There are many discounts but some of them take years to qualify for. In the meantime, you can take advantage of simple ways to reduce your car insurance premium today. If you are prepared to make slight changes in the way you pay the premiums, shop around and buy policies, you can quickly achieve great savings. The beauty of these solutions is that they work straight away for most people. Even motorists, who don’t have clean or long enough driving records, can get immediate ten percent discounts for signing up to a usage-based program with some companies.
Here are some of the easy solutions to lower vehicle insurance premiums;
1. Go over your coverage
It is best to start with having a good look at your policy to see if there is anything there you don’t need any more or can do without. Often people may actually have two covers for one risk. For example, they may have a membership to a Roadside Recovery Services and have Emergency Assistance coverage on their vehicle insurance policy as well so there is no need for the latter and it can be dropped. When we have no financial worries and automobile insurance premiums are cheap, we tend to load up our policies. When the opposite happens, it may be time to trim it a bit. Also, by going over your coverage and details on record, you can figure out what you are going to shop for later on.
2. Consider the age and value of your car
If you have a fairly new automobile and/or a loan on it you may not have a choice but go for a full coverage auto insurance policy. However, you may be able to drop Collision and Comprehensive if your vehicle is worth less than $6,000 or your premium is more than 10% of the value of your car. This strategy can save a lot of money for young and high-risk drivers and help others too.
3. Consider your driving needs
If you are driving less lately because you are mostly working from home or not using your car for commuting, you may discuss this with your insurer and see if they can offer you savings. Most vehicle insurers take commute into account when calculating premiums and therefore can offer lower rates if the vehicle is only used for social and pleasure.
4. Telematics can save you money immediately
Many people are good drivers but they cannot qualify for clean driving history discounts because they either had a recent accident or traffic ticket or they don’t have enough history. Those people have another chance to qualify for driving related car insurance discounts right now if they agree to install a telematics device on their automobiles and let the insurer monitor their driving. Some companies like State Farm offer immediate 10% savings for joining their usage based programs.
5. Don’t miss bundling opportunities
Bundling home and automobile coverage can yield cheaper overall prices and many people do it already. Companies usually offer around ten percent discounts on both policies for bundling. This option will work out in favor of homeowners. You might as well make the most of it since you would need to purchase both insurance policies anyway.
6. Buy a multi-car policy
You can insure several vehicles under one plan and save a little. This is a great solution for people who have more than one vehicle in the family. This may make life easier since you don’t have to deal with several different carriers. Actually, you may be able to buy a multi-car policy with a partner and both can save around 8 – 15% overall. You’d better check what the rules are in your state.
7. Don’t ignore the power of shopping around
The easiest way of getting the largest possible savings on car insurance today is to shop around to find the best price. Many people are under the impression that most companies are similar and therefore they cannot save money by shopping around. It is true that many companies are similarly reputable but they can be miles apart in prices. Even between two reputable companies like Allstate and Nationwide, there could be hundreds of dollars difference in quotes. So, always shop around to find the best deal.
8. Pay the premium in full and save
Once you find the most competitive auto insurers, you can check which one offers the largest savings for paying the premium in full (if you can manage it). For example, state farm offers as much as 14% savings for paying in full and Progressive offers 9%. Both are large discounts but one clearly better than the other.
9. Set up automatic payments
Another discount you can get today is for setting up electronic funds transfer. Many companies offer around 4 – 5% discounts for automatic premium payments.
10. Buy online
You can get a better auto insurance price for getting a quote and binding your policy online. Many companies like Progressive clearly state on their websites that they offer better prices for motorists who buy their policies and sign their documents online. It is a simple process and allows you to access your documents and policy details online once you sign up to an account on your insurers website or app.
Companies price policies in a way that encourages good practices, making safer choices, staying loyal to them, buying more policies and paying them fast. So, it isn’t hard to pay close attention to what you need to reduce your automobile insurance premium today.