How You Can Get Cheaper Auto Insurance

Know what you’re looking for

When starting your search for auto insurance, you should first identify what type of auto insurance coverage you need. If you feel your vehicle is not worth a full coverage policy, then have you checked which insurance providers can offer you a different type of cover? Don’t pay over the odds if you don’t have to.

 

Search, search and search again

 

The more quotes you receive from insurance providers, the higher your chances are of finding a cheaper price. When comparing prices you should make things easier for yourself; why would anybody want to search each and every insurance provider, one by one? By using price comparison websites (and I’m sure there are loads you can choose from), you should be able to find a cheaper price. Some examples of price comparison websites:

www.moneysupermarket.com, netquote.com and insurance.com.

 

Comparing as many quotes as possible also gives you a view of the wider options available to you. Each policy is different in its own right; some offer higher deductibles and others offer different incentives that you should be aware of, before confirming a purchase.

 

Consider higher deductibles

 

For those of you who don’t know, the level of deductibles you set on your auto insurance policy is the amount that you have to pay to your insurance provider before your policy becomes active if you have an accident. By using higher deductibles than normal in your policy you can typically save up to 10% which can bring the overall cost of your policy down substantially. The higher the level of your deductibles, the cheaper the cost of your insurance will be, but please remember you may have to pay this back so make sure it’s at an affordable level.

 

Combine Policies

 

Combining two or maybe even three different types of insurance cover is a great way you can save money. For example you can combine your home and auto insurance to reduce your monthly cost. If you haven’t thought about doing this then you should consider it; it’s a great way you can save money.

 

Search for a yearly rather than a monthly policy

 

Paying for your auto insurance yearly rather than monthly is a great way to save money. Obviously by paying yearly you will have to pay for your policy via a one-off payment, but if you have the funds to do, then insurance providers do offer great discounts. If you don’t have the money available to pay off the policy in one go, then you could fund the purchase on a purchase credit card that offers a 12 month interest free period, this way you can still pay via instalments whenever you like but you still get the lower price.

 

Make sure your credit record is clean

 

Many people don’t know this but many insurance carriers actually perform a credit check before issuing you with a quote for your policy. They are basically checking how reliable you are in meeting your payments.

 

Special Offers

 

We all love special offers, and there are loads that you can take advantage of when looking for new auto insurance, here’s just a few:

• Student discount – discount for being a student.
• Student grades discount – discount for performing well while studying.
• Multi-vehicle policies – discount if you want to insure more than one vehicle.
• Defensive drivers courses – doing a course of this type can get you great discounts.

 

There are many more!

This guest post was written by Andreas Nicolaides. Andreas was a frequent jetsetter before settling down in the UK as a financial writer for moneysupermarket.com.

[Kevin: I think that shopping around is important, and I could save money on my car insurance myself! Have you ever used these comparison websites, and if so, what do you think about them?]