Your Job Could Make Your Car Insurance Cheaper
In our continuing effort to find affordable car insurance for our readers, we tested Geico Auto Insurance as a 38-year-old single male living in the Bronx New York. Our test subject, Mr. Bob Testquoter drives a 2006 Mazda 6 and has no traffic incidents within the past five years. Mr. Testquoter works as an accountant, traveling ten miles to and from work, five times a week.
The insurance coverage we selected was as follows:
• Bodily Injury Liability: $25,000 / $50,000
• Property Damage Liability: $10,000
• Personal Injury Protection: $50,000 per person per accident ($200 Deductible)
• Uninsured Motorist: $25,000 / $50,000
• Comprehensive: $500 deductible
• Collision: $500 deductible
Mr. Testquoter’s quote came up for $1,075.60 for six months or $204.74 per month, not bad for such a high incident area as the Bronx. When we left everything else the same, yet changed the profession from accountant to computer software engineer, our rate jumped to $1,316.40 for six months or $249.89 a month! Do accountants really deserve to have cheap car insurance than computer software engineers?
Insurance companies make money on statistical analysis that determines the optimal (read: profitable) mix of how much to charge and who to charge it to. Throughout the course of a week, most of us spend more time driving to work than we do anywhere else so the fact that insurance companies factor this in shouldn’t be a surprise.
Anyone who drives for a living, delivery or sales people for example, should obviously expect to pay more, but those of us who work high stress, long hour jobs should expect to pay more as well. Statistics show people who talk on the phone more often have more accidents and busy professionals use the phone while they drive. See the correlation? It’s really just a numbers game.
The bottom line… if you want to find more affordable insurance for your car, try classifying your occupation under a number of different categories before committing to a policy. Spend a few extra minutes examining the input options and those few extra mouse clicks could save you big bucks over the life of your policy!
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Finding Cheap Car Insurance For Teens
Many teenagers are excited when they turn 16 and its time to get their license, but nothing crushes that excitement quite like a big fat car insurance premium every month. Here are some important tips to help find affordable car insurance for teens.
Get on mom and dad’s policy
Insurance companies divide people into groups and assess risk based on the group’s risk. As I’m sure you guessed, teenagers are by far the riskiest group and with a lack of experience behind the wheel, common sense says they’re correct. By adding teenagers to their parent’s car insurance policy, parents are financially accountable for the way the teenager drives, and their teen driver will have cheaper car insurance premiums because of it. On the downside however, if their teen driver causes an accident, everyone’s premiums will skyrocket.
Drive An Old, Reliable Car
When they get their license most teens picture cruising around town in a fancy high performance car, but the reality is teens who have an expensive and fast car will pay a very high premium compared to an older, safer, more reliable car. Expensive cars cost more to fix and have a higher likelihood of being broken into or even stolen. If you’re thinking of a hot, fancy car for your teen, consider a less expensive, safer model to make your car insurance more affordable.
Take A Safe Driving Course
Many insurance companies offer a discount of 10 percent or more if your teen completes a safe driving course. With a lack of experience on the road, and a lack of understand on how to handle a high pressure situations, a $35-50 investment in a safe driving course will help your teen stay safe, and that means more than anything you will save getting a more affordable car insurance premium.
Get Good Grades!
Like giving a discount to one occupation over another, this is another way car insurance companies provide discounts for “more responsible” demographics. By maintaining a B average or higher, teens can save 25 percent or more, which is really cheap car insurance.
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Which Cars Have The Cheapest Car Insurance Rates?
When buying a new car, the cost of car insurance is usually the last thing on our minds, but buying the wrong car can have a big impact on our wallet. Lets take a look at what cars have the most affordable car insurance rates.
In 2008 the least expensive vehicles according to Insure.com were:
1. Chrysler Town & Country
2. Ford Escape
3. GMC Sierra
4. Chevy Impala
5. Ford Econoline Club Wagon
6. Ford Fusion
7. Ford F-Series pickup
8. Honda Civic
9. Toyota Camry
10. Toyota RAV-4
Of all the vehicles on the road, these vehicles had, on average, the least expensive claims made on them and the insurance companies returned the favor by providing their drivers with more affordable car insurance rates, (depending on their personal driving records of course).
