10+ Tips to Help You Save on Car Insurance

Friday, October 9, 2009

1. Drive less and earn a discount
If you drive less than 7,500 miles per year, you may qualify for a low-mileage discount on your auto insurance. And, some car insurance companies offer a commuter discount if you use public transportation during the week.

2. Don't use your car for business purposes
Some insurance companies will add a "business use surcharge" or increase your car insurance premium as your annual mileage increases. But, if you must use your car for business, be sure to tell your company or agent, so that your daily business travel is covered.

3. Increase your deductible
You might reduce your annual auto insurance premium by as much as 10 to 15% if you increase your deductible from $250 to $500. But, remember that you'll be required to pay the larger deductible upfront if you have an accident.

4. Keep an eye on your credit report
Your credit history is one of many "risk factors" that most auto insurance companies evaluate when setting rates (in states where it's permissible by law). Paying your bills on time and maintaining a solid credit history will help keep your auto and home insurance rates lower.

5. Drive safely
You may be eligible for a price break on your car insurance policy if you have no accidents or traffic violations for a specified period (usually three years – but a few companies will look back five years). Even a single speeding ticket can increase your auto insurance rates 5 to 10% depending on your state.

6. Buy a low-profile car
Cars are rated on a risk scale for auto insurance purposes. In general, sports cars and other high-performance, flashy vehicles are classified as higher risks because they are common targets for thieves and vandals, and because statistically, the people who own them tend to drive more recklessly.

7. Move
If you live in a rural community with little crime and traffic congestion, your insurance premium will generally be lower than if you live in an urban area where your car is more likely to be stolen, vandalized, or involved in an accident. We love city life – but sadly it costs more for car insurance.

8. Keep your car in a garage
Cars parked in garages are less likely to be stolen, vandalized, or struck by other vehicles. Using a garage to store your car may get you to a slight auto insurance premium reduction.

9. Install safety or anti-theft devices
Car insurance companies offer a variety of discounts for anti-lock brakes, automatic seat belts, and airbags. Similarly, anti-theft devices such as car alarms and tracking systems (e.g., LoJack®) may also get you an insurance discount because they reduce the chances of your car being stolen or vandalized.

10. Look for discounts
You may receive a discount from your auto insurance company if you buy more than one type of insurance through that same company (e.g., auto and homeowners). A discount may also apply to your auto insurance if you insure multiple cars under the same policy or with the same company. In addition, you can earn money-saving discounts for taking a defensive driving course, being a AAA member or staying with the same auto insurance company for a number of years. These discounts vary by company.

10+ Shop around
OK, it might go without saying, but your current car insurance company might not be the best one for you in the future! We recommend researching your options 30 to 45 days before your current policy is set to renew, especially if you have not shopped recently. (Fact: Insurance.com customers reported annual auto insurance savings of $538 a year in April 2009. Your savings may vary.)

Travelers Launches New Product for Building Services Contractors

Travelers has unveiled a new coverage the company says will help building services contractors better minimize their risks.

Travelers' new IndustryEdge product for Building Services Contractors includes core lines of commercial insurance such as general liability, workers' compensation, commercial auto, property and umbrella, as well as specialized features and solutions. These include:

* Coverage for damage to personal property in the care, custody or control of the insured

* Coverage for scheduled equipment, including optional Lost Keys Coverage, which covers the cost to adjust or install new locks if a client's keys are lost or stolen

* Coverage for theft of a client's property by an identified employee

"In this challenging economic climate, when some building services contractors may not have the means to pay for uncovered claims out-of-pocket, it is imperative that they have adequate insurance coverage and utilize risk management tools and procedures to control costs," said Deb Denker, industry manager for Travelers Commercial Accounts. "Travelers IndustryEdge for Building Services Contractors was designed to help agents and their customers pinpoint the coverage necessary to manage their business."

Money Saving Auto Insurance Tips

Everyone likes to save money and your automobile insurance is a great place to find savings. You’re most likely required by state law to carry auto insurance on any car you own and auto insurance costs can vary widely.

Here are eight tips to help you start saving money with your automobile insurance.

1. Compare auto insurance quotes – this advice might sound simple, but it is the best way to find the best possible auto insurance rate. Get at least auto insurance quotes to compare and make certain you are comparing similar policies.

