How To Save Money on Auto Insurance

For those of you who would like to save some money on your existing auto insurance policy, or looking for the best deal on an auto insurance quote, simply take the time to read all the tips on this Hub. You will also find all the links on this Hub very useful and informative.

There are thousands of insurance quote services online, insureme.com is a good insurance service I have found. You can Click here to get a free auto, health, home or life insurance quote. They have one of the largest Insurance Networks I have seen. The larger the network, the better chances of getting a cheaper insurance quote.

What is an insurance network?

Services that offer quotes online select a group of companies to include in their database of carriers. When you submit a quote, it will only be submitted to the companies that are in the particular services database.

Common sense tells us that the smaller the services database is, the fewer the number of companies that will see your request.

What I learned about InsureMe.com is that this insurance service has a database that includes thousands of providers from across the nation. Your chances of being matched with an auto insurance provider that will give you lower auto insurance rates are very high.

Just think about it, when you use a service like this, you do not have to spend days running from one insurance carrier to another, you get their insurances quotes through one easy service.

You really need to read all the various parts of your insurance policy so that you will understand exactly what you are paying for. Use my tips to save on your premiums now.

Auto Insurance Quotes

• 1. Towing, roadside assistance.

Most people are just like me, we purchase the roadside assistance along with our auto insurance package. But did you know that AAA (Triple A) offers roadside assistance starting as low as only about $60.00 a year?

AAA is worth looking in to especially when many of us are paying a hundred dollars or more a year for roadside assistance through our auto insurance agents.

• 2. Combining your insurance policies.

Do you have auto insurance on more than one auto? Do you have a life insurance policy? How about a utility trailer or a car hauler?

If you combine all your insurance policies instead of using separate auto insurance carriers, you'll probably save quite a bit.

• 3. High theft vehicles.

Go to http://www.statefarm.com/learning/be_safe/road/learning_besafe_onroad_cartheft1.asp for a list of the most stolen automobiles.

If you're about to purchase another car, remember that auto insurance for high-profile cars is through the roof. By all means, get a nice car, but check the model against the list I mentioned above first.

As of 2007, the top ten vehicles most frequently reported stolen are as follows:

• 1. Honda Civic 1995 models
• 2. Honda Accord 1991 models
• 3. Toyota Camry 1989 models
• 4. Ford F150 1997 models
• 5. Chevrolet C/K 1500 Pickup 1994 models
• 6. Acura Integra 1994 models
• 7. Dodge Ram 2004 models
• 8. Nissan Sentra 1994 models
• 9. Toyota Pickup 1988 models
• 10. Toyota Corolla 2007 models

The top four passenger vehicles stolen: 03-05 Models

• 1.Four door Cadillac (Escalade EXT)
• 2 Four door Cadillac (Escalade)
• 3 The GMC Savana (1500)
• 4 Dodge Ram 1500 (Quad)

The least stolen vehicles are # Ford Taurus, Pontiac Vibe, Buick LeSabre and the Buick Park Avenue.

• 4. Stop paying for coverage you don't need.

This tip is for older cars that don't have high value. Auto insurance Collision and comprehensive coverage is great if your vehicle has a high resale value, but if it doesn't, you may want to waive this added cost of your auto insurance.

Do the figures, how much a month does this added coverage cost you, and how much will the auto insurance pay out if you total the car? The guidelines usually suggest that if the value of your vehicle is $2,000.00 or less, it is not usually a good idea to pay for collision or comprehensive auto insurance coverage.

You can go to http://www.kbb.com for 1987 to 2007 car values.

• 5. Auto Insurance Medical Coverage.

When getting an auto insurance quote make sure you look at the medical coverage real close. If you’re like me, I was totally unaware that my existing homeowners and health insurance plans already had comprehensive medical coverage; this coverage amount far exceeds the amount offered by my auto insurance plan.

Most states in the United States require a minimum amount of personal injury protection, (PIP) as part of your auto insurance coverage. Here in California the minimum amount of (PIP) we have to include in our auto insurance coverage is $50,000.00.

