CHECKED…1. Do your utmost to always drive carefully. You’ll be making a smart resolution to stay away from the wheels if you take alcohol.
If you’re convicted for driving under the influence (DUI) you’ll NOT see anything but high rates for a very long time. Even little things like speeding tickets eventually add up to make you get more expensive rates on the long run. You’ll do yourself a world of good by obeying all traffic laws always.
CHECKED…2…Option…A… Although most people will question the wisdom behind this, your credit rating is used to decide whether you’re a good a bad risk. Most insurers now take your credit rating into consideration when deciding what you should pay. Some experts will tell you that experience has shown a predictable pattern between the two. Profiles with poor credit rating, they claim, are usually less responsible on the road than those who have excellent rating.
CHECKED…2…Option…B…An excellent credit rating will show in your favour with respect to your auto insurance rate. Those who have bad credit pay high rates for all forms of insurance and that includes auto insurance. The simple reason for this is that there is a general consensus among most insurers that there is a correlation between poor credit histories and high risks. For some insurers it shows a pattern they believe you’re quite likely to repeat with them in premium defaults. Once you are noted as bad risk you’ll get more expensive auto insurance premiums.
CHECKED…3. Folks who have more than one vehicle will make huge savings if they insure all those cars with the same auto insurance provider. Nevertheless, there are some cases where you’ll make more savings by buying from different insurers. Doing some shopping and then checking with what you’ll get from a multi-vehicle discount is a good way to know for sure if this is in your best interest. But anyway, a multi-vehicle discount is one way to get cheaper rates.
NEW…CHECKED…4. A multi-policy discount is a sure option to reduce your overall insurance cost. That is, for example, if you get your auto policy from the very provider that underwrites your home insurance.
Howbeit, bear in mind that you might be better off if you purchase your various policies from various carriers who have the lowest quotes for each policy. Shopping around for quotes and comparing them with what you’ll save are very beneficial steps. You will be sure of the right option in your case if you do this.
NEW…(CHECKED)…5. Remaining claims-free will make you eligible a special discount. But don’t be surprised if your agent says that your car insurance provider doesn’t offer this discount.
If your insurance provider is one of those who don’t give this discount tell them without mincing words that you will move over to another provider. With this kind of driving record getting a much better rate is definitely very easy because claims-free policy holders are every insurer’s dream.
But more often than not the threat of switching from you is enough to force them to shift grounds.
NEW….CHECKED….6. If you maintain collision and/or comprehensive for an old vehicle which is not a classic, then you’re paying a lot more than is necessary. The logic for this is that insurance providers base your compensation on what is referred to as the Kelly Blue Book value of your vehicle at any given point in time. Therefore, you will get nothing if that book says that your car isn’t worth a dime at the time of a claim.
So, do yourself a favor and drop these coverage types from your policy for all old vehicles. You’ll save much if you do this.
NEW…CHECKED…7. You’ll land a lower rate if you choose high deductibles. It is a wise move to have a deductible that’s as high as possible but always within easy reach for you.
Your insurance provide you to contribute this amount. Therefore make it very high but ensure it’s within easy reach.
NEW…CHECKED…8. Drive as little as possible as it will bring down your mileage and make you eligible for a low mileage discount. This is especially recommended for those of us who stay in cities with modern mass transit systems.
Another great alternative for people who want to bring down their mileage is joining a car pool.
CHECKED…9. We all are aware of the fact that hardly any other age range pays as much for auto insurance as those who are below 25 years of age. However, one thing you can do to attract more affordable rates if you fall into this age range is maintain good grades.
This discount is for those who get A’s or a minimum of B’s. It attracts a discount of about five percent. This discount is given because insurers believe there is a correlation between good grades and a young driver’s behavior behind wheels. It’s quite hard to meet reckless under-25 drivers who keep getting wonderful grades.
NEW…CHECKED…10. If you’re a senior citizen you can cut down your rate if you take courses meant for older drivers. Since going through this could earn you a discount of up to 10%, it is definitely worth giving a try. To get extensive details of what to do and the amount you can save with your insurance carrier, consult your agent.
