How to Reduce Your Car Insurance Payment
As the price of gas gets worse, food prices rise out of control and finding a reasonable mortgage gets more and more difficult, we need to find a better way to save money. One way is through our car insurance. My significant other and I both have USAA and we both love it. But I realize that not everyone is privvy to USAA as there are certain requirements to being a member. Here are a few ways (check out July’s issue of Money) to reduce the cost no matter what insurance provider you have…
Slim down coverage on old cars. Once your vehicle is worth less than 10 times waht you pay each year to insure it, toss the comprehensive coverage plan you had and go as low as possible. Check Kelley Blue Book to find your vehicles value.
Increase your deductible. Car insurance exists to protect you from insane costs that could arise in an emergency. Raise your deductible from $200 to $1000 (and stash away that $1000!) and you could save about 40% on your premiums.
Get discounts. There are all kinds of savings here, from having a good driving record, having good grades (if you are a student), even using the same insurer for your home. (Go to Insurance Information Institute for more answers to your questions.) The trick to getting almost 25% off your premium is to call them, they won’t call you. Why would they? They make more money by not calling you but once that info is out there they want to keep you.
Pit them against eachother. This one has the most work involved but if they want to keep you then they will match what you find. And if not, you have a better place to go. Heres the rundown:
- Go to naic.org to find your state insurance commission website and then download a car insurance buying guide.
- Call them for quotes after finding the closest situation to you.
- If that doesn’t work, get the top five quotes at insweb.com (State Farm not included)
Watch for hassle. Be sure this new quote in hand is not a sham by making sure that the ratio of complaints vs policies written. Your states insurance commission websute will have this.
In other news…
We have added two new members to the Money Life Network! Emily of Remodeling This Life and Kacie of Sense To Save.
Remodeling The Life is a site that focuses on her and her family’s ongoing adventure of remodeling their house. As a major DIY fan, this is intruiging to me. Take a look at her site and be sure to subscribe!
Kacie is another one of our favorites and authors the well known site, Sense To Save. I am a huge fan of her writing and have been reading her for a while now. She knows what she is talking about and we recommend her site as well as her feed.
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Thanks for the shoutout!
Another way to lower car insurance premiums:
- Make sure you’re not paying too much on the “first party benefits” section. Our first 6 months of insurance, I had way too much coverage. Our health insurance will pick up the tab where our car insurance leaves off, so I dropped the first party benefits to the minimum and saved about $30 off the policy. It’s a good idea to check your own insurance companies to make sure this’ll work for you, of course.
- Pay your policy in full. I bank about $61 per month in a high-interest savings account, and when the 6-month premium is due, I pay it in full. I save money by avoiding installment fees, and my money grows interest in that time.