At 17 my parents made me get my own insurance policy. It ended up being the majority of the amount I made working part-time. But three years later my insurance bill was so low that everyone was convinced I submitted fraudulent information to my insurance company. What I did to accomplish the lower rate can and should be done by everyone. After all, don’t we see a lot of car insurance commercials on television competing for our business by offering us lower rates? You can hold them to those promises. And the DMV website has a complete guide to all of these suggestions.
A good driving record is the most obvious way to get a lower rate. Shortly after I turned 20 years old, I started shopping around for car insurance. Most do not want to give you the full discount right from the start but being persistent can land you a discount of upwards of 20 percent off your bill. In my first three years of driving, I had no accidents and no tickets and I was able to get the maximum discount without any arm-twisting.
Anti-theft equipment in your car will always lower your rate, even if you do not live in a high crime area. Even when I was shopping for the Connecticut state minimum requirement for policy holders, I mentioned that I had used The Club and had an alarm with an ignition kill switch. Even though theft was not supposed to be in my plan, it still was included as a discount when the agent read back to me all the things that reduced my price. From the insurance company standpoint, you may want to upgrade your plan in the future; it is good to have this on file. Also, if you do upgrade, it is less likely the carrier will forget to add this in because it will have been on record.
Are you a student? Do you get good grades? Almost all insurance providers offer a good student discount. A quick Yahoo! search will show you the top insurance companies and the discounts they offer for students who get good grades. On the top of the list are Geico, Allstate, Farmers, Esurance, Nationwide, etc. Insurance companies know good students tend to be more responsible in all their affairs on average. Part statistics and part incentive for teens to buckle down and do their homework, this discount is a win-win for parents and teens alike.
Pay up! In order to save money on my insurance bill I would pay for the entire year rather than get a monthly, quarterly, or bi-annual bill. Just like with any other cash purchase, putting the money upfront will always give the seller an incentive to lower the price. This technique is done for purchasing cars, homes, etc.
How far do you drive? If you have a short commute or work from home, it is worth telling the insurance company that before they give you a quote. In my previous job I worked about half the time from home. On the days that I did commute, it was less than 10 miles round trip to my office. When I switched to Geico, I told them my car was not driven much and I traveled for work and mostly rented cars. I had accumulated less than 5,000 miles on my car in that past year. This reduced my rate even further, even though I forgot to tell them that before they finished the quote. I remembered afterward, told the agent, and got back a lower figure.
Another way to keep your rate low is to purchase a rather, well, boring vehicle. Insuring a sports car that was just featured in Car and Driver for breaking the sound barrier is not going to score you any favors with the insurance company. Also in this same category for cars that garner higher rates are ones that are easily stolen or expensive to repair. Check the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety to get a full list of how the vehicles rank.
The tips on how to save money on insurance are much more extensive than this. Check the DMV’s Auto Insurance Discount page for everything from bundling insurance, multiple car discounts, low-risk occupations, etc. When shopping around, this list along with the tips above are your arsenal for getting the best possible quote from any auto insurance provider.