Score better rates on your auto insurance! (part 3)

Ask About Available Discounts

If you have ever seen an insurance commercial on TV then you have heard some sort of discount being offered. Nearly every insurance company has a good student discount, airbag discounts, antitheft discounts, and good driver discounts but ask your agent what other discounts may be avilable to you.

If you have been paying extra premium for an at-fault accident for a few years now, you may be eligible for an accident free discount without even knowing it. A lot of companies look at a 5 year history for at-fault accidents when they rate your insurance. If you have any at-fault accidents in the past 5 years, the company will charge you for it. But some companies like Pemco, Unigard, and Mutual of Enumclaw to name a few only look at your 3 year history. If you have been paying for your at-fault accident for more than three years, check with your agent to see if your insurance company looks at your 3 year or 5 year history. You may save a lot of money by switching to a company that only looks at your 3 year history.

Are you a teacher? Do you receive any sort of paycheck from a school? Some companies offer educator discounts for any person who receives a paycheck (or retirement check) from a school. Both Pemco and Unigard insurance offer significant discounts for educators. Check with your insurance company to see if there are discounts for any specific employees. Some companies offer discounts for police men, doctors, nurses, union workers, and many other jobs. Maybe your insurance company offers similar discounts.

One of the best ways to cut down your auto insurance costs is through package discounts. If you own a home, you probably have it insured. Nearly every company on the market offers package discounts (some up to 25%) for having your auto and home insurance with the same company. If you don't own a home, then look into renters insurance. Not only is it a coverage every renter should have (seriously, $500,000 of liability for less than $15/month?!?!?) but sometimes your package discounts will get you your renters insurance for free or close to it.

Some other discounts you may not have known about:

• Distant student discount - for college students away from home without a vehicle (Safeco, Mutual of Enumclaw, Travelers)


• Loyalty discount - discounts you accumulate for being with your company for an extended period of time (Pemco)


• Defensive driver discount - over 55? Take a defensive driving course to receive this discount (Safeco, Pemco, Travelers, Oregon Mutual)


• Advance multi-car discount - not only do you get a discount for having multiple cars, but you can receive that discount if you are going to add a car to your policy within the next term (Safeco)

The number one key to taking advantage of the discounts available to you is to talk to your agent. They know the ins and outs of the company that they are representing and they can easily communicate these discounts to you.

Score better rates on your car insurance! (Part 2)

I want to continue to offer ways for you to save money on your insurance premiums today. Keep checking for updates to see if you can find a way to trim your costs.

Stop Paying for Out of Date Coverage

Last week I talked about raising your deductibles to save some money, but why not drop your deductibles altogether?

One of the biggest areas that people overpay for their auto insurance is in their comprehensive and collision coverage. Comp and collision make up about 40% of your premium, but sometimes you are better off just dropping the coverage.

A good rule of thumb in this case is if your car is worth less than 10 times your premium, it may not be cost efficient to pay for comp and collision coverage. Since your insurance only covers for actual cash value (depreciated value) of the vehicle, the amount of money you would be saving by self insuring the comp and collision coverages will usually keep you economically ahead.

Remember, comp and collision coverage is for accidents that happen to your vehicle that are your own fault. Other drivers are supposed to carry liability insurance to fix your vehicle if they hit you, and in case they don't, you always have your underinsured motorist coverage.

Take a look at your insurance policy, how much are you paying for your compehensive and collision coverage, what would your insurance bill be if that number disappeared?

P.S. One thing I always suggest to my clients when they decide to drop their comprehensive and collision coverage is to make sure you purchase high underinsured motorist property damage coverage. $25,000 of UIM coverage will usually cost about 5% of a $500 collision deductible.

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Thanks again to The Motley Fool (http://www.fool.com/) and The Insurance Information Institute (http://www.iii.org/)

Score better rates on your car insurance!

Have you seen those Geico commercials with the "googley eyed stack of money"? The truth is you can earn yourself a stack of money with every single auto insurance company in the world! It is just a matter of adjusting your coverages to find the premiums you want to pay.


Increase your deductibles and pocket money!

If your current deductible is anywhere below $500, you are paying a premium for your coverage. The Insurance Information Institute (http://www.iii.org/) suggests raising deductibles as your first option of decreasing your insurance premiums.

By simply inreasing your collision or comprehensive deductible from $100 to $500, your coverage premium will be reduced by 15% to 35%. What does that mean for you? Take an a normal annual premium of $1500 - that means savings of $225 - $525 per year! Step your game up another notch and increase your deductible all the way to $1000 or remove it entirely and you could be saving even more!

Don't forget that your deductible is the amount of money you pay out-of-pocket before your coverage will ever kick in. The higher the deductible, the more you pay. The truth is, that a higher deductible may save you even more money in the long run. Psychologically, the higher your deductible, the less likely you are to make a claim on your insurance. The cleaner your record is, the better your rates will be!


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Thanks to http://www.fool.com/ for compiling so many reasonable investing ideas including this one!