What discounts does The General offer?

One of the first things that you think about when you hear The General auto insurance is their catchy jingle that plays on the radio and on television ads. It’s not hard to forget the number that you have to call to get insurance quotes, but you can’t let a brand’s advertising reel you in without doing any additional research.

It’s your duty as an auto insurance consumer to price the cost of plans and to assess the product offerings to see if the carrier is right for you.

One thing for sure is that The General isn’t for everyone. The company does offer fast, simple quotes and easy service options but the coverage options that are available are sub par. This is mainly because this is a sub-standard insurer that is in business to do business with drivers who need coverage but have bad driving records.

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If you’re still interested in seeing what types of discounts you can find with The General, here’s a consumer guide just for you:

Why do auto insurance carriers offer discounts?

Auto insurance companies have to put a lot of thought into how much they should charge their customers for coverage. Since everyone has the option to choose different levels of protection, a carrier will have rates that coincide with the number of units of coverage that you purchase. Your per unit charge is based solely on your risk factors and where you live.

Companies could just charge you a flat amount, but that wouldn’t give the company any room to be competitive. Since the industry is an extremely competitive one, it only makes sense for carriers to offer discounts.

Some discounts are given for proving that you’re a safe driver and others are given to influence your purchase. Just know that auto insurance discounts are never negotiable. You either qualify for the savings or you don’t.

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Types of Discounts Offered By The General

Out of all of the leading insurers, The General offers only 20 discounts. This is the second-lowest number of discounts offered in the industry compared to companies like AAA, Travelers, Farmers, Progressive, Geico, and MetLife. The only company to offer fewer discounts is State Farm.

While offering only a total of 20 discounts is a drawback, the carrier does still have an A financial rating through AM Best.

That means that, at a minimum, the company is financially strong.

If you’re going to shop the company’s auto insurance products, here are the three different types of discounts that you can look out for:

Drivers Discounts from The General

Who has access to a vehicle on your policy is a very important detail when you’re getting insurance. The company places the most weight on a driver’s experience and their record when setting personalized rates. While The General does have some of the most lenient underwriting guidelines in the industry, it’s still nice to get discounts. Here are the driver discounts you can qualify for:

• Defensive Driver (for drivers 50 and older who graduate an approved driver education course)
• Driver’s Ed (for drivers 21 and under who complete a voluntary teen driving course)
• Good Student (students in high school or college with a GPA of 3.0 or higher)
• Homeowner (policyholders who own homes or condos)
• Married (policyholders who are married)
• Military (in LA only)
• Occupation (discounts for occupations where drivers are statistically in fewer accidents)
• Senior Driver (only for drivers who are 55 and older)
• Safe Driver

Vehicle Discounts From The General

If you were to look at the vehicle discounts offered by other providers, it’d probably be a long list of ten or more options. With The General, the vehicle-related discounts that you can take advantage of are minimal. In fact, there are only five different discounts applied because of the type of car you drive and how it is equipped. These options include:

• Anti-lock Brakes
• Anti-theft (passive or active)
• Passive Restraint
• Vehicle Recovery (for LoJack, OnStar and Teletrac)
• Newer Car (save 40% off of medical-related premiums if the car is a 94′ or newer)

Policy Discounts From The General

If you’ve established a good insurance history or you’ve gone years without filing a claim, you could save 30 percent or more off of your total premiums. The General even offers savings to people who will pay upfront instead of setting up a monthly payment plan. Here are the policy discount offerings:

• Claim Free (for new customers who are three years of being accident-free)
• Full Payment (paying the total premium up front)
• Low Mileage (if you drive under 3500 miles per year)
• Loyalty (discount based on how long you’ve stayed with The General)
• Multi-policy (a bundle discount for buying two or more lines of insurance)
• Multi-car (savings for insuring two or more of your cars with The General)
• Auto Billing
• Transfer Discount (if you’ve been with another carrier for six or more months without a gap)

Potential Savings for Discounts

The General’s Discounts Compared to Other Providers

We’ve broken down how The General stacks up to other providers:

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Shopping Around

As nice as it would be to get a single quote and feel confident with your rates, you as a consumer need to shop around.

There are so many companies out there that offer competitive rates to people who have less than perfect driving pasts.

The only way to find out which companies can help you lower your insurance budget is to shop around.

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