15 Ways To Save Money On Car Insurance

Many people have a love-hate relationship with car insurance; you hate to receive a bill for something you hardly use, but you love it after an unfortunate accident (if you can afford the deductible). Listed below are tried and true steps that anyone can take to reduce their car insurance premiums.

Multi-Line Discount – a family can save a lot of money by simply putting all cars, motorcycles, homes, and apartments under one insurance provider.

Limit Your Driving – If you work from home or were recently laid off, tell your agent. Many companies will reduce your premium if you drive less than 100 miles per week (varies by insurance agency).

Discount for Safe Driver – You might be eligible for a rate reduction if you have not been in an accident or received a ticket for several years.

Raise your deductible – Raising you deductible can save you hundreds of dollars every year, but make sure you have money saved to cover the higher deductible if needed.

Shop around — when your premium goes up, let your agent know you are looking; chances are they will find some other discounts.

Update agent if you are a parent under the age of 25 – You might receive the same rate reduction given at the age of 25. However, you will not receive another deduction once you turn 25.

Full coverage or liability – You only need full coverage if the value of your car, according to Kelley Blue Book, is worth more than repair cost. If that is not the case, change your coverage to liability.

Get quotes before buying a new car – The make, model and color of a car will influence your premium cost. So before you go out to purchase that red sports car, or black Hummer, check with your insurance agent, the increase in policy price might scare you. Also, certain cars are stolen more often for their parts and increase the cost of the premium.

Steer clear from short-term policies – You might receive a penalty for purchasing a short-term policy, go with long-term.

Don’t let your insurance lapse – A lapsed insurance policy indicates irresponsibility and high-risk. Avoid this at all cost. When you are ready to renew you will notice that your cost will have jumped tremendously.

Don’t insure vehicles you don’t drive – Take the old Chevy that you have been working on for years off your policy. However, some states require that you have any registered vehicle insured, so if you drop insurance you may want to register the vehicle as inoperable” to avoid any complications or penalties.

Refresh your driving skills – some insurance companies offer training courses that can reduce your insurance premiums at the end of the course. There are fees for these courses, so do the math and make sure the training course is worth your money.

Don’t hit anything or get a ticket – Your fault or not, this can increase your policy rate for several years. Keep your eyes on the road. Avoid tickets. Speeding tickets and other moving violations can push your rates up substantially and these, like accidents, usually affect your insurance for 3-5 years.

Don’t let your teenager drive your car – Teenagers are viewed as inexperienced drivers and cost a small fortune to insure. Instead of letting them drive your car, purchase a reliable used car and only get liability.

Have good credit score- I don’t agree with this step for determining policy price, but some insurance companies are now using credit scores to calculate the cost of your premium. High credit scores have lower premiums and low credit scores have high premiums. Keep your score high.

Pay semi-annually – This is my favorite way to save money on car insurance. Instead of paying your car insurance monthly, pay semi-annually. The 1st payment is the hardest because you will have to pay the full amount to cover the first six months; think ahead and start saving for this switch. Once you have paid your 1st six month premium, automatically transfer the monthly premium payment into a high yield savings account to earn interest until semi-annual payment is due. By doing this not only are you saving money by avoiding the monthly surcharge fee you are also making money off of interest.

Out of the 15 options listed above, I hope at least one of them will help you save money on your car insurance.

Technorati Tags: a, automobile;truck, c, car insurance, e, f, Finance, i, Insurance, lower your car insurance premium, m, Money, Money Saving Tips, n, o, p, personal finance, s, save money, save money on car insurance, saving money