Insurance and Credit

You’ll get cheaper rates if you elect to pay your premiums annually and not monthly. Yes, monthly payments might be stressless but it’s also much more expensive.

If you do transactions with banks you will agree with me that each check you process is regarded as deal which attracts a certain charge. .While a yearly payment attracts a single check and therefore one transaction for a year, monthly payments attrract twelve. This means that you will pay transaction charges twelve times..

Apart from this there are also administrative costs that come with the monthly payment option. For example, it costs insurers millions of dollars annually to mail payment notices..

These and more are then added to your premium thereby making it higher than if you paid annually.

Cheap auto car insurance

The longer you stick with the same insurer the more you stand to gain for two reasons: The long term discount and accident forgiveness. Most insurers will give you a discount of about 5% if you stay with them for up to five years (some will give you once you stay for up to three.

Most insurers will also not raise the rates of a long standing policy holder if they make only 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.

Just bear in mind that some people will be better off if they switched to another insurer notwithstanding the many discounts given to long term policy holders.

“Pimping your ride” does NOT help if you want lower rates. Things like changing your tires to bigger ones than specified by the manufacturer, adding equipment that will increase your car’s horse-power will cost you a lot more. So if you’re really serious about keeping your rate down, leave your car the way it was manufactured.

Young drivers are statistically very bad risks. Worse still, if they are teenagers their auto insurance rates could be really high.

So you’ll do well to NOT place your teenage driver on your policy. It will drive it up by a huge margin. You can discuss with your agent about signing an exclusion form so that your teen driver can have his/her own auto policy.

It’s a fair price for them to pay to enjoy the adult privilege of driving. Teens who pay for their own auto insurance are more willing to take steps to bring it down. Your teen will also be safer as the steps that will bring down his/her rates will make her a more responsible behind wheels.

There are useful extras and there are those that do nothing but just inflate your rate. A good example of the later is adding a towing service to your policy. Have you checked to see if your credit card doesn’t already offer this as added value?

Even if this is not the case with your credit card company, you’ll still get better service and save more if you exclude towing from your policy and you a dedicated towing company instead.

And…

You will save a lot if you really have between 25-30 minutes. Visit, get and compare auto insurance quotes from several quotes sites. The cheapest quote should be your choice easily.

Nevertheless, you have to go beyond simply the cheapest quote to the best price to value ratio. The lowest priced may not be the best price/value for you as an individual.

Is it possible you have a car that you’ve not used for a long while? Is one of your cars been covered in the garage for up to six months because it’s broken? Is this car still on your auto insurance policy or have you removed it?

Funny as it may seem, this is one reason some folks pay higher rates than they should. I hope this is not the case with you.

Joining an auto club could get you a discount with a good number of insurance providers. Don’t allow the size of the discount this may get you deter you from taking advantage of it if it makes sense in your situation.

Make sure you do NOT give false details when you complete your forms. One of the factors that has kept rates as high as they are is insurance fraud. It’s making everyone pay a lot more.

If you’re one such people who don’t care what your actions cost the rest, then be informed that your insurance provider will cancel your policy once they discover your details are false.

I hope you know that this will invariably make you a higher risk and this means you’ll pay more for your next policy. Insurers increase your rates by a good margin once you’ve let your policy lapse or had it cancelled for reasons like this.

Reports have it that the average American family pays about $1,500 extra premium dollars because of insurance fraud. Help make the world a better place by doing your bit to ensure we don’t have to pay a lot more.

Policyholders who do NOT make claims for up more than 3 years get a No Claims bonus. Those who understand how to take advantage of this often handle very minor repairs and fixes and so easily become eligible for this discount. Therefore, if it’s a minor case, handle it on your own. What you’ll gain from a No Claims discount will certainly outweigh it.

As an under twenty five, you can pay cheaper car insurance rates if you use your parents’ policy. Your parents are part of a better risk age bracket.

You must remember that the vehicle must be registered in their name and you must be living with them if you want to use this option. If you do not like the idea of handing the car’s ownership to them and other stuff that may come with it, then you will have to forego this option.

Car Insurance For Teens

And…

The most important route to reasonable savings in auto insurance is comparison shopping — Provided that you do it well. You can get quotes that will have a difference that exceeds $1,000. You could easily save that much by simply going with the lowest quote. This should apply if you’re simply after the lowest price.

Nevertheless, if you want the best price/value then you’d have to look at the details of the cheapest offers. Different insurance companies may have different exclusions for similar policies. It’s a good idea to ask the agent what’s included and what’s excluded.

If you decide to pay your premiums monthly, you’ll attract higher rates. You may be told paying monthly is convenient but what you’re not told is how much more you pay for this..

If you do transactions with banks you will agree with me that each check you process is considered transaction which attracts charges. All through a year, your monthly checks would be processed differently because they are all different transactions. you will then have to pay the total of twelve transaction fees..

Apart from this there are also administrative costs that are incurred due to the monthly payment option. A good example of such is the expense associated with mailing payment notices..

These and more are then included in your premium thereby making it higher than if you paid yearly.

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.

Furthermore, if a long term policy holder files just one claim, most insurers will NOT raise their rates thereafter. Insurers offer these as incentives to keep you with them since it serves them better too.

Just bear in mind that some people will be better off if they switched to another insurer notwithstanding the many discounts given to long term policy holders.

If you want to keep your rates down, do NOT “pimp your ride.” Doing such reduces your car’s safety and, therefore, warrants higher rates as far as the insurer is concerned.

Under-25 drivers get higher rates than any other age group. Even in this age bracket, a 23-year old driver will pay much less than a 17 year old all other things being equal.

This means that you’ll help keep your rates down if you do NOT have a teen driver on your policy. You’ll be made to pay very high rates if you do otherwise. You can discuss with your agent about signing an exclusion form so that your teen driver can have his/her own auto policy.

If a teen is keen on driving then then should be made responsible for at least the cost of their auto insurance. An addition argument in favor of this is that your teen will be more willing to take measures to reduce what he or she pays. The full implication of this is that your teen will be a lot safer as they’d do their best to avoid inflating their rates.

Your might be paying a lot more than you should because of some really unnecessary add-ons like towing. By the way, your credit card might already offer this as a benefit so check.

Even if this is not the case with your credit card company, you’ll still get better service and save more if you exclude towing from your policy and you a dedicated towing company instead.

And…

You’ll save a lot if you do shop around and do proper comparison. The the difference in quotes received for a request could be as wide as $1,000 for a given person. While this is a good thing, it’s advisable that you don’t get too excited yet. It’s not usually that straightforward if you want the best price/value.

The cheapest price may not give you the best price/value. Although each of the quotes presented will definitely give you the same main coverage, there may be a number of differences in the details of coverage. This makes it imperative that you find out if there aren’t any exclusions that won’t serve your best interest.

Remember to treat these no-obligation quotes just that way. Don’t feel obliged to pay until you’ve got all your questions answered satisfactorily. You will prevent rude shocks later if you do this.