If you financed your car, you know how important is having comprehensive coverage on your policy. This coverage option is required by most lenders. This coverage option is expensive, because lenders will also ask you to add collision coverage on your policy. So you may wonder if you can save some money on your comprehensive coverage. The short answer is yes.
Here are some tips on how to save money on your comprehensive coverage policy without sacrificing the protection you need.
Shop around for the best rate
Many people will tell you shop around, but nobody tells you why. The meain reason why is you can compare each policy, just choose the same amount of limit on each of them. Once you request like 5 or 6 quotes, you can compare all the pros and cons from each car insurer. You will also be able to see what car insrer offers you any special discount or perhaps, they offer special benefits for being one of their customers.
Increase your deductible
When you file a claim, you know you will remember the day you set your deductibles. The deductibles in a nutshell, is just the amount of money your car insurer will deduct from their check one you file a claim and they give you a settlement. Setting your deductibles is one of the few things you can directly modify from your policy, when you file a high deductible on your policy, you’re telling to your car insurer that you won’t file a claim that lightly.
However, you must know, if you suffer any accident, you will have to pay that deductible out of your pocket, and that may be quite costly too. You must find a balance between what can you afford when you suffer an accident, the tolerance of risk you can assume, and the amount of deductibles you set.
You may be interested to read my post about this topic:
How to Choose the Right Comprehensive Coverage Insurance Deductible
Drive a safe vehicle
Your car insurer will look how safe your car is, so if you installed safety devices on your car like anti-lock brakes, airbags or electronic stability control, your car will look less likely to suffer an accident, so your car insurer will also apply discounts from safety devices you installed.
You may be interested in this post: How does driver assist technology affect car insurance premiums?
Consider dropping collision coverage
That’s one of the main questions you can think trying to save some money on your premiums. It’s true, if you drop your collision coverage, you will save some money, but that may not be an option:
If you’re still financing your car, your lender won’t allow you to drop collison or comprehensive coverage.
If you insured a Bentley, well, you know how much may any replacement or fix costs, so I don’t think that would be a good idea.
If you’re driving and old cheap car that is not worth $3,000, and you can’t afford buying a new car in the near future, perhaps you should keep collision coverage to help you pay any repair or replacement bill you have.
However, if youre driving an old cheap car that is not worth $3,000 and you’re going to buy a new car soon, you may be interested to drop collision and comprehensive coverage.
If you’ve already finished to finance your car, you may be also interested to drop your collision coveage.
You may be intersted in this post:
When Should I Drop Full Coverage in My Car?
Pay your premium annually
Pay-in-full is the best way to get a great discount. Depending on the car insurer you choose, this payment method will give you up to 12% discount on your premiums. Other discounts related to the payment methos are the following:
Autopay discount. When you set autopay on your policy, your car insurer will also give you a small discount up to 9%.
Semi-annual payment discount. This discount is not that big, but it will you up to 9%, on average you will receive 5% discount for this one.
Early renewal discount. This payment option discount is also related to your policy. When you renew your policy early, you will also receive a small amount of discount.
This is one of my posts related to this topic: How to Choose the Best Car Insurance Payment Installments
Maintain a good credit score
Depending on the state you live, your credit score can also impact your insurance premiums. many states such as California, Hawaii, Massachusetts, and Michigan don’t allow the insurers to use your credit score to determine your car insurance rates. A poor credit score will make you pay over $125 more per month to your insurers compared to good credit score drivers.
So if you can up to date all your debts, or combine them all into a single debt and pay it in time, your credit score will increase, so you will look like more responsible in the eyes of your car insurer, so they will reduce your premiums.
Consider usage-based insurance
This type of coverage is based on how you drive your car, your car insurer will let you install a device on your car to know how good (or bad) you drive. That will help your car insurer to be more accurate on their premiums.
In other words, if you set usage-based insurance on your policy, the less your drive, the more money will save on your comprehensive coverage premiums.
Look for discounts
Many car insurers offer discounts that will help you save money on your comprehensive coverage policy. Some of discounts that you can apply for are the following:
Anti-lock brakes discount
Anti-theft system discount
Daytime Running lights discount
New vehicle discount
Five-year accident-free good driver discount
Seat belt use discount
Membership and employee discount
Federal employee discount
Emergency deployment discount
AARP member discount
Not long ago, I wrote a post related to the discounts you can apply for your comprehensive coverage: How to Get Comprehensive Coverage Car Insurance Discounts
Conclusion
Saving money on your comprehensive coverage policy is possible with a little bit of effort and research. If you shop around, compare several policies, driving a safe car, pay-in-full your premiums annually, mantaining a good credit score, (depending on your personal situation) dropping some coverage options you don’t really need, or looking for discounts, you will save money on your premiums.
FAQs
Q: What is comprehensive coverage?
A: Comprehensive coverage is a coverage option that will protect your car against non-collision damages like theft, vandalism, animal-based damages or natural disasters, among others.
Q: What is a deductible?
A: A deductible is the amount of money you pay out of pocket before your insurance coverage gives you the settlement’s check.
Q: What is usage-based insurance?
A: Usage-based insurance is an auto coverage that is based on your drinvg habits (the more you drive, the more you pay).
Q: Can I save money by dropping collision coverage?
A: Yes, you can save money by dropping collision coveage, but everything depends on your personal situation. For example, you are driving an old cheap car and you’re going to replace it soon, you should drop collison but also comprehensive coverage. This way you’d save more on your premiums.
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How can I Lower My Comprehensive Insurance Cost? 8 Practical Tips
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