By law, the auto insurance agent must offer higher coverage when you request an auto insurance quote. In California the auto insurance agent will offer increased (PIP) in amounts from $250,000 to $5 million. The standard level offered by the auto insurance agent is $1 million dollars.

If you do not have medical coverage through homeowners or medical insurance you should consider the auto insurance agents offer of higher auto insurance (PIP).

• 6. Driving Habits.

Most Americans will not like this idea, but if you really need to save some money on your auto insurance, you need to consider this.

There is nothing like the feeling of getting into your car and driving down the road, it is a great feeling of freedom and self accomplishment. But if you’re in a position where you must save money any way you can, you have to look into car pooling and driving less.

The mileage you drive greatly impacts your auto insurance quotes. There are actually great benefits when you carpool. Here in the central valley of California many drive upwards of 100 miles to get to their job each day. When we carpool we usually switch drivers each week, this allows the others to rest for a couple of hours before starting the days labor.

Another benefit of carpooling is the fuel savings. I'm not going to get into all the stuff here about the amount of oil in the world, the increasing population and dwindling supply of oil. I will simply say that if you have a single glass of water and you have to start sharing that glass of water with more and more people, the water in the glass jar rapidly vanishes. And that's all I have to say about that, (Forrest Gump).

• 7. Safety Devices, Auto Theft Protection.

Auto insurance will generally be lower if your auto has certain safety and auto theft items installed.

If you’re getting ready to purchase a car, keep in mind that your auto insurance quote will be directly affected if the following installed equipment is present.

• 1. Anti-lock brakes.
• 2. Day time running lights.
• 3. Air bags.
• 4. Automatic seat belts.
• 5. Auto alarm or anti-theft devices.

If you already own a vehicle, consider installing an alarm system. Some auto insurance companies will give you up to a 35% discount on your auto insurance quote if you have an alarm system like the LoJack ant-theft system installed. Find the Lojack here http://www.lojack.com/

You can also install a simple daytime running lights controller. This device will only cost about $30.00. I found a good daytime running lights controller at http://www.mobilistics.com/drl.html for $27.95, shipping included.

How the model of your car affects your auto insurance quote.

As I was studying auto insurance, I ran across a popular site that mentioned auto insurance carriers have a rating system for every car manufactured. The scale starts at 1 and goes up to 27. The higher the number, the higher the insurance risk.

As I dug deeper on this subject I found that this popular website had missed it somewhat, the number of risk factors is no longer 27, it's 1200! Yes, 1200 risk factors are looked at when you request auto insurance quotes.

Here is a list of a few:

• street address

• zip code

• vehicle safety reports

• vehicle performance- high performance, or low

• vehicles style- model, year etc.

• traffic in your area

• types and number of businesses in your area

• density of traffic

• volume of public transportation

• area weather

I suppose they may even use Google Street now, they could look to see if your driveway is dirt, grass, rock or concrete!

To read more about this you can go to ISO.com.

I found a great tool at http://moneycentral.msn.com/insure/autorisk.aspx that will show you how risky your vehicle is according to auto insurance carriers.

What do all the numbers in my auto insurance policy mean?

This is an example of a California policy with the minimal state required coverage: California - 15/30/5. The first two numbers represent the bodily injury coverage of the auto insurance plan. The 15 means that you can receive up to $15,000.00 per person in an auto accident.

The 30 simply means that the total amount the auto insurance company will pay out for an auto accident is $30,000.00. This of course means that the auto insurance policy holder can be sued for damages above the $30,000.00 limit on the auto insurance policy.

Here's an example of how the auto insurance policy pays out on bodily injury.

If there are three people envolved in an automobile accident and the first person is treated at a cost of $30,000.00 or above, the other two get nothing from the auto insurance carrier. You become personally liable for all medical above this amount.

The last number in the example 15/30/5, is the amount the auto insurance policy will pay for property damage, in this example, $5,000.00

Here is a link to the minimum auto insurance requirements by all States of the USA. Auto Insurance

Disclaimer

Disclaimer: All material provided in this document is intended for informational purposes only and should not be used to replace either official documents, nor the advice of a qualified professional.