We all like to save a buck where we can, and car insurance is a cost that hangs over motorists because it can’t be avoided altogether, only minimized.
Thankfully with the right tools and a few clever tactics, you can secure cheap cover for your beloved vehicle, all without having to dedicate hours of your precious time to the process. Let’s explore the best ways to go about this.
Compare quotes online
If you aren’t using the internet to find cheap insurance quotes, you are missing out on one of the most important consumer revolutions of our age.
Rather than needing to do the legwork yourself or rely on a broker, online comparison tools empower motorists and let them analyze different policies at various price points to find one which matches their budget and automotive needs.
One thing to remember is that you need to enter all of your information accurately in order to get quotes that are suitable.
If not, you could end up overspending, or find that your insurance is invalid because you didn’t fill out your personal details as requested.
Consider your circumstances
Understanding the factors that will increase or decrease car insurance costs is useful.
It lets you make changes which will save you plenty of cash for years to come, and could also improve your finances more generally.
Obviously you cannot change your age, which does influence premium prices.
However, you are in charge of your credit score, and this matters for insurance calculation purposes in all but a handful of states.
So reducing your debt and taking other steps to improve this can have the added advantage of making car insurance cheaper.
The car itself is of course relevant, and a basic rule of thumb is that more expensive vehicles will be costlier to insure.
However, it’s a myth that newer cars are always at the higher end of the insurance price spectrum.
The make, model and power of the car is more impactful, meaning aging muscle cars are worse from an insurance perspective than modern family minivans.
Increase your deductible
One of the quickest ways to drive down the price of car insurance when comparing quotes is to opt for a higher deductible amount, meaning that if you do make a claim you will be eligible for covering more of the resultant costs.
Obviously this is a bit of a gamble, and is not a good tactic for anyone who doesn’t have enough savings set aside for emergencies like this.
However, if you feel that you are a safe enough driver to steer clear of accidents, then boosting your deductible from a few hundred dollars to a thousand or more is a route worth considering.
This won’t make a difference in the case of every insurance provider, but playing around with comparison tools to test out the extent of a higher deductible’s impact is still worth doing while you are searching for a deal.
Choose a named driver policy instead
Most insurance packages operate on a permissive driver basis, which means that by default you and anyone you allow to drive your vehicle is protected equally.
However, savings can be made if you instead switch to a named driver policy, which only applies to the people named on the policy document.
You could name yourself as the sole driver of the vehicle, or you could add one or two other people.
Regardless, if you narrow this down, it lets insurers give you cheaper prices because the risks are lower.
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