On the flip side, the cars with the least affordable car insurance rates were as follows:
1. Dodge Ram pickup
2. Chevy Silverado-C/K pickup
3. Toyota Prius
4. Honda Accord
5. Nissan Altima
6. Toyota Corolla
7. Ford Focus
8. Chevy Cobalt
9. Honda CR-V
10. Dodge Caravan
Of the cars listed, the Honda Accord and Nissan Altima come as a big surprise to me, but cars can be listed with the least affordable car insurance rates for a number of reasons. The Accord and Altima show up frequently on the National Insurance Crime Bureau’s most stolen cars list, but other factors such as frequency of accidents, expense to repair, and the average dollar amount of insurance claims factor in heavily as well.
Before purchasing a new car, it is very important to consider insurance rates. Finding the cheapest car insurance policy and saving even more money will make your new car that much more sweet..
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Affordable Car Insurance Tips
With gas at a new all time high almost every day, it’s more important than ever to start learning how to save money on your car insurance. Here are some tips to help you find cheap car insurance.
Comparison Shop For More Affordable Car Insurance.
You see car insurance commercials every five minutes so you know there are dozens of companies out there, but how often do you shop around? These companies are jockeying for your business every day, so you should comparison shop at least once a year. Most companies will offer a quote online so there is really no reason not to compare rates.
Consolidate Cars
If you have more cars than drivers, you may want to think about taking one of them off the road, at least seasonally. Some of you may have cars insured that aren’t even drivable. If you’re paying for cars that you rarely or never use, you’re just throwing money away.
Ask For Multi-Car Discounts
If you have more than one car, ask your car insurance agent about a multi-car discount. If your agent doesn’t offer such a discount, see step number one and shop around for someone who does. If you want cheaper car insurance rates, don’t be afraid to pit car insurance companies against each other.
Take A Safe Driving Course
Most car insurance companies offer a discount of 10% or more when you take a safe driving course. Most courses can be completed in an afternoon and are usually inexpensive. Be sure to weigh the cost of the course against the potential savings before committing to a course however.
Raise Your Deductible
This tip is admittedly a little risky, but increasing your deductible will save you money on a month to month basis. If you are unfortunate enough to get into an accident however, it will cost you more. For example, increasing a deductible from $500 to $1,000 will lower your monthly premium, but will cost you $500 more should you wind up in a wreck.
Just Drive Safely!
This is by far the easiest, yet most often overlooked advice we can give you. If you don’t want your car insurance premiums to rise, don’t drive recklessly, don’t speed and of course don’t drink if you must drive. Nobody can commit to staying 100% accident free (that’s why they call them accidents after all) but taking some simple safe driving steps will help you find the most affordable car insurance.
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Six Reasons You Pay Too Much For Car Insurance
Everyone is looking to save money today and one of the easiest ways to do it is to find affordable car insurance. If you are looking to save money on auto insurance, here are six reasons you pay too much for car insurance.
1. You Didn’t Do Enough Research
How often do we see car insurance commercials during popular TV shows and sporting events? It’s pretty much every other commercial that tells you about how easy it is to save money on car insurance. If you want cheaper car insurance you need to put in a little effort, but don’t worry they’ve made it very easy for you to find affordable car insurance in the past few years.
2. Your Agent Isn’t Finding You The Best Rates
Do you rely on your agent to find you the best rates on car insurance? Maybe your agent isn’t working hard enough to find you an affordable car insurance rate. If you think you are paying too much, give your agent a call and tell them to find you the best car insurance quote and see what they can come up with.
3. Your Car Is Too Expensive To Insure
Some cars are more expensive than others to insure, so if you are driving an expensive Italian import or a monster SUV, it may be wise to consider a more reasonable alternative. If you are wondering which cars are cheapest to insure, take a look at our recent article.
4. You Have A Bad Driving Record
If you’ve had a few tickets and/or accidents in the past few years your insurance company isn’t going to give you the best car insurance rates, and why should they really? If you are going to drive recklessly then, you need to budget in more money for car insurance because your rates are not going to change. Drive slower, get off the phone, and be more careful and you’ll see a gradual reduction in your car insurance policy.
5. You Haven’t Taken A Safe Driving Course
If you do have a bad driving record, or you just want to save money on car insurance, look in to taking a safe driving course, also known as a defensive driving course. Most car insurance companies will give you a significant discount for taking a course, sometimes as high as 10% or more. The course usually only takes about four hours and is usually offered on weekends. This is a great way to have more affordable car insurance.
6. You Haven’t Updated Your Policy In A While
If you still have the same car insurance policy as you did from ten years ago, it may be time to dust off your paperwork, give your agent a call and see what else is out there. The car insurance industry has become incredibly more competitive, especially with the online auto insurance companies joining the fray. Look in to updating your policy and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to find cheap car insurance.
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