Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Cheaper Car Insurance -- Often-Missed Savings Tips

By Chimezirim Odimba

Are you interested in affordable auto insurance? Here are uncommon savings opportunities...

1. A good number of insurers will give you a discount if you join an auto club. Although you shouldn't look to be given huge discounts for this, every little discount you can get will add up to much on the long run.

2. Have you checked with the associations you belong to if they have discounts from any insurer? They stand to get many prospects easily if an association decides to adopt them as their insurer. So check, one of those associations might have discounts you can take advantage of.

3. Some insurers will give you a discount if a child on your policy is away at school and does not use the car at that period. Take advantage of this if your child is in college. I must point out, though, that some insurers do not give this discount.

4. The difference in what it will cost you to insure similar vehicles could be massive. It will do you a world of good if you ask your agent before choosing your next vehicle. A comparable car that has a poor crash rating and higher theft rate will cost a lot more to insure.

Another thing to find out is a car's maintainance cost as it is as well an issue that affects your rate. I don't know about you; but it is a smart thing to buy a comparable vehicle that is less expensive to insure.

5. Joining a car pool will help you get a lower rate. The simple reason for this is that it reduces your mileage. You'll pay less in direct proportion to how much carpooling reduces your total mileage.

6. If you work for a large company you could enjoy a group discount. If you've not asked, do. Insurance companies offer large organizations some discount in the belief that such would attract members of that organization.

7. Those who live in crowded areas are more likely to have one form of car accident or another when compared to people who live in rural sparsely populated areas. If you can live in a rural area you'll get the best rates possible for your profile because the risk of vandalism, crash or theft is so low in such areas. The more densely populated where you live is, the more difficult it will be for you to get dirt cheap auto insurance rates.

8. A careful review of your policy could show you a few places you are throwing away money. Change is inevitable and happens without our permission but then we must NOT pay for things that such changes has relieved us of. How many people, for example, remember to remove their daughters from their policies immediately they get married?

The changes in your life might have qualified you for certain discounts. It might also no longer be in your best interest to retain certain coverage types. It would, therefore, do you a world of good to review your policy yearly or twice yearly. Don't be surprised if you end up discovering you need to make adjustments or report changes that will result in considerable savings.

9. For no reason must you allow your auto insurance policy to lapse..You'll pay very expensive rates for a considerable length of time if you let this happen albeit inadvertently. This happens to some folks while they are about changing over to another insurance company.

A simple way to be certain you do NOT make this type of mistake is to let your old policy keep running until you're sure the new one is fully operational. Many individuals are paying more than they would otherwise simply because they made this mistake. Therefore, make sure you don't become one of them.

10. Do you know that you might be losing money if you have a car that you've not used for months? Do you have a broken car? Is this car still on your auto insurance policy or have you removed it?

Simple as this looks a lot of people so end up paying thousands in unnecessary premiums because they don't remember to remove such cars from their policy. Do you want affordable auto Insurance? If you made this kind of mistake then you can save yourself a lot of bucks by quickly removing an unused car or cars from your policy.

11. While you take other steps to lower your auto premium, here's something you can do to get lower rates now: Visit reputable insurance quotes sites and obtain quotes.

Visit a minimum of five of such sites for the best results. It's free, quick and easy. Make sure you give your correct details as you fill the forms on each site. The last step is to simply choose the insurance company that gives you the best price/value from the quotes return.

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