NEW…CHECKED…11. Retirees are offered a special discount by several insurance providers. The simple logic for this discount is that retirees generally drive less. Driving less means reduced mileage which definitely makes you a better risk.
Remember that you are eligible for this if you’re a retiree. Get your insurer’s policy on this. If for some reasons they don’t have a discount like this, don’t forget to inform your agent about the change in your mileage. Unless the drop in your mileage isn’t considerable, you should switch to another insurance provider if you don’t get a discount.
NEW…CHECKED…12. There are many theft-deterrent gadgets like automatic gas cut-off system, alarm systems and so on. Considering that they cut down the odds of your car being stolen, they result in a reasonable discount. Cars that don’t have such mechanisms are preferred targets for thieving rats.
CHECKED…13. Some insurers will give you a discount if you belong to an auto club. Even if this discount is negligible it’s still some savings for you.
NEW…CHECKED…14. You can attract discounts from several insurance carriers if you’re a member of associations particularly the big ones. It is a smart move for an automobile insurance provider to extend a group discount to a group that has a large membership. Even though you may not necessarily join an association because of a group auto insurance discount, it’s up to you to benefit from if it’s been extended to any association you are part of.
NEW…CHECKED…15. Several insurance providers will hand you a discount if a child on your auto insurance policy is away at school and does not drive the vehicle within that time frame. Take advantage of this if your child is away at school. Just note that some insurance companies don’t have this discount.
CHECKED…16. Some cars are quite expensive to insure. So as you look out for the wonderful specs of the vehicle you intend to buy, take some time to ask if it costs too much to insure. Two things that will make you pay more for auto insurance are a car’s crash rating and theft rate.
Another thing to find out is a car’s maintainance cost because this is also an issue that determines your rate. With a little diligence you can avoid buying a vehicle that will cost you thousands in higher rates over a few years.
NEW…CHECKED…17. You’ll spend less on auto insurance if your car has a higher safety rating. Opt for vehicles that have features that increase safety. You’ll be eligible for a Safe Car discount if your vehicle has such mechanisms. Examples of these safety mechanisms are air bags, automatic seatbelt, ABS brakes and daytime running lights. To get more information on this and how much you can save by fixing them, discuss with your insurance agent.
18. You will qualify for a discount if you are a member of a car pool. The clear argument for this is that it cuts down your mileage. You’ll save in direct proportion to how much using a carpool cuts down your mileage.
NEW…CHECKED…19. If you work for a big firm you should be entitled to a group discount. In a bid to woo members of big organizations, insurance companies often offer them a group discount.
CHECKED…20. All professions are not equal — At least as far as auto insurance is concerned. An attorney gets higher rates than a pilot. Members of certain professions use their cars a lot more and, as a group, show traits that make them higher risks.
Ask your agent if your vocation attracts certain discounts. Nevertheless, the discount you’ll get varies from company to company.
NEW…CHECKED…21. People who reside in crowded areas are more likely to have one form of vehicle accident or another if compared to people who reside in sparsely populated areas. If you can live in a sparsely populated area you’ll get the better quotes because the risk of vandalism, crash or theft is quite low in such areas.
NEW…CHECKED…22. A careful re-assessment of your policy could reveal several points you’re throwing away hard-earned dollars. The plain explanation for this is that things about us change every so often without us even being aware of them. How many people, for example, remember to remove their daughters from their car insurance policies immediately they get married?
In addition, there are discounts you might be entitled to. You might as well have no more use for some coverage types.
Therefore, don’t fail to review your insurance policies periodically. Don’t be surprised if you discover that you need to make adjustments or report changes that will bring about big savings.
CHECKED…23. For no reason must you allow your auto insurance policy to lapse.. It will make you pay high premiums for a long time. It’s easy for this to happen to some people while they are switching to another insurance provider.
One way to be certain you do NOT make this type of mistake is to leave your old policy intact until you’re sure the new policy is fully operational. It appear to be simple but, take it or leave it, a lot of people are paying higher rates today just because they overlooked this.
