5 Tips for Shopping for Gay Friendly Car Insurance

In a perfect world, buying and shopping for auto insurance should have no bearing on your sexual orientation. Why would an insurance company need to know this? With the rise in domestic partnerships and gay marriage in some states, people are looking for the same auto insurance benefits available to heterosexual married couples. Here are five tips to make shopping for gay-friendly car insurance a hassle-free experience.

Do their policies reflect your needs?
Before you begin your search, write down everything you'll need with your policy, including a price range. To save time, make sure the insurance carrier offers what you need before further researching a company's domestic partnership benefits and prominence within the community. If not, continue searching until you find an insurance company that suits your needs.

Check to see if the same benefits available to married couples apply to domestic partners/gay married couples:
This is the most important question to ask any potential insurance carrier. Auto insurance companies offering gay-friendly policies will have incentives and rates in place that contain the same benefits to domestic partner couples as they do for married couples. If they don't, continue looking for an insurance company that does offer these benefits.

Check with your current agent:
If you're currently happy with your provider, this should be your first step when shopping for gay friendly car insurance. Why fix what's broken, right? Many insurance companies already offer gay-friendly automobile insurance, so it's worth checking with your current insurer to see if the policies are already in place. It saves you the hassle of having to shop around for a new insurance company.

Ask for recommendations within your community:
Check with other friends within the gay community for gay-friendly auto insurance recommendations. Get the car insurance company's name as well as their agent's name. Chances are, if someone you trust is happy with their service, you will be too.

Research the insurance company:
By doing some research online, you can find out if an insurance company is GLBT-friendly. A few things to look for: Does the company offer domestic partnership benefits to their employees? Is the company active within the gay community? Does the company do any gay-targeted advertising? By doing a little online investigating on the insurance company, you can find out if the company respects and supports gay relationships.

Shopping for auto insurance is never exciting, but by checking out a carrier's stance on domestic partnership plans, it can save you money and headaches in the long run.