Friday, January 8, 2010

Low Cost Auto Insurance

In all likelihood, you've kept the same insurance that you had when you first bought the car. You might have even gotten what seemed like a low cost auto insurance policy from your insurance agent at the time because you bought a car that had great crash test safety ratings from the government. But you never knew to check things like industry data for the car model like repair record, cost of repairs, accident and theft statistics. Believe it or not, all these factors influence rates for comprehensive and collision coverage ..

The auto insurance industry has compiled decades of data regarding driver and car profiles. Whether you personally fit into a high risk profile doesn't matter to the insurer. So if you're a 24 year male who opts for a shiny red Mustang, then the chance of you obtaining a low cost auto insurance policy is pipe dream. This is true even if you've been driving safely since you turned 15 and haven't had single blemish on your driving record.

One way to have a low cost auto insurance policy is to increase the amount of your deductible. Instead of picking a low amount such as $100, see if you can increase it to a $1,000 out of pocket expense before the insurance applies. You can see a dramatic reduction in the premiums if you are willing to absorb more of the cost of repairs before a claim is made. Use the difference in premiums to fund your deductible instead and you'll be seeing more of your money in your pocket.

If you are not a frequent driver or don't use your car to commute to work, then there's a good chance you can qualify for a low annual mileage discount. Most companies will require some evidence of this, but it's one way of getting low cost auto insurance. Dropping your comprehensive and collision coverage will also reduce your premiums if your car is older and it's no longer makes economic sense to maintain it.

The easiest way to find out if you can get low cost auto insurance is to use one of the many quote sites which allow you to input your information to generate instant quotes from a number of companies. This particularly useful if you are shopping for a new car as you can view quotes for different car models.