Tips and ideas for cutting car insurance costs

The cost of maintenance and gas is not the only recurring price you pay for owning and operating a car. Car insurance is another massive cost that gets added to the already long and expensive list of vehicle expenses. While there’s no way to eliminate insurance costs as that would be unsafe and in many cases, illegal, there are many ways to bring down the cost. Let’s take a look at some tips and ideas for cutting car insurance costs.

Get the insurance that’s needed

Liability coverage is mandatory for almost all the states in the US and there is no way to skip it. But the other two major types of insurance; Comprehensive and Collision insurance are where you can make a choice.

Collision insurance protects your vehicle from damages during an accident such as you hit a tree or another car. Comprehensive insurance protects your car from damages that are not your fault. For example, a tree falling on your car or perhaps a hailstorm. So how to make a choice? 

If your car is a brand new one, or not that old, perhaps below 10 years old, then getting collision insurance would be better as the charges to fix the car in the case of an accident would be high. The same goes for comprehensive insurance as well. While the chances of some natural calamity happening are very slim, it does not hurt to spend $300-$400 to protect your car.

But when you consider a very old car (more than 10 years old), then it makes no sense to pay almost around $1,500 for collision insurance and yearly or monthly premiums. You’d probably get it fixed for half that amount in case of an accident. The other problem with this is deductibles. While making a claim, you’ll have to pay an amount as the deductible. Then the insurance company will pay the rest. All these costs add up and it makes no sense to pay that much for an old car.

Raise the deductible

If you are confident in your driving skills, then increasing the deductible amount will help you a lot in saving a lot of money. As mentioned above, the deductible is the amount you have to pay while making an insurance claim. So if your deductible is, say, $400 and the damages are worth $1,000, the insurance company will pay $600.

If you choose to have low deductibles, the cost of the premium will increase. So you pay more to the insurance companies annually so that in an accident you’ll have to pay less. Or you can choose to increase the deductible which will reduce the cost of the premium, but in case of an accident, you’ll spend more from your pocket. 

So trust your driving skills and make sure you drive safely when you raise the deductible. This will help you save a lot of money on those premium payments.

Discounts and defensive driving

Many popular insurance companies offer special discounts and lower prices of insurance if you have a defensive driving license. But it could be a little tricky. Since not all companies offer this, it is better to talk to the company and then go for such training. Defensive driving courses not only help you in saving money on insurance but also makes you a better driver which helps you save your car and in many cases, save your life. 

But that’s not the only way to get some sweet discounts. Almost all the insurance companies offer some form of a discount on their upfront insurance price and premium. For example, companies like Geico give a “Good Student” discount where they offer massive reductions in the upfront costs. All you have to do is be a good student.

Apart from this, there are usually veteran discounts, discounts for drivers with a clean driving record (so avoid speeding tickets and such), discounts for people with good credits, etc. The point is, that there is always some form of discount available in most insurance policies. All you need to do is check for them and you can get the cheapest auto insurance premium costs with a little bit of curiosity and patience. 

Compare insurance policies

Since the demand for car insurance is so high, the entire vehicle insurance market is very competitive, which is beneficial for the customer. It would be utterly foolish to get the insurance policy that your dealership or some agent tells you to get. There is no need to be stuck to one company. Do your research, and find the best insurance policy on the internet. 

Many great websites compare multiple car insurance plans. You can get a detailed side-by-side comparison of the features, coverage, price, etc all on one single page. So why rush and not get the best insurance for yourself?

Make Your Car Secure 

You don’t want something bad happening to your car. Insurance companies don’t want something bad happening to your car. Then protecting your car from damage and theft is a win-win situation for both you and the company. This is why many insurance companies reduce either the premium cost or the insurance cost for vehicles that are safe and secure. Get a car that comes with safety features such as daytime running lights, ABS, better NCAP ratings, etc or install features such as anti-theft lock, etc and save money on insurance. 

Avoid minor claims and get no claim bonuses

Don’t make an insurance claim for minor issues such as dents or scratches. It would not be worth going through the entire process and probably ending up paying more with the deductible than what you would pay to get it fixed yourself. There are other benefits of avoiding these minor claims and driving your car safely. At the end of the policy period, you can get no-claim bonuses that will reduce the cost of the insurance.