Thursday, March 31, 2011

I FEEL THE NEED TO SLASH! (my auto insurance, that is!)

Today, I was reading some blogs and I came across one that was written by SonyaAnn.  She was talking about saving money on auto insurance, and I came away from her post Totally Inspired!  It got me thinking about ways that I could save money on my family's auto insurance. 

So, I started looking online for ways, and I found, "How to Save Money on Car Insurance" tips at eHow.com.  Read them and let me know what you think.  I am confused about #4 and #5:

1.  First, shop around. If you have moved to a new area recently check different companies. Insurance companies have different rates for different areas.

2.  Try to get your homeowners insurance and auto insurance from the same company if they offer a discount.

3.   Ask for all the discounts like: no smoking, part time driver, good student discount, etc. Be sure to see what each company offers discounts for. Take notes when shopping.

4.  Here is a big issue for some parents of teenagers (like me). If you do not have one car for each driver, put the teen on part time. If you have a car for each driver, put the teen as primary driver on the lowest rate car. I did not say cheapest car, I said lowest rate car. Just because a car is older and worth less it may have a higher rate than a newer car. *I am confused on this one.  We were not able to do this with our current auto insurance.  I'm not sure about this one.

5.  If the teen rate is still outrageously high priced, then consider buying a old junker that has a low rate even if to sit in the driveway and insure and put the teen on as the primary driver of that vehicle. He or she is still covered on the other vehicles but the low rate is based on the car you bought for a few hundred dollars in your driveway. (Again, I am confused on this one.)

6.  If you have the cash pay annually for a discount rather than monthly or quarterly.

7.  Remember to get quotes every six months or so because everything is always changing.

8. This may seem ridiculous but consider the zip code when you are moving. Remember the rates in some zip codes are much higher than others even on your car insurance.

Now that you have read the above tips, what do you think of them?  Give me your feedback and also your handy-dandy car insurance savings knowledge!!

A.Marie

6 comments:

  1. We used to practice #4 and #5 but our company changed how they calc now. How it used to work: If you didn't have a car specified as the teens car, they would put that teen as a driver on one of the other cars. We always bought a car and put liability only on it and designated it the teens car. They were still covered to drive all the cars in the household, but were rated and charged on that "one" car.
    After years of having our rates raised for no reason we switched to progressive. They have given us really good rates and thus far we are happy

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  2. You have to assign a primary driver to each car. Be sure to assign the teen driver to the cheapest car to insure.

    Example: We have Joe, Lin, Colin (teen) and Emma -- and we have 3 cars. When we got insurance, Colin had to be a primary driver on one of the cars because Joe and I cannot be primary on two cars. We chose the car cheapest to insure to put Colin on as the primary.

    If you have an old Mustang with a v8 engine in the driveway and a newer minivan, the old Mustang might be OLDER, but it will be more expensive to insure. Especially with a big engine that the teen could race with. Does that make sense? Put the kid on the minivan as the primary to keep the cost down.

    In that case, you can also buy a junker to sit in the driveway to put Colin as the primary. That way, he can drive the Mustang or the minivan, but it won't kill you on insurance cost.

    Also, remember to tell them when Colin is in college. They will prorate your insurance based on him being away and home throughout the year (if he doesn't take the car to school) and it will save you money. Big money.

    We have AAA Insurance and the rate is GREAT!

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  3. Another big one- unless you have car payments you do not need full coverage. Just get what is required by law.

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  4. However, be aware of what you are doing if you do not get full coverage. If you are in an accident, and at fault, then you could be sued if your insurance does not cover the accident.

    You could also save up to 15% on car insurance by phoning the gecko.

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    ReplyDelete
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