2. One way to buy less expensive auto insurance is to ask for a high deductible. You will be out a much larger out-of-pocket expense in the event your auto insurance policy is used to cover a claim, but your premium will be substantially lower. If you take your deductible up to $1000, you can expect savings of 40 percent, or more.

3. If your car is older consider reducing the coverage of your automobile insurance. Two types of coverage to think about are collision and comprehensive auto insurance. A good rule of thumb is to drop unnecessary coverage for any car worth less than 10 times the cost of coverage. In the event you make a claim for an older car, the amount you receive might be less than your auto insurance premiums.

4. Your car has a major impact on the cost of your auto insurance. For example, a sports car is going to be much more expensive to insure than a family sedan. When you are buying a car, take the automobile insurance costs into account. Safety features like air bags, car alarms and anti-lock brakes can all help reduce the cost of auto insurance. Other factors that affect your auto insurance premiums include the sticker price of the car, its safety rating, how much it costs to repair and how likely the car is to be stolen.

5. This tip really shows how shopping around and comparing auto insurance can pay off – if you don’t drive very much you might want to find an automobile insurance company that offers a low-mileage discount.

6. Another way to get a lower auto insurance premium is to buy your auto insurance from the same company where you carry other types of insurance, such as home insurance.

7. Save money by being a good citizen. Really. Keeping a good credit rating and a good driving record can reduce your auto insurance costs.

8. Find out if you are able to buy auto insurance with a group plan at your work or through a group like a professional association. Group plans can offer very large discounts on most types of insurance, including auto insurance.

States with Highest Car Insurance Prices

For most drivers, the all-time most resented vehicle expense is not gas, oil changes or even those triple-digit transmission repairs, but auto insurance.

Every six months to a year, drivers voluntarily or, in some states are required to, play Premium Poker: the high-stakes game in which you bet your driving fortunes against the car insurance companies, all of which have better hands than you do.

Even in these days of almost universal nationwide mandatory coverage, about 15 percent of motorists drive uninsured, according to Insurance Research Council estimates. "The problem of uninsured motorists persists," said Elizabeth A. Sprinkel, IRC senior vice resident. "Responsible drivers who purchase insurance end up paying for injuries caused by uninsured drivers."

Other unofficial estimates of uninsured drivers, which include illegal aliens, the underage, elderly, medically unfit and disqualified individuals who are driving, put the total at a much higher level than the quoted 15 percent. An even more frightening recent GMAC study found that one in six licensed drivers currently on the road are unfit to drive. It is estimated that 600,000 drivers in New Jersey alone are hitting the roads without car insurance. However, they (the car insurance agencies) know that sooner or later the odds catch up with nearly everyone, and your chances of making it through your driving years without a major automotive incident are outstandingly rare. Last year there were there were 5,930,182 police-reported motor vehicle traffic crashes, according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, resulting in an average of one fatality every 12 minutes (every 31 minutes in alcohol-related crashes), an injury every 12 seconds, and 4,181,000 cases of property damage.

Even more sobering, is the U.S. Department of Transportation's estimate that an additional 10,000,000 crashes go unreported, many because the drivers have no car insurance and just as many because the drivers are trying to avoid a possible increase in their car insurance prices due to the accident.

So what makes up the cost of your car insurance prices? There are four basic standards:

* Who you are: age, occupation, marital status, geographic location, medical condition.

* What you drive: SUV, sports car, minivan, luxury sedan, high performance model, truck.

* How you drive: tickets, DUIs, accidents, high mileage.

* Where you drive: high crime and crowded urban areas, suburban town, rural and wide open spaces.

There are multiple other factors punched into the cost calculator: is your vehicle financed so the cost can be recovered if totaled; what safety equipment does it have (side impact airbags and curtain airbags are much better); driver education courses taken; history of illnesses which could affect driving safety and that occupational information which shows some drivers (like professors and engineers have) as a sub-culture with much better driving records than, let's say, young, blonde celebrities and aging movie stars.

