Lower Auto Insurance
Never under estimate the impact lower auto insurance can have on your household budget. Car insurance is an ongoing monthly expense that can cost you literally hundreds of dollars every year if you don't do your best to lower it.
Luckily there are many ways to decrease this unavoidable monthly expense. Here are the top 6 ways to reign in your car insurance bills without even decreasing the amount of your coverage or raising your deductible .
#1 Provide Safe Parking for Your Car
Whether
you realize it or not, the place where you keep your car overnight has a
great impact on getting a lower auto insurance policy. One of the
biggest problems with any vehicle is the likelihood of theft and
insurance companies are well aware of this. Obviously, a locked garage
is a lot safer than parking by the street, but often people let there
garages become a "dedicated storage unit" instead of a place to park
their car. Don't fall into this trap. Take the soonest opportunity to
organize and clean out your garage. You'll see a definite improvement in
your insurance premiums as soon as you let your insurance company know
you are parking your car in a safe place.
#2 Use Security DevicesIn
keeping with the safety theme, any additional security devices that you
install on your car will lower the premiums. A car alarm alone is
enough to reduce your premiums significantly and a steering lock will
help even more. Take note, though, most insurance companies require that
any security installations be done by professionals, so you will need
to spend some extra cash, but it will be worth it in the long run.
#3 Compare Insurance Quotes
One
of the most effective ways to have lower auto insurance is by using
insurance quote comparison websites. By doing a web-search for "cheap
auto insurance" for your own state you'll discover many options for
comparing quotes right on the net. These services are almost always free
and they are designed to speed up the quote comparison process.
#4 Set a Mileage Restriction for Yourself
If you have a pretty good grip on how much you drive on a yearly basis, you can set a limit on your mileage, which will earn you some extra cash at the end of the year. With most insurers you can choose the amount you want, but make sure that you are honest about it or you can risk forfeiting the entire policy.
#5 Choose Your Car Carefully
Some people are determined to get a specific type of car, while other drivers are open to different options. Drivers who are more flexible might as well consider lower auto insurance as the type of car they have will definitely affect it. This is pretty straightforward: fast, exotic sports cars come with a big premium, while small, safe and cheap sedans will have a much lower insurance premium.
In addition, once you've chosen your car, it is important to keep your car stock. That means avoiding swapping out your manufacturer's original parts with custom parts. So if you see a custom fender that you think you just have to have, think again. If you avoid the urge to soup up your ride, your insurance company will offer you lower full coverage premiums.
#6 Drive Carefully
This one should be pretty obvious, but a lot of people forget the reality that safe driving is cheap driving. No speeding tickets, no violation points, and no accidents all add up to a much lower premium for your insurance policy. Good driver discounts can add up to a 40% savings on your auto insurance, which has the potential to bring you the biggest savings on your car insurance bills every month.
Safe drivers are rewarded with lower auto insurance because the less accidents drivers have, the less payouts the insurers have to make. This brings down their out of pocket expenses, which ends up as savings they are happy to pass on to careful drivers. However, keep in mind that as soon as you have even a small infraction, your good driver discount will disappear into thin air. Your best bet is to drive defensively at all times and avoid all tickets. If you succeed in keeping your record clean, you'll always be eligible for this extremely generous discount.
This guest article is by Philip Beck, a staunch consumer advocate and believes that everyone has a right to the cheapest auto insurance in California.
Return from Home Canning Recipe for Apricots to
Household Budget Made Easy Home.
