Increase Your Comprehensive Deductible
Comprehensive coverage will pay to repair or replace a vehicle that suffers damage from theft, fire,
vandalism or glass breakage. The damage must exceed the deductible before your auto insurance
company is responsible to pay for your damages. If you have more skin in the game by increasing your
deductible your insurance company will give you a lower auto insurance premium.
Increase Your Collision Deductible
Collision coverage will pay to repair or replace your automobile if your vehicle is damaged or totaled as a
result of you vehicle colliding with another object or vehicle regardless of who caused the collision. The
damage must exceed the deducible before your car insurance company is responsible to pay for your
damages. One way to reduce your auto insurance premium is to increase your deductible. The higher you
increase your collision deductible the lower your auto insurance premium. High Deductible = Lower
Insurance and Low Deductible = Higher Insurance
Evaluate Optional Coverages
Estimate the value of your vehicle using an online appraiser. If you have an older vehicle, you may want
to consider removing collision and/or comprehensive. Many experts suggest that you remove collision if
your annual collision premium exceeds 10% of the value of your vehicle. You could be paying more for
comprehensive and/or collision insurance than you'd receive for a claim if your vehicle were totaled. Many
vehicle owners keep comprehensive which has a lower premium than collision so they maintain glass
coverage. Please note that most insurance companies will not sell rental reimbursement if you do not
purchase collision coverage. This could be important to a one vehicle household or drivers with a long
work commute.
http://www.edmunds.com/appraisal/
http://www.kbb.com/whats-my-car-worth/
Buy Multiple Policies from the Same Insurance Company
Many auto insurance companies often offer discounts to policyholders that buy additional policies. When
you bundle your auto insurance, homeowner/tenant insurance, motorcycle, boat, and/or life insurance the
insurance company discounts some or all of the policies. You may be able to buy a cheap car insurance
policy and get a discount large enough to pay for a cheap tenant policy.
Single vehicle auto insurance policies are the least profitable for the insurance company so you want to
elevate your status with the insurance company. When insurance companies change their rates they
generally increase premiums on the least profitable policies the most. You don't want to be included in the
least profitable group.
State Minimum Auto Insurance is not always the best deal
Most consumers that carry State Minimum Auto Insurance Liability do so since they were assign the
coverage rather than pick the coverage for themselves. Many times consumers look for the cheapest car
insurance or it was assigned by the first person that sold them the policy when they first got their driver’s
license. It is very common for an auto insurance company to segment the driver population by the level of
liability coverage. Insurance companies generally assign the highest base premiums to drivers with state
minimum liability insurance. The base rate is set before they account for your age, zip code, vehicle,
motor vehicle record or accident record. Many drivers could double their liability coverage and it would
have little effect to their insurance premium and it would put them in a favorable position with their
insurance company.
Low mileage discount
Insurance Companies moved away from keeping track of your mileage years ago until recently. You may
remember years ago your insurance carrier may have sent you a questionnaire every year to find out how
far you drove to work and how many miles that were driven in a year. Since this system was on the honor
system it was not very reliable. Statistically the more you drive the higher the chance you will be involved
in an accident. Today, many insurance companies have electronic devices or mobile apps that track your
mileage. If you drive under 10,000 miles a year you should inquire about these programs since they differ
by insurance company.
Improve Your Credit Score or find an Insurance Company that does not check Credit
Believe it or not statistics show that drivers with good credit scores tend to make fewer insurance claims.
Insurance companies often adjust prices based on credit records. When insurance companies use credit
scoring they usually place more importance on how consistently a driver pays their bills; as opposed to
their accidents, violations, tickets or lapse in coverage. If you have less than an average credit score find
an insurance company that does not use credit to rate your car insurance or obtain your credit report and
learn how to improve you credit score since it can save a driver a lot of money.
