Auto Insurance

 Unless you’re one of those people who would rather spend money on insurance premiums than pamper your family with a vacation or buy your sweetie a diamond bracelet, then this article, while not guaranteed to amaze, amuse, and astound, will at least enlighten you with ways to save a little on your auto insurance.

Fast and Flashy = Large Insurance Bill

Driving that Cadillac XLR might make you look really cool to the seventeen-year-old across the street, but, hey, what’s it costing you (after those hideously high car payments) in insurance? Also keep in mind that how attractive your car is to thieves increases your premiums considerably as well. You can find out which cars are crook-magnets at the National Insurance Crime Bureau. (none of the top ten are Lincoln or Cadillac) Another premium pumper-upper is an expensive car with its accompanying expensive repair costs. Any car that is costly to repair will also cost more to insure.

Search for the Savings

Shop around, shop around, shop around. If you don’t shop around, you either have enough money that you don’t need to be reading this, or your life is so fractured, and time is of such a premium to you, that you truly have greater priorities – like getting your act together. Shop around every time you renew your insurance. Believe me, you can find considerably cheaper rates when you least expect it.

Car insurance rates vary so greatly from one company to another that it boggles the mind. If you don’t make the effort and take the time to shop around, you could be missing out on hundreds of dollars in savings a year! One word of caution, however: Don’t let that amazing price blind your reasoning ability. If it sounds too good to be true, by all means, check the company out with Standard & Poors to make sure the company’s credit rating is up to par and also pay a visit to your state’s insurance board Web site to check out things like complaint information, licensing status, company history, and other pertinent information.

Insurance Discounts

With savings of 10% to 25%, you can shave off quite a chunk of moolah when you latch on to these types of discounts:

1. Multiple Vehicle Discounts; don’t forget the boat, the trailer, the camper, or the ATV.
2. Non Smoker Discount
3. Insure both your home and your car with the same company.
4. Take a defensive-driving class.
5. If you’re a teen driver or college student, make good grades. Many insurance companies reward high GPAs with lower premiums.
6. Retire. Since you won’t be driving as much, your insurer sees you as less of a risk, especially if you retire fairly young.
7. Look into group discounts from your workplace, school, military group, or any other large organization of which you are a member.
8. Install safety and anti-theft devices on your car. They’ll reward you with discounted premiums for having an alarm.

Your Deductible -

Saving anywhere from 15% to 40% should have you thinking twice about having a larger deductible. It’s an increase-to-reduce thing that works like this: up your deductible from $200 to $500 and watch your savings soar anywhere from 15% to 30%; increase it to $1,000 and don’t be shocked at a 40% discount in premium payments! Some insurance companies will even give you a $1500 deductible.

These are just a few tips you can utilize to put money in the bank for that vacation, diamond jewelry, or just to have a financial nest egg growing instead of giving it to your insurance company, but you can find lots more ways to save by plugging in the keywords “save on car insurance” into Google. Sit back, relax, and then slap yourself on the forehead while saying, “Now why didn’t I do this before?”