subject: Whats Affecting Your Car Insurance Premium? [print this page] You might THINK you know enough about car insurance, but youd be surprised to know that that might not be entirely true. In fact, you might not even be entirely aware of the factors that affect your premiums. Were going to discuss some of these factors to help you make an informed decision.
Age
Believe it or not, teenagers are usually always surprised about the high premiums that they are charged when buying individual policies. This is because insuring young, inexperienced drivers poses as a high risk to an insurance carrier. Since these drivers are young, chances of them meeting with an accident are higher, which is why insurance companies charge them high premiums. To save some money, teenagers should consider getting added to their parents policy as a listed, licensed driver. Thehartford car insurance premium rates decrease as you near 25.
Deductible
Not everyone knows this but, increasing your deductible helps reduce your premium rates. Its quite simple, really. The higher your deductible, the lower your premium and the lower your deductible, the higher your premium. So if you want to reduce your premium rates, you know what to do.
Paying for minor damages yourself
There are always chances of you meeting with minor accidents. Light collisions, fender benders, scratches here or there are very common. Fixing these damages might not cost a lot, but people tend to turn to their insurance companies to pay for them. What they might not realize is that filing a claim results in an increase of auto insurance rates. So if you can, you should consider paying for fixing minor damages yourself.
Carrying collision coverage on an old car
You might think youre being safe and cautious, but are you really? If you ever thought about it, youd realize that it might actually cost more to fix your car (in the event of an accident) than what its currently worth. Carrying collision coverage on an older car might actually end up being a lot more expensive and you should consider dropping it if your car is more than 10 years old.
Bundling insurance or insuring multiple cars
Did you know that insurance companies offer discounts to people who buy multiple policies from them? For instance, you could get a discount for bundling your home and auto insurance or even if you insure more than one car with them. Its always a good idea to find out the different kinds of discounts insurance companies offer before deciding on anything. Some discounts to enquire about are: discount for bundling home and auto insurance, multi-car discount, low-mileage discount, good student discount (beneficial to young drivers), defensive driver discount, discounts offered for installing security and anti-theft devices to your vehicle etc.
Its important to keep a look-out for better rates, so make it a point to re-evaluate your policy periodically. Shop around for rates offered by other companies every once in a while, stay informed and you should have no problem with your car insurance.
by: Bethany
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