Unbelievable but true according to a study most car insurance policyholders have remained with the same car insurance company for at least the last four years, and just under half have never even compared quotes to find lower-cost rates. Consumers in Pittsburgh could save $690 each year just by comparing rates, but most tend to underestimate how much they could save if they bought a different policy.
The recommended way to get cheaper car insurance rates is to compare quotes once a year from companies in Pittsburgh.
- Try to learn about how insurance works and the factors you can control to prevent expensive coverage. Many rating criteria that increase rates such as tickets, at-fault accidents, and poor credit history can be rectified by making lifestyle changes or driving safer.
- Compare price quotes from direct carriers, independent agents, and exclusive agents. Direct and exclusive agents can only give prices from a single company like GEICO or State Farm, while agents who are independent can provide rate quotes for a wide range of insurance providers.
- Compare the new rates to your existing policy to see if switching to a new carrier will save money. If you find a lower rate quote and buy the policy, make sure there is no coverage gap between policies.
- Notify your company or agent of your decision to cancel your current coverage. Submit a down payment and signed policy application for your new policy. As soon as you receive it, store the proof of insurance certificate with the vehicle registration.
The critical component of shopping around is to use the same liability limits and deductibles on every quote and and to get prices from as many companies as feasibly possible. Doing this enables an apples-to-apples comparison and the best rate selection.
Choosing the most cost-effective car insurance policy in Pittsburgh is really quite easy. If you have insurance now or just want cheaper rates, follow these tips to find better prices without reducing protection. Consumers just have to use the least time-consuming way to shop their coverage around online.
Lowering your insurance rates is surprisingly easy. All you need to do is take time getting comparison quotes from online providers.
Comparing price quotes online is fast and free, and it takes the place of having to waste gas driving to local insurance agencies. Comparing Subaru Forester insurance rates online makes this unnecessary unless you require the trained advice only provided by licensed agents. However, consumers can get prices online but have a local agent actually write the policy.
The car insurance companies shown below offer price comparisons in Pittsburgh, PA. To buy cheap auto insurance in PA, we recommend you visit several of them to get the most affordable price.
Rates and other information
The coverage information below outlines a range of coverage costs for Subaru Forester models. Having a good understanding how auto insurance prices are determined can help you make smart buying decisions.
| Model | Comp | Collision | Liability | Medical | UM/UIM | Annual Premium | Monthly Premium |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forester X AWD | $200 | $338 | $316 | $18 | $94 | $966 | $81 |
| Forester X Premium AWD | $200 | $338 | $316 | $18 | $94 | $966 | $81 |
| Forester X Premium AWP AWD | $200 | $338 | $316 | $18 | $94 | $966 | $81 |
| Forester X Limited Edition AWD | $224 | $338 | $316 | $18 | $94 | $990 | $83 |
| Forester X Limited Edition W/Navigation AWD | $224 | $400 | $316 | $18 | $94 | $1,052 | $88 |
| Forester XT AWD | $224 | $400 | $316 | $18 | $94 | $1,052 | $88 |
| Forester XT Limited Edition AWD | $224 | $400 | $316 | $18 | $94 | $1,052 | $88 |
| Forester XT Limited Edition W/Navigation AWD | $224 | $400 | $316 | $18 | $94 | $1,052 | $88 |
| Get Your Own Custom Quote Go | |||||||
Premium data assumes single female driver age 50, no speeding tickets, no at-fault accidents, $500 deductibles, and Pennsylvania minimum liability limits. Discounts applied include safe-driver, multi-policy, multi-vehicle, claim-free, and homeowner. Premium costs do not factor in garaging location in Pittsburgh which can modify premiums significantly.
Auto insurance premiums based on gender
The chart below illustrates the difference between Subaru Forester insurance costs for male and female drivers. The costs are based on no tickets, no at-fault accidents, comprehensive and collision coverage, $500 deductibles, single status, and no discounts are taken into consideration.
