Friday, March 27, 2009

Auto Insurance -- Ways To Get It Cheap

By Chimezirim Odimba

The longer you stick with the same insurer the more you stand to gain for two reasons: The long term discount and accident forgiveness. Depending on the insurer, you'll be eligible for a discount of 5% once you've stayed with them for between three and five years.

The accident forgiveness discount means that your insurer will not raise your rates if you file just one claim. It makes sense for the insurer as it is cheaper to give discounts to existing policy holders than to acquire new ones.

However, what you may save by switching to another insurer might far outweigh all the incentives you'll get depending on what your rates are and how much another insurer is ready to offer.

Make sure your car is always parked in a safe place. This means that you have to do all within your power to NOT park your car in a red light district. Furthermore, you might even get discounts with your insurer if you show that you have a good garage.

And, lest I forget, if you drive out in the night do your best to have your car parked in a well-lit area. That will deter thieves.

Have you checked with the associations you belong to if they have discounts from any insurer? Insurers give these associations group discounts in the hope that they will in that one move attract many of their members to buy an auto insurance policy with them. Even though you may not necessarily join an association because you want a group auto insurance discount, it makes sense to take advantage of it if it's offered to any association you already belong to.

Do your best to always drive carefully. Please, make sure you make it a policy not to drive if you even sip any alcoholic beverage.

Driving with more than the allowed level of alcohol in your blood stream will make you pay exorbitant rates if you're fortunate or be compelled to be without auto insurance if luck isn't on your side. And don't overlook little things like speeding tickets because they cost you a lot more than the fine you pay. They eventually raise your rate. You'll do yourself a world of good by obeying all traffic laws always.

It's a smart idea to use the public mass transit whenever you can (Unless where you live has none). This will drive down your mileage. As you may already know, if your mileage drops, your rates too will drop. Therefore, don't use your car whenever it makes sense to do so.

And...

The most important key to massive savings in auto insurance is comparison shopping -- That's if you do it right. You can get quotes that will have a range that exceeds $1,000. You could quickly save that much by simply going with the lowest quote. That should apply if you're simply after the lowest price.

Howbeit, if you're looking for the best value to price ratio then you would have to check the details of the cheapest quotes. Different insurers may have different exclusions for similar policies. It's a good idea to ask the agent what's included and what's excluded.

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