How to Lower Your Auto Insurance Rate

When you buy your first car, you are most probably struck by the hefty insurance premium you are required to pay. Whilst obviously being unable to avoid the necessity of insurance, there are certain steps you can take in order to present yourself in the most favourable light possible to those beady-eyed insurance people totting up your levels of risk.

The first thing that any driver (perhaps especially new driver) can do to lower their rates is to take a drivers education course. Make certain that the course is certified, as the insurance company will most likely require a copy to verify that you have, in fact successfully completed the course. The courses themselves usually require participants to engage in classroom theory sessions, followed by driving on the road with an instructor. Participants will sit a written theory test, and will also take a practical driving test. Recommended courses can be found through the DMV, and can lower your premium by as much as $300.

You can also choose to increase your deductible and lower your collision coverage. These two actions will have a dramatic effect on the premium you will pay. As the deductible exists to guard against fraudulent claims, raising the level will present you as a low risk, thereby dropping your premium. Lowering collision coverage can make a lot of sense-especially on older cars