Saving on car insurance is something that you all dream about. It can be hard to substantiate the cost when you have gone years without ever needing to file a claim. But the return on the investment is well worth it if you do happen to encounter one accident throughout your driving life.
So, you should still go ahead and pay for your premiums to keep you safe against any issues that may arise. As well as keep you within the required legal stipulations of the nation. But there are some ways that you can decrease those costs. Let’s look at some of the easiest tips and ideas for cutting car insurance costs.
Increase Your Excess
The most straightforward way to reduce insurance costs is to increase the deductible amount. The higher you go with the excess amount, the lower your premiums. This will quickly lower your expenses, but be careful when you choose this method. The higher your deductible is, means the more you will have to pay out of your pocket if something should ever happen. You will want to set a budget to know how much money you have left over every month. Do not set your deductible amounts higher than that unless you have a sizeable amount in your savings account.
Take a Driving Class
If you are still a teenager, take a driver’s education class and keep your grades up. You can decrease the cost of your car insurance if you fulfill these criteria. Another thing that anyone can do is take a defensive driving class. You can find these through advertisements, Google searches, or by scanning through your local postings that have upcoming events. Attending this class shows the insurance carrier that you are serious about being a great driver. Since it certifies you as one, the agent will consider you to be a low-risk driver. This lowers your premiums by a decent amount in some insurance companies.
Bundle Insurance
If you have more than one car, you should put them into one policy, even if the other cars belong to other drivers. It is always cheaper to have them all on one policy rather than separate. Even if one driver is a high risk or a teenager, it will be cheaper for them if they combine with you. If you carry different types of insurance, such as life or health, see what the car insurance carrier has available in those areas, and get a quote from them. It should be cheaper to add them all together, but make sure it gives you the coverage you need.
Level of Coverage
Evaluate what level of coverage you actually need. If you have a car that is not worth the cost of the tires that you just put on, you may not want to spend the money on anything except the legal requirements. On the other hand, if you drive a beefed-up Mustang, you will want the best protection levels possible. If you must ask what is comprehensive insurance, you should do some more research into it, but it is the best coverage that you can get. When you combine it with green slip insurance required by law, you will be covered against anything that could happen while on the roads.
Compare Insurance Carriers
You should remember that not all insurance carriers are created equally, and not all policies will be the same. It is always a good idea to use an online comparison site, such as the one located at iSelect, to see what the competition offers. The cheapest offer is not always the best, so make sure you go through the details of the prospective policy before considering its price. Granted, you are here in an attempt to find ways to decrease your car insurance costs, but it is never a good idea to sacrifice quality for the price. Make sure you are covered appropriately, and then go for the lowest cost.
Improve Your Credit
Whenever you talk about anything that deals with the financial aspects of life, you have to consider your credit report. This applies to car insurance, as well as everything else that needs cash to work. You will want to get your credit number up as high as possible and sustain it.
You will also want to keep your credit history in good shape. This section of the report shows how long you stay with an employer, your living situation and duration, etc. Generally, this report shows how stable you are and if you are a safe risk for the insurance carrier.
Driving Record and History
A considerable aspect of your auto insurance costs will be your driving record. If you have gone without any claims, you will be at a much lower risk than a driver with frequent accidents and tickets. You need to be a good driver that drives defensively when possible. You must also remember that every insurance company will look back several years. Just because this year was good does not mean that the accident you caused last year will not be considered.
Type of Vehicle
This may surprise you, but the type of car you own will affect your premium costs. Newer cars, especially electric ones, will cost much more than older cars loaded with safety devices and that are cheap to work on. The more complicated your car is to fix, the higher your premiums will be. The insurance companies do not ever want to pay out more than what you have put into the premiums, so even though the new hybrid car you want is awesome, it may not be good on your pocketbook regarding insurance.
Conclusion
There are numerous things that you can do to decrease your car insurance costs from this list. Many of them are things you should be working on from the time you turn 18. Others may cost you some money, but it will be money well spent.
The critical thing to remember and think about is the level of coverage you need. Otherwise, you may get stuck with an enormous repair bill. Use some deductive reasoning, go with the lowest coverage you need, and find the most reasonable insurance carrier that can offer it to you.
