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Wednesday, February 25, 2009

How to Save Money in Car Insurance

Saving hard earned money on car insurance is normally the first thing that most people think about. But the question is how best can you save on your auto insurance? Once you have bought a car, you would probably be raring to go, take it for a long drive or test its horsepower to the maximum. Everything looks good except there is one problem: you need to have valid insurance coverage before you can drive your pretty car around. Some of the states have made it mandatory for car owners to have certain types of car insurance. Now what next?

So here are some easy ways by which you can cut costs on your car insurance as well as get one too:

Do your homework: Yes! That’s right you need to do your homework well. The first step towards this is to take out the Yellow Pages and look for car or automobile insurance. There might be a huge list of name and maybe some of them might sound familiar to you. So first check out the familiar names; give them a call and get an insurance quote as well as detailed information of what all is included in the coverage.

Shop Online: There are several car insurance companies who have websites. You can visit the insurance company websites as well as some of the online insurance comparison websites. This way, you will be able to get a fair idea of the amount that you will have to pay as premium for the type of coverage chosen.

Different coverage – Different Quotes: try to get as many quotes as possible for different types of insurance coverage from each of the shortlisted companies. The coverage offered by one company will differ from coverage offered by another company. There will be a difference in the rates, what all it covers and the amount of premium.

Limits: You need to look for the various limits that are applicable on the particular insurance coverage that you need. You need to make a note of all the limits mentioned within each of the quotes given to you.

Adjusting coverage: One of the most important aspects is adjusting the coverage to meet your requirements. To bring down the overall cost, you can always start with a car insurance that offers you a lower coverage and then slowly as years pass, you can always add more coverage if depending on the increase in your financial standings or budget.

Higher Deductible: Buying an insurance coverage with a higher deductible will help you save money on your premiums. When you are shifting the deductible from $250 to $500 ensure that these savings should not hurt you on a long-term basis.

Good driving record: When you are applying for car insurance, you need to ensure that you have a good driving record. If you are a safe driver then you will get different types of discounts on your insurance apart from the fact that your premiums will also be lower as opposed to a driver with accidents on record. More accidents and claims means risky driver and hence the premium will be higher.

Discounts: Always ask your insurance agent for discounts. Most auto insurance companies have plans that offer discounts for example: if you take insurance for two cars from the same company then you will get a discount. You can also get a discount if you purchase a car and home insurance from the same company and this is known as multi-policy discount.

The bottom line is that you need to ask your car insurance agent for discounts and how to save money on your insurance policy.