A cheap yet the right car insurance could be a once-in-a-while deal. , and in major cases, you must scratch beyond the surface to get your exact required car cover at a lower cost. In this guide, we dive deep into how to get car insurance cheaper.
How to Get Car Insurance Cheaper
1. Take user-based insurance
This type of car insurance lets your car insurer track your driving habits. They can learn about your acceleration, your breaking habits, the places where you drive, and the time when you drive it. If you are a safe driver, the tracker will send a positive signal that you are driving your car safely and in safe places.
When insurers learn you are a careful driver, they will often assume your likelihood to file a claim is low. This will allow them to reduce the amount you should pay as premiums for your car insurance coverage.
All insurance companies do not offer this type of insurance. If you want to benefit from use-based insurance, consult with your chosen insurance company if they offer such a provision. If it’s unavailable, shop for another insurer offering the service.
2. Identify insurance company with lowest rates
By following logic, cheap car insurance will be available from an insurance company with the lowest rates. To identify an insurance company offering the lowest car rates, you need to embark on either personal or guided research in the market.
At a personal level, you could engage multiple captive agents and get quotes for specific car insurance coverages. After comparing different quotes, it’s easy to identify the cheap car insurance available.
The help of an independent agent would be inevitable when conducting guided research. This is an agent who works with multiple car insurance companies. An independent agent might know about special offers given by some car insurance companies outside your knowledge. They could expose you to cheap car insurance coverage you could otherwise leave on the table.
If you combine personal and guided research of cheap car insurance, you are in a better position to identify the right coverage. By right coverage, I mean the cheapest, covering every risk of loss you fear.
3. Ask for discounts
Discounts are quite controversial in car insurance. Some car insurers use discounts as a trap for their potential customers. When an insurer tells you that such a discount will not be available in future and that it’s their “final offer” for you when it’s not, this is called bluffing.
Bluffing may force you into making a wrong decision while selecting cheap car insurance. It could manipulate you into thinking you are getting cheap insurance for your car when in the real sense, it’s not.
However, there are still some ethical insurance companies. These offer their customers legit discounts making car insurance substantially cheaper.
As a car owner, initiate the conversation of discounts. Inquire if the insurance company offers any discounts and conditions under which they are available. Weigh in available discounts and take the most meaningful for your car insurance.
4. Increase deductibles
A deductible is the money you pay towards your car repair or replacement in case of an accident. Deductibles are partial payments for restoring your car to its actual status before an accident or risk of loss.
Having deductibles implies sharing the costs of car restoration or replacement with your insurer. If you pay higher deductibles, the insurer will pay less in case of an accident. If your deductibles are low, the insurer is demanded to pay more in case of risks of loss.
When you increase your deductibles, you take more responsibility for the money you will pay out of your pocket in case of an accident. With higher deductibles, your insurance company is comfortable allowing cheaper car insurance.
5. Avoid add-ons
Add-ons are known to strengthen your car insurance policy, but this is when you have the necessary add-ons. Add-ons include but are not limited to engine protection cover, personal belongings cover, passage protection cover, and roadside assistance cover, among many more. Some of these add-ons may not be worth it for your car.
Before considering an add-on, learn about its value in the car insurance policy.
6. Enroll for advanced driving course
Potentially, enrolling in an advanced driving course makes you a better driver. Furthermore, you become more disciplined as you can objectively judge road conditions and driving habits. A person who makes better decisions about how they drive, where they drive and how they drive is less likely to be engaged in accidents.
Even when involved in an accident, they can control the magnitude of losses or damages.
A certification supporting that you passed an advanced driving course is an added advantage while negotiating your car insurance premiums. You can back up your road awareness with such certifications and get a substantial deposit from some insurers because you have proved to be a qualified advanced driver.
Make sure you compare the price of an advanced driving course with the money you save on insurance. If you pay for the course than you save in insurance, it might not be worth it.
7. Opt for-multiple car insurance
If you have multiple car insurance, you can take advantage and get cheap car insurance. This often possible if you insure them with one insurance company. Your chosen insurance company could offer discounts for multiple cars you insure with them, unlike a customer who has just insured a single car.
8. Take advantage of your claim-free history
If you have never filed a claim with our past insurers, you can leverage your records and get cheaper car insurance. If you are a car owner who has never filed a claim, it ideally means you are careful on the road. You drive with absolute knowledge of your environment and your car’s capabilities.
Insurers assume you will continue the same safe and careful driving habits. This results in an assumption that you will make a few claims in the future. With such clean insurance history, you can easily qualify for no-claim discounts.
A car insurance company has all the reasons to allow you cheaper insurance coverage compared to a person with a history of claims.
