Car insurance is compulsory and depending on your specific situation, it can be quite pricey. This leads drivers who don’t make a lot of money to choose limited liability and not full coverage. This could be just fine, but if you happen to be one of those clumsy drivers who provoke lots of small accidents, you may end up paying more to get your car fixed than a full coverage auto insurance policy premium.
This article aims to provide you a few tips for getting cheaper auto insurance. Although it’s not written by an authority in auto insurance, it will hopefully offer you an useful starting point in your research for insuring your car. You don’t have to be an expert to get a better deal for insuring your car. A little bit of attention would do just fine.
More powerful cars are more expensive to insure: the bigger your engine capacity, the more you’ll have to pay. This is why, before buying one of those extremely powerful cars you have to make sure you can afford the collateral expenses that come with it. Fuel and insurance are the main expenses which go up, but others could increase too.
Advance full year payment may bring you a discount: this discount could be anything between 2% and 10%, but there’s no general rule. Each company has its own policy, so ask before committing into paying such a big amount in advance. It may not be worth the benefit if the discount is too low.
Buy only what you need: full coverage insurance policies usually contain clauses which the client can cut, thus leading to a total premium decrease. Check your agreement thoroughly and try to give up anything you are almost sure you’re not going to use. A good example would be the coverage when driving off road. If you never drive off road, it doesn’t make sense to pay for that. The same, if you won’t let others drive your car, it doesn’t make sense to pay for multiple drivers insurance.
Increase the deductible: the deductible is a fixed amount you agree to pay in case of total damage or thievery, or in case you file a claim for partial damage. The bigger your deductible, the lower your premium, so if this would enable you access to full coverage insurance, just do it.
Ask for multiple quotes: there’s no law to force insurance carriers to adhere to certain pricing policies, so they are free to set their own limits. Before deciding for a company, require quotes from as many as you can find in your area. Some insurance companies give additional discounts to women or to people of a certain age. You may have the pleasant surprise to be in one of those categories and pay less to get your car insured. This is not discrimination, it’s only a decision based on statistical facts that show, for example, that women are involved in less accidents than men, or that people with bad credit history file more claims than the ones with no bad credit records. If you had a DUI conviction, you have one more reason to ask for as many quotes as you can, but don't forget to specify that to insurers.
Stick with the same company for more than one year: if you didn’t file any claim during the previous year of insurance, most companies would give you a discount for the following year. This can be as big as 15%, which can result in sticking with the same carrier as being the cheapest option at a given time. Nonetheless, before renewing your agreement, you still could spend some time and get some free quotes from other companies, just for a routine check.