Subaru Forester liability-only versus full coverage
The information below shows the comparison of Subaru Forester insurance rates with full physical damage coverage compared to only buying the minimum liability limits required in Pennsylvania. Data assumes no claims, a clean driving record, $1,000 deductibles, single marital status, and no discounts are applied to the premium.
When to drop comp and collision
There is no set rule for eliminating comp and collision coverage, but there is a guideline you can use. If the yearly cost of comp and collision coverage is about 10% or more of replacement cost minus your deductible, then you might want to consider buying only liability coverage.
For example, let’s pretend your Subaru Forester replacement cost is $9,000 and you have $1,000 deductibles. If your vehicle is totaled in an accident, the most you would receive is $8,000 after paying your deductible. If you are paying over $800 annually to have full coverage, the it may be a good time to stop paying for full coverage.
There are some circumstances where removing full coverage is not a good plan. If you haven’t satisfied your loan, you have to maintain full coverage to satisfy the loan requirements. Also, if your savings is not enough to buy a different vehicle in the event your current vehicle is totaled, you should keep full coverage on your policy.
Why you need to buy insurance
Despite the potentially high cost of Subaru Forester insurance, insurance serves a purpose in several ways.
- Most states have mandatory liability insurance requirements which means state laws require a specific level of liability insurance in order to drive the car. In Pennsylvania these limits are 15/30/5 which means you must have $15,000 of bodily injury coverage per person, $30,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident, and $5,000 of property damage coverage.
- If your Subaru has a loan, more than likely the lender will force you to buy insurance to guarantee their interest in the vehicle. If coverage lapses or is canceled, the bank may buy a policy for your Subaru at a more expensive rate and force you to pay for the much more expensive policy.
- Insurance protects both your Subaru and your assets. It also can pay for medical expenses incurred in an accident. As part of your policy, liability insurance will also pay attorney fees if anyone sues you for causing an accident. If you have damage to your Subaru as the result of the weather or an accident, comprehensive (other-than-collision) and collision coverage will cover the repair costs.
The benefits of having insurance are definitely more than the cost, specifically if you ever have a liability claim. The average driver in America overpays as much as $810 a year so you should quote and compare rates once a year at a minimum to make sure the price is not too high.
Seven discounts for cheap auto insurance quotes
Insurance can be prohibitively expensive, but there could be significant discounts to help bring down the price. A few discounts will be applied when you get a quote, but some discounts are required to be inquired about prior to getting the savings. If you’re not getting every credit you deserve, you are not getting the best rate possible.
- Clubs and Organizations – Being in a qualifying organization could earn you a nice discount on your bill.
- Paper-free Discount – Some of the larger companies will provide an incentive simply for signing on the web.
- Smart Student Discounts – This discount can be rewarded with saving of up to 25%. The discount lasts up until you turn 25.
- No Claim Discounts – Pittsburgh drivers who stay claim-free are rewarded with significantly better rates on Pittsburgh car insurance quote in comparison to policyholders that have many claims.
- ABS Brakes – Cars that have steering control and anti-lock brakes can avoid accidents and will save you 10% or more on Forester insurance in Pittsburgh.
- Bundle and Save – If you can combine your auto and homeowners policy with the same insurance company you may earn up to 20% off your total Forester insurance premium.
- Payment Discounts – If you pay your bill all at once instead of monthly or quarterly installments you can avoid the installment charge.
Discounts reduce rates, but you should keep in mind that many deductions do not apply to the entire policy premium. Most cut the cost of specific coverages such as collision or personal injury protection. Despite the appearance that you would end up receiving a 100% discount, companies don’t profit that way.
The illustration below visualizes the comparison of Subaru Forester insurance costs with and without discounts. The premium estimates are based on a male driver, no violations or accidents, Pennsylvania state minimum liability limits, comprehensive and collision coverage, and $1,000 deductibles. The first bar for each age group shows premium with no discounts. The second shows the rates with claim-free, homeowner, marriage, safe-driver, multi-car, and multi-policy discounts applied.
