If you are the sort of person who carefully looks after their money, then it probably pains you to see your essential expenses leaving your account each month. At the same time, you probably realize there are things you can do to reduce these to more manageable, and palatable, levels. Your motor insurance is one area where you can definitely make reductions. Whether you have full coverage or a different level of insurance, there are things you can do, both in terms of your driving style and how you find motor insurance, than can make a difference.
Put Your Insurance Together
This might be difficult if you have many insurance policies and they all expire at different times, but you could save up to 20% on your total insurance cost if you combined your policies, or at least had them with the same provider. If your insurance company doesn’t have offers for discounts on multiple policies, ask them or say you are considering leaving them, and they’ll soon have an offer for you.
Find Out Which Insurers Offer the Best Discounts
You know that you can get cheaper insurance if you are a safe and responsible driver, but you don’t know to what extent insurance companies value this. Before buying insurance, ask them, in percentage terms, what discount you get for having a clean driving record with no accidents or convictions.
Look out for insurance companies that charge a higher price but give bigger discounts, they may seem like the best deals put from a personal perspective this is false economy.
Look for good credit discounts, too. We’re not sure what your credit rating has to do with your insurance directly, but it is assumed that someone careful with money is careful with their car, too.
Avoid Add-Ons
Think about whether you need that added feature on your insurance. It might sound attractive when they are selling it to you, but the reality of motor insurance add-ons is that they are often unnecessary and mean that you are paying for nothing of use.
It might also be the case that an insurance company is trying to sell you something that is featured in a policy from another provider. The best approach is to know what you want and then find a policy that includes everything.
Know the Law
This is particularly important if you will be driving across state boundaries on a regular basis or live in a tri-state area, for example. Although most insurers will inform you, particularly if you live on or close to state borders, it is worth checking the small print just to check you have the full level of cover you need. Why risk getting arrested for carelessness when you probably haven’t done anything wrong in terms of your driving?
Look out for insurers that might assume you are driving across state boundaries and try to charge you more, and be sure to put your policy right if this doesn’t apply to your personal circumstances.