Today, people are heavily dependent on their automobiles to go to work, take kids to school and get around for shopping and social life. It may be easier to get around in cities using public transport but it isn’t frequently available in rural areas and small towns. And the premiums can be quite expensive. But there are several things you can do if you can’t afford auto insurance payments.
First of all, State laws require that you must have coverage before you can drive. Not being able to afford the premium isn’t an acceptable excuse and therefore you cannot drive until you buy insurance. If you do you will be breaking the law and face serious consequences. However, you only need basic liability coverage to comply with the laws. These types of policies are usually cheaper but you are only free to choose if you own the auto outright.
When you have an outstanding car loan you are probably required to buy comprehensive and collision along with the minimum state required liability coverage. Otherwise, lender will force insure your car and add the costs onto the outstanding amount when they find out you gave it up. They can do this because it is in your loan agreement and the car is the only security they have for it.
What to Do If Car Insurance Isn’t Affordable
So here the things that can help you find budget vehicle insurance or lower costs to a manageable level.
- Consider buying liability only coverage. You don’t have to buy all the extras if you don’t have a loan and expensive car. Then, you can consider dropping collision and comprehensive coverage to save money. This can work well if you own a cheap car and you will not be ruined if it gets totaled. When you own an expensive automobile you’d better protect it fully.
If you are a young person you will probably have to pay pretty high. So, you might want to plan ahead and get an older vehicle for the first couple of years to be able to follow this strategy. Rates would drop a lot after couple of years of clean history with no accident. Then, you can get the car you want.
- Pay as you drive policies with monitoring devices can be a cheap solution, especially for young, inexperienced and high risk drivers. These policies are based on driving history gathered by a little device that is fitted in the car. They are usually cheaper if you are comfortable with monitoring.
- Third option is to increase deductibles as high as you can manage and see if it will reduce the premium enough without dropping collision and comprehensive. This would mean that you will have to spend more out of pocket if you ever need to make a claim. Keep that in mind.
- Look into Low Cost Programs. Some states have special programs to help low income motorists with cheaper policies but they usually have income and other qualification requirements. You can do a quick search to find out if your state offer them or ask the state department.
- Find out why your automobile insurance is high. They should be able to answer this question. It may be that the credit score is bad or you have a high-risk driver in the household. See if you can address these issues and lower costs. For example, the provider and state may allow you to exclude a high risk driver that could reduce the premium.
- If an older and more experienced person will drive it occasionally, adding such person can reduce costs. Drivers don’t have to live with you to be included in your policy.
- Consider spreading the costs with installments. Most companies have installment plans that can help you manage payments over time, providing you are creditworthy.
- Lower mileage can reduce costs. Find out roughly how many miles a year you travel and see if you can qualify for lower mileage discount. Usually you can save if it is less than 7000 miles a year.
- If you already have a policy and cannot make the next payment, you should talk to them to see if they could give you a little bit more time and don’t cancel it. This would avoid a lapse in coverage that could further increase the quotes when you need to re-insure after a cancellation.
- But the best and easiest solution may yet be shopping around. You can save a lot of money by shopping around especially if you live in a high risk neighborhood. Click on the link and find out how much people save in your zip code on average by just getting a few more quotes.
You must do everything you can before giving up or worse taking a chance with an uninsured vehicle. Hopefully you will find a good solution even if it means looking hard and long. Perhaps our form above can help you line up a few quotes to compare.