A few companies that possibly offer most of the discounts above include:
If you want low cost Pittsburgh car insurance quotes, ask each company or agent which discounts can lower your rates. Some discounts listed above might not be offered in your area. To choose providers who offer free Subaru Forester insurance quotes in Pittsburgh, click here.
Insurance agencies can help
A lot of people would prefer to talk to an insurance agent and we recommend doing that Good agents can help you build your policy and help you file claims. A good thing about getting free rate quotes online is you can get cheap rate quotes and also buy local.
For easy comparison, once you complete this form (opens in new window), your information is submitted to insurance agents in Pittsburgh who will gladly provide quotes for your coverage. It simplifies rate comparisons since you won’t have to search for an agent due to the fact that quote results will go immediately to you. If for some reason you want to compare rates from a particular provider, you would need to find their quoting web page to submit a rate quote request.
Choosing the best insurance company requires more thought than just the bottom line cost. Get answers to these questions too.
- Which members of your family are coverage by the policy?
- Are you getting all the discounts the company offers?
- Do they offer accident forgiveness?
- How often do they review policy coverages?
- Can you use your own choice of collision repair facility?
- Is the agent properly licensed in Pennsylvania?
- What insurance companies do they recommend if they are an independent agent?
- Are they able to influence company decisions when a claim is filed?
When looking for a local agent, it helps to know the two different agency structures that differ in how they can insure your vehicles. Insurance policy providers can either be exclusive or independent agents depending on their company appointments. Either one can do a good job, but it is a good idea to know the difference in the companies they write for since it could factor into the selection process.
Exclusive Agencies
Agents that choose to be exclusive can usually just insure with one company and examples are Farmers Insurance, American Family, State Farm and Allstate. These agents are unable to provide rate quotes from other companies so they really need to provide good service. Exclusive insurance agents receive extensive training on sales techniques and that can be a competitive advantage.
The following is a list of exclusive agencies in Pittsburgh that are able to give comparison quotes.
Danielle Howard – State Farm Insurance Agent
1500 Ardmore Blvd Ste 403 – Pittsburgh, PA 15221 – (412) 351-3305 – View Map
Steve Heller – State Farm Insurance Agent
146 Forest Hills Rd – Pittsburgh, PA 15221 – (412) 824-4800 – View Map
Adriana Pasquini – State Farm Insurance Agent
735 Copeland St, FL2, Pittsburgh 15232 – FL2, PA 15232 – (412) 904-1268 – View Map
Independent Insurance Agencies
Independent agencies do not work for one specific company so they have the ability to put coverage with a variety of different insurance companies and get the cheapest rates. If prices rise, they simply move the coverage in-house and you don’t have to do anything. When shopping rates, you need to get several quotes from at a minimum one independent agency to get the best comparison.
Below are independent agencies in Pittsburgh who can help you get price quote information.
Feeney Insurance Agency
1350 Old Freeport Rd – Pittsburgh, PA 15238 – (412) 963-8850 – View Map
Kartsonas Agency, Inc.
421 Cochran Rd – Pittsburgh, PA 15228 – (412) 563-5900 – View Map
McElhinny Insurance Agency LLC
5624 Brownsville Rd – Pittsburgh, PA 15236 – (412) 650-5700 – View Map
After getting satisfactory answers to your questions as well as an affordable premium quote, you may have found an auto insurance agent that can be trusted to adequately provide insurance. But remember, it’s your coverage and you can cancel your policy whenever you want so never feel that you are permanently stuck with the insurance policy with no way to switch.
Learn about insurance coverages for a Subaru Forester
Understanding the coverages of a insurance policy helps when choosing the best coverages for your vehicles. The coverage terms in a policy can be ambiguous and reading a policy is terribly boring. These are the usual coverages found on most insurance policies.
