent Agency Help?

It’s possible that if you’ve had your car insurance renew within the last year, or if any of your friends and family have, then you may have noticed that rates are starting to trend upwards. Now, this is not just 1 or 2 companies, this is starting to become a fairly standard thing across the insurance industry. This blog post is designed to help answer why this is happening, and why The Johnson Insurance Agency, as an Independent Agency, is best suited to help.

First, why are auto insurance rates going up, especially if you have no new activity on your record? The main reason for these increases is a simple one: Gas Prices. Now, some may disagree, but compared to the last 10-15 years, the last couple years gas prices have been at a steady, lower price. When gas prices go lower, more people drive. When  more people drive, then the roads are fuller (as I’m sure you have noticed, especially in Washington State). When the roads are more full, this increases the risk for accidents and violations. Not only does it increase the risk, but it does in fact increase accidents and violations, which in turn increases the amount of claims that insurance companies are paying out.

The more money paid out for claims, the higher premiums will go up. Understandably, this can be a hard pill to swallow if you are not one of the drivers causing any accidents! Unfortunately, across the board rate increases can happen to you, even with a perfect record. Especially if you live in an area that has seen an increase in claims.

So far, this all seems like bad news. However, now we will look at why The Johnson Insurance Agency is best suited to help you battle rate increases.

The reason that we, as an Independent Agency, are best able to help is simple as well: We work with multiple different insurance carriers. How does this help you? Well, all carriers have slightly different ideas on what type of business they like writing, and different ways of deciding premiums. So, let’s say you are with “Company A” and your rate increases. What can you do? You are busy and don’t have time to call and do research on all the other carriers out there. Well, with us it’s quite easy! If your rate goes up, we can take a look at “Companies B-D” and compare that to “Company A” to find the best rate for you! This is easy for you, because we already have all your information from your current policy and can run that through all our other carriers as well. This saves you time, and helps you make the most informed decision on what carrier you would like to be with. For a list of our carriers, click HERE.

So there you have it. Even though premiums may be going up, The Johnson Insurance Agency is here to help you! All you need to do is contact us to get started.

As always, feel free to contact us: 800.789.5940, or Request a Quote online to see what discounts you are eligible for!

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