Getting the Most Out of Your Auto Insurance

3 Tips For Lowering Your Auto Insurance Premium

27 February 2018

Eleanor Allen

If you're looking for different ways to cut a few dollars from your monthly budget, it might be time to re-evaluate your current auto insurance policy. You likely chose the coverage you did when you first got your car for specific reasons, but if some time has passed since then, it might be worth looking through the documentation with fresh eyes. Here are three tips that can help you lower your payments to your auto insurance provider or get lower insurance quotes.

You Don't Need a Super Low Deductible If Your Car is Getting Older

When your vehicle was brand new, you likely wanted to protect yourself as much as possible because you just dropped thousands of dollars or agreed to a long-term payment plan on a new car. A low deductible can make sense when driving a brand new vehicle, but as your vehicle ages and its resale value goes down, this becomes less and less wise. Eventually, you might get to the point where if you were to total your car, you would just buy a new one instead of trying to get the old vehicle fixed. In this case, go ahead and grab a higher deductible. to lower your monthly payments.

Inquire About New Discounts

The insurance business is pretty competitive and agents are always working to provide their clients with the lowest insurance quotes possible. If it's been a long time since you've talked to your assigned insurance agent, there's no problem with just calling them up to say hello. You might ask your agent to go over your policy with you and see if there is anything they can do to sweeten the current terms. For example, you might be eligible for a new safe driver discount or perhaps there is a student discount you can take advantage of if you recently went back to school.

Push Your Luck on Comprehensive Coverage

Typically, most auto insurance policies offer collision coverage for vehicles that have been in direct accidents but many providers also offer something called comprehensive coverage, which covers damage from other events besides actually driving and wrecking the car. For example, if there is windshield damage due to a hailstorm or another weather related event. Obviously, you are pushing your luck a bit if you drop your comprehensive coverage completely, but if you really want to try and save a few bucks, you can keep your collision deductible the same but significantly increase your comprehensive deductible, if not drop the coverage completely. If you live in an area with frequent bad weather or a high vandalism rate, this might be ill-advised, but at least take it into consideration based on what you know about your personal vehicle history.

If you want to lower your auto insurance premium, start by looking at possibly raising your deductible for collision coverage, comprehensive coverage or both. You'll likely feel better about a higher deductible as your vehicles begins to age. Finally, don't hesitate to reach out to your provider and see if there is anything else they can do to assist

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