Living in the shadow of Chicago means always having ways to spend your free time. From watching the ponies run at Arlington Park to catching an afternoon game at Wrigley, there are nearly limitless ways to separate you from your money. Combine the many leisure activities with Arlington Heights relatively high cost of living—10% above the U.S. average in 2009—and you realize that the more ways you can save money on fixed expenses the better. With insurance there are many ways to save: education and comparison shopping are two of the biggies. Let's look at both strategies when shopping for Arlington Heights insurance quotes.
Decoding Homeowner's Insurance
Illinois weather can throw anything at you—snow, flooding, tornadoes. Are you prepared for anything when it comes to protecting your biggest asset? Homeowner's insurance isn't terribly complicated but you should know a few things to ask when shopping for Arlington Heights insurance quotes. For example, will the policy pay "actual cash value" (ACV) or "replacement" cost of a claim? ACV pays for replacement or repair to your home or property minus any depreciation. Replacement pays for rebuilding or replacing your property with like kinds. Then there's "guaranteed replacement cost" that pays for repair or replacement even if it exceeds your policy's limits.
Do you have valuables like jewelry, artwork, antiques or special collections? If so, you would need an additional "floater" policy to cover them.
Flood insurance is never included in your policy. You can check floodsmart.gov to see if you're home is in a risky area. Even "low risk" areas make up 25% of the policy claims in floods.
Auto: Breaking It Down
Insurers use a number of complex, mind-numbing statistics and models to assess risk when computing your Arlington Heights insurance quotes. Some of what goes into the equation are just hard numbers. For example, if you're driving into Chicago to work every day you're increasing your risk of accident. Half of Illinois' 400,000 accidents in 2008 occurred in Cook County according to the Illinois Department of Transportation. And while Lake County's numbers are significantly lower, they're still the third highest in the state.
You can lower your rates on Arlington Heights insurance quotes just by taking public transit or carpooling. The threshold for lower rates on yearly miles driven is 7,500. Take the Merta into Chicago three days a week and you're there. If nothing else, leave the car home on Fridays—the worst day for accidents in Illinois. And driving at night—commuting home in the winter months—is when most accidents occur by a margin of 3 to 1. Ouch!
Saving on Arlington Heights Insurance Quotes
Now that you have a little more information, it's time to put it all together with NetQuote. NetQuote will scour the web, comparing policies from a huge selection of insurance providers. It's free, easy and may just leave enough money in your pocket to do more important things like catching a Sox game.