24. Do you know that you might be losing money if you have a car that you’ve not used for months? Is one of your cars been covered in the garage for up to six months because it’s broken? Is this car still on your auto insurance policy or have you removed it?
Simple as this looks a lot of people end up paying thousands in unnecessary premiums because they don’t remember to remove such cars from their policy. I hope this is not the case with you.
25. If you choose to pay your premiums monthly, you will pay higher rates. True, paying monthly might be stressless but they are also costly.
Each check that is processed attracts a fee. While annual payment requires just one check and therefore a transaction for a year, monthly payments attrract twelve. This implies that you will pay transaction charges 12 times..
There are also administrative costs to your insurance provider that result just from taking monthly payments. For instance, it costs some money to send payment notices each and every month.
All such costs to an insurer is eventually borne by you (that’s in addition to their own profit margin for giving you such a “stressless” alternative).
26. You’ll be given cheaper rates if you make your payments by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT). This authorizes your insurance provider to automatically withdraw your payments from your account at specified intervals. This eliminates administrative costs like those involved in sending payment notices. The insurance company gives you part of what they save by bringing down your premium.
27. It’s a known fact that young drivers attract high rates. Worse still, if they are teenagers their auto insurance rates could be really high.
Therefore, as much as possible, do not place such a driver on your own policy. It will drive it up by a huge margin. Your teen driver should have his/her own policy. This will be made possible if you sign an exclusion form.
Let your teen bear the responsibility of paying for their auto insurance. This act will save you more than money as your teen driver will happily listen when suggestions are made on things that will bring down the high rates they pay. The full implication of this is that your teen will be a lot safer as they’d do their best to avoid inflating their rates.
I STOPPED HERE On Preparation for FTS…
28. The longer you stick with the same insurer the more you stand to gain for two reasons: The long term discount and accident forgiveness. Most insurers will give you a discount of about 5% if you stay with them for up to five years (some will give you once you stay for up to three.
Most insurers will also not raise the rates of a long standing policy holder if they make only just one claim. Insurers offer these as incentives to keep you with them since it serves them better too. The longer you stay, the more you’ll save.
Just bear in mind that some people will be better off if they switched to another insurer notwithstanding the many discounts given to long term policy holders.
Say, for example, that your auto insurance premium with your current insurance provider is $2,500 you’ll get a discount of about 5% or $125 if you maintain your policy with them for at least 3 years.
But also know that your rates may be raised to reflect the effect of inflation. Between these three years you would most likely get an insurance provider who’ll offer you a similar auto insurance coverage or better for less than $2,000. In this regard, it will be pointless to continue because you want to get a discount years later when you can enjoy lower rates at the moment.
Moreover, in most cases, most folks will easily pay cheaper rates than they are currentl on auto insurance if they shop right.. In order to know if you are not loosing better offers, get and compare auto insurance quotes not less than five insurance quotes sites..
29. Try your best possible to present the facts exactly the way they are. Insurance fraud costs us all.
If you couldn’t care less about the cost to everyone in general, don’t forget that your insurer is free to cancel your policy on the grounds of false representation. You’ll then lose in a very big way. Insurers increase your rates by a good margin once you’ve let your policy lapse or had it cancelled for reasons like this.
It’s been estimated that insurance fraud adds up to $1,500 to the average family’s insurance premium annually. You can save us all this extra burden by representing your details truthfully.
30. A1…You might be duplicating coverage and paying more unnecessarily if you have a very good health insurance coverage and also an extensive personal injury protection on your auto insurance policy.
A2…Having an extensive personal injury protection is unnecessary and costly if you have a very good health insurance coverage.
B1…Make your personal injury protection as low as the minimum required by law in your state if your health insurance coverage takes proper care of you in case of an accident.
B2…If you can, eliminate it totally if the law allows provided you’ve confirmed that your health insurance policy will take care of you if you are involved in an accident.
C1…It doesn’t make sense to pay premiums that won’t translate to benefits.