There can also be a credit check and another verification to see if you are one of the 36 million licensed Americans who have been judged unfit to drive in a study by GMAC, the 2007 Insurance National Drivers Test. That probe found that one in six current drivers could not pass a written DMV exam if taken today. The worst odds of running into one, or perhaps one of them running into you, are on the East Coast, while your chances of fewer encounters would be among the best-educated drivers in Idaho and Oregon.

With all of those factors stacked against your chances of continuing to drive without incident or accident, there are things you can do to lower your car insurance prices, like not driving drunk and giving up street-model NASCARs. Then again, there are those you can't control, like where you drive.

Of course if you decide to move in order to lower auto insurance costs, here are some actual numbers to juggle:

The national average annual outlay for liability coverage alone was projected to be $847 for 2007, according to the Insurance Information Institute. The estimate was based on combined stats of the institute and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, an organization which assists state regulators. It does not include collision or comprehensive coverage.

Car insurance figures like those can be misleading. For example, consider the highway robbery for drivers in major urban areas. According to Insurance.com, drivers in Detroit, Philadelphia, Newark, New York and Los Angeles were paying, from $5,984 to $3,303 a year, in that order as of February 2006, for $100/300/50* liability, $500 deductible each for collision and comprehensive and $100/300* for uninsured. These multi-thousand-dollar car insurance prices are due, to higher density of traffic, increased likelihood of theft or vandalism and greater incidence of fraudulent claims, according to insurers.

The good news about auto insurance costs is that despite the increasing costs of medical care and vehicle repair plus cumulative weather-related damage such as the Katrina disaster, car insurance experts have anticipated a drop in rates. The Insurance Information Institute forecast a drop of 0.5 percent in 2007, once again, for liability coverage alone. That would be the first decrease since 1999.

Making state-by state comparisons is trickier, however, as the official Insurance Information Institute premium charts are only as recent as 2004; the highest car insurance price for that year was $1,221.08 in New Jersey, the lowest, $579.95 in Iowa.

Below are the most up-to-date state figures from the Mid-Year Auto Insurance Pricing Report by Insurance.com. It's based on car insurance quotes given to consumers by participating auto insurance companies in the 47 states where Insurance.com operates, plus the aggregate profile of consumers who shop using their Web site.

The cost of getting caught driving without auto insurance can vary from state to state, depending on the percentage of drivers who are uninsured in that state. In Massachusetts, residents can be charged anywhere from $500 to $5,000 in fines and receive a one-year jail sentence. In Florida, Louisiana, Connecticut and New Jersey, drivers operating a vehicle without the state required minimum will have their vehicles impounded, which can cost thousands depending on how long it takes to recover the vehicle.

Finally, even though there remain two states –New Hampshire and Wisconsin -- which do not require motorists to carry liability insurance, all 50 have some auto insurance requirement about. In many states, motorists can't register a car without showing proof of liability insurance. In others, they don't ask for proof of car insurance until drivers have accidents or tickets on their records.

Can you buy full coverage auto insurance for salvage vehicles?

Vehicles can get a "salvage" title when they have been salvaged or repaired when damages incurred are close to the total replacement value of the vehicle. These vehicles generally have a lower value due to factors such as safety, reduction of structural stability, major damage repair etc. By laws, a salvage vehicle will hold that title and will be indicated on the registration or title.

Auto insurance companies may look at salvage vehicles as unsafe, high risk or even unacceptable vehicles. That is why some insurers can reject or charge additional premium (surcharge rates) for salvage vehicles even when purchasing liability coverage only. Although some carriers may accept salvage vehicles for full coverage, one must be aware that in case of a total loss, one may not receive the full value from the insurance company.

Most carriers will not insure salvage vehicles for full coverage or comprehensive and collision coverage; however, if one does come across one that will, it is important to find out what their rules are on vehicle value assessment and how much you may receive in case of a total loss such as theft. It is common that an insurer will pay out 50% of what the vehicle would be worth with a clean title (not salvaged). Some vehicles can get listed as salvage even for damages from water, fire, theft, accidents or any damages resulting in a high cost vs. value ratio.

If needing full coverage for a salvage vehicle, one can shop for auto insurance quotes from a variety of companies in order to find out which insurer can offer the coverage for the specific vehicle at an affordable rate. OnlineAutoInsurance.com allows consumers to complete one simple form and instantly obtain the rates of multiple insurers.