Uninsured and underinsured coverage
This gives you protection when the “other guys” either are underinsured or have no liability coverage at all. Covered claims include medical payments for you and your occupants as well as your vehicle’s damage.
Since many Pennsylvania drivers only carry the minimum required liability limits (15/30/5 in Pennsylvania), their liability coverage can quickly be exhausted. This is the reason having UM/UIM coverage is very important.
Coverage for medical payments
Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and medical payments coverage pay for expenses for things like EMT expenses, doctor visits and hospital visits. They can be used to cover expenses not covered by your health insurance policy or if you lack health insurance entirely. Coverage applies to all vehicle occupants as well as if you are hit as a while walking down the street. Personal injury protection coverage is only offered in select states but it provides additional coverages not offered by medical payments coverage
Collision protection
This pays for damage to your Forester resulting from colliding with another car or object. A deductible applies and then insurance will cover the remainder.
Collision coverage pays for things such as damaging your car on a curb, colliding with a tree, backing into a parked car and sustaining damage from a pot hole. Collision coverage makes up a good portion of your premium, so consider removing coverage from older vehicles. Another option is to raise the deductible on your Forester in order to get cheaper collision rates.
Liability
This provides protection from injuries or damage you cause to a person or their property that is your fault. Liability coverage has three limits: bodily injury for each person injured, bodily injury for the entire accident and a property damage limit. You commonly see liability limits of 15/30/5 that translate to $15,000 bodily injury coverage, a total of $30,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident, and property damage coverage for $5,000.
Liability can pay for things like structural damage, pain and suffering, medical expenses, repair bills for other people’s vehicles and court costs. How much coverage you buy is up to you, but you should buy as much as you can afford. Pennsylvania requires drivers to carry at least 15/30/5 but you should consider buying more coverage.
The illustration below demonstrates why the minimum limit may not provide adequate coverage.
Comprehensive coverages
This coverage pays for damage caused by mother nature, theft, vandalism and other events. You first must pay your deductible then your comprehensive coverage will pay.
Comprehensive can pay for claims such as damage from a tornado or hurricane, a tree branch falling on your vehicle, hail damage, damage from flooding and rock chips in glass. The maximum payout your insurance company will pay is the cash value of the vehicle, so if it’s not worth much more than your deductible it’s not worth carrying full coverage.
Don’t give up on cheaper coverage
We just presented some good ideas how to find affordable Subaru Forester insurance in Pittsburgh. The most important thing to understand is the more rate comparisons you have, the higher your chance of finding affordable Subaru Forester insurance quotes. You may even find the biggest savings come from a small local company. Some small companies may have significantly lower prices on certain market segments than the large multi-state companies such as State Farm, GEICO and Nationwide.
When shopping online for auto insurance, it’s a bad idea to buy poor coverage just to save money. In many cases, an accident victim reduced liability limits or collision coverage to discover at claim time they didn’t purchase enough coverage. Your focus should be to get the best coverage possible at the lowest possible cost, but do not skimp to save money.
Additional resources
- How to Avoid Staged Accidents (State Farm)
- How Much is Auto Insurance for a Hyundai Sonata in Pittsburgh? (FAQ)
- Who Has the Cheapest Auto Insurance for a Company Car in Pittsburgh? (FAQ)
- What Insurance is Cheapest for a Hyundai Elantra in Pittsburgh? (FAQ)
- Who Has the Cheapest Car Insurance for Active Military in Pittsburgh? (FAQ)
- What Car Insurance is Cheapest for High Risk Drivers in Pittsburgh? (FAQ)
- Who Has the Cheapest Auto Insurance Rates for a Ford Escape in Pittsburgh? (FAQ)
- Insuring a Leased Car (Insurance Information Institute)
- Things to Know Before you Cancel Insurance (Allstate)
- Keeping Children Safe in Crashes Video (iihs.org)