C2…Why should you pay higher rates that will NOT translate to more benefits?
31. Add-ons like towing raise your premium without giving you as much value as using a towing service. Do you know that your credit card company might have already given you towing as an extra benefit?
Overall, you’re better off using a third pary towing service than placing it on your auto insurance policy.
32. Don’t make the mistake of parking your car in places where it won’t be safe. This means that you have to do all within your power to NOT park your car in a red light district. Parking your car in a garage will help you reduce your rate over time.
Also make sure that your car is always parked in a well-lit area. It’s certainly not a good idea to leave your car in the open street all through the night.
I STOPPED HERE FOR AMA!
33. Policyholders who do NOT make claims for up more than 3 years get a No Claims bonus. Remember, this does not mean you might not have any cause to make a claim but that you did not file one. So check what it will cost you to fix the problem and what you’ll gain with a No Claims discount and choose whichever will serve your best interest.
Don’t Use With 41…34. Statistically, women are safer drivers. Married couples can take advantage of this by having their cars insured in the lady’s name with the man as the secondary driver. If your ego won’t get in the way, this would reduce your family auto insurance rate.
35. The internet makes the cost of doing business low. By extension, insurance providers spend less online and therefore give a massive discount of about 15% for those who buy their policy online.
Therefore, as much as you can, buy your auto insurance policy online.
Do your utmost to present your details truthfully. Insurers are mandated by law to cancel any policy once they can prove that the policy holder gave false details.
Furthermore, verify from your state’s department of insurance that they you’re buying from a reputable company that’s licensed to sell this policy.
36. Do not include rental car coverage in your auto insurance policy without confirming if your credit card offers such a benefit. More often than not, you’ll discover that your credit card provider has already given you this coverage as added value. Therefore, to ensure you do NOT pay more for unnecessary coverage, check.
37. A1…Reduce your Bodily injury liability coverage to the very minimum required by your state law and buy an umbrella policy instead.
A2…Buy an umbrellar policy and reduce your bodily injury liability coverage to the barest minimum stipulated by law.
B1…This is particularly true if you have considerable assets that could be lost to a lawsuit.
B2…The more substantial your assest, they more this recommendation is true in your case.
C1..For those who don’t know what bodily injury liability coverage is, it is the part of an auto insurance policy that compensates passengers in your car along with the driver and passengers in the other car if an accident occurs.
C2…What do you buy bodily injury liability coverage for? It’s to take care of passengers involved in an accident along with the other driver.
D1…It protects your assets from lawsuits.
D2…If you don’t have coverage like this, your assets could be used to compensate victims in accidents.
E1…The logic behind this advice is that no matter how extensive the liability coverage you buy with your auto insurance you could still easily be in deep trouble if you at fault in an accident that injures people badly.
E2…You are, however, urged to opt for an umbrella policy because even the most extensive liability coverage within an auto insurance policy wouldn’t be adequate if you’re at fault in a fatal accident.
F1..If your liability coverage can’t take car of their medical bills and damages awarded against you, you could lose all your assets, life savings and even your home.
F2…This means that your personal assets will be liable if your liability coverage cannot handle the result bills and damages incurred.
G1…However, there is hardly a law suit or liability issue that an umbrella policy won’t take care of completely.
G2…But if you have an umbrella policy, you’re almost certain that it can handle the most extreme case.
H1…Apart from the fact that an umbrella policy will save you on auto insurance, it covers you from all manner of liability claims whether it’s at home or anywhere else.
H2…Furthermore, you not only save on auto insurance but you also have coverage that takes care of every other kind of liability issue that may arise in your life.
I1…If you compare the extent of coverage you get for similar amounts in premium, an umbrella policy simply knocks a bodily injury liability off…
I2…Price-wise, you get much more coverage per premium dollar with an umbrella policy…
J1…It could cost 35 year old man in an area like New York City about around $300 extra to raise his bodily injury liability from $25,000/$50,000 to $100,000/$300,000 (The first amount in each pair shows the maximum amount that will be paid out to each injured person in an accident. The second amount shows the maximum that can be paid out per accident).
