Car insurance is one of those purchases whose price can vary radically depending on which company you contact. Because of the wide disparity in rates when you make an auto insurance comparison, you need to know how to get the cheapest car insurance rates that you can. After all, if all other considerations are equal, the auto insurer with the best car insurance quote is often your best bet.

The first thing to do is make sure that you shop around thoroughly to get enough rate quotes that you can make a good educated decision. Just don't get a car insurance quote and buy the policy right there. As with so many other consumer decisions, car insurance is something that must be shopped and compared to get the best deal.

It's often suggested to get at least three car insurance quotes before making a decision, but that is more like the minimum actually. You can get insurance quotes both online and offline as car insurance companies vary as to how they sell insurance. There are still many who sell through a network of their own agents exclusively. Other insurance companies will also sell through independent agents who may represent several companies at a time and can offer to make an auto insurance comparison among all the companies that they represent to give you the best deal.

But one of the fastest growing trends in selling car insurance is the online, direct to consumer companies. The internet has changed the face of many industries and auto insurance is certainly one of those that have been permanently altered. Today, you can simply find one of the major insurance quote providers on the web, enter your information and get a quote from several sources in very little time at all. And because many of these companies have much less overhead than other more traditional insurers, they are able to sell direct to the consumer and save them money as they do.

However, there are some things that you should consider before making any car insurance purchase. Be sure that the company you buy from is financially stable. As more and more newer companies get into the car insurance field, this becomes critical, so check their financial stability on sites such as ambest.com and standardandpoors.com before you buy, and see how the company is rated. It's also a good idea to call your state insurance commissioner's office and see how many customer complaints have been received by a particular company that you are considering too. This can help you find out if they not only sell insurance, but also provide good customer service after the sale.

Finally, ask around among your family and friends about their experiences with car insurance companies and see what information you can get. This is often one of the best, most unbiased ways of learning about almost any kind of product that you want to buy, so factor what they have to say in making your final decision as well.

If you take the steps mentioned above as you make an auto insurance comparison, you should be able to get a good picture of what will be the best choice for you and how you can get cheap car insurance rates too.