J2…If a 35-year old man who lives in New York City wants to raise his bodily injury to $100K/$300K from $25K/$50K, his rate will increase by $300!
K1…But compare this to the fact that for just less than $300 he could get a $1 million umbrella policy.
K2…However, with an umbrella policy, he’ll spend less than that to get $1 million worth of coverage.
L1…Furthermore, he could make it $2 million by just paying only about $75 more.
L2…And if he chooses to raise the coverage amount of his umbrella policy to $2 million dollars, he’ll only have to pay only $75 more.
M1…If you intend to buy more coverage it will cost you only $50 per million thereafter (This is based on a report by the Insurance Information Institute).
M2…After the $2 million mark, he’ll only need to add $50 to his rate per $1 million extra coverage amount.
N1…Do the maths in your own case and see if it doesn’t pay you a lot more!
N2…If you want more for less then an umbrella policy will do you more good.
38. If you complete a defensive driving course, you’ll qualify for a special kind of discount with most insurers. They enjoy a good discount because they’ve acquired skills that make them respond better to incidents on the road thus making them safer drivers. This means that high risk profiles like teen drivers will benefit a lot from this type of training. Being certified as a defensive driver will save a young driver thousands in premiums in a few years. The savings involved should make any sacrifice you make to go through such a program well worth it. And, don’t forget to tell your agent once you complete the course.
38b. There are classes that are set up to improve your driving. Join them. In addition to making you a safer driver, they will make you eligible for a discount with your insurer provided such a class is recognized by them.
CHECKED…39. Ask your agent personally about all the discounts possible with with your chosen insurance provider. Since agents too are not above mistakes they might forget to tell you about some discounts you should take advantage of. The only way to ensure it’s false in your case is by asking your agent to list out all discount that your insurance provider offers. You might have a very pleasant surprise!
40. A1…If you live in an urban area do your best to use the public transport system as much as possible.
A2…Unless you live in the suburbs, always take advantage of the mass transit.
B1…This will drive down your
B2…The less you use your car, the lower your mileage will be.
C1…And since mileage is a strong factor that determines your premium, you’ll attract more affordable rates.
C2…As you may already know, if your mileage drops, your rates too will drop.
D1…The rule should be: Use your car only when you do not have a more cost-effective alternative.
D2…Therefore, don’t use your car whenever it makes sense to do so.
41. Marriage is something that will do your auto insurance rates a world of good. This is true even though you can’t just go off to marry just because of this. Insurers have statistical data that show that people are less reckless and much more careful on the road when they get married. Insurers will tell you that their records show that married people make fewer claims. Furthermore, when they do make those claims, they usually cost less on the average than those married by their unmarried counterparts.
42. Your rates will jump through the roof if you modify your car. Doing such reduces your car’s safety and, therefore, warrants higher rates as far as the insurer is concerned.
43. It’s easy to save a few hundred dollars on a home but lose thousands over the years on auto insurance because of its location. Homes in the same neighborhood may fall under different risk zones as far as your insurer is concerned.
So, as part of your home shopping activities, check how this neighborhood will affect your auto insurance rate. I know: That isn’t usually an issue when you’re looking for a home but it’s really important.
Remember, you might live in this home for up to 20 years or more. If its location makes you pay up to $200 more in premium, that will add up to $4,000 within that time frame.
44. If you must quickly get something inside, turn your car off, lock up and pocket your keys. Don’t leave your car unlocked and running. The only easier thing for a thief would be if you handed over your keys as a gift. Remember, they look for easy targets. It certainly doesn’t get easier for a thief than an unlocked car with a running engine.
45. A good option for you is to use your parents’ auto insurance policy. If you’re of driving age, then your parents certainly are far above twenty five years which means they are lower risk drivers.
To take advantage of this though, you will have to live with your parents and also have the vehicle registered in their name. If you want to own your vehicle, then be the big boy or girl and also own the costly premiums. Sorry, you cannot have both with this alternative. However, you can still make a lot of savings by clicking the link at the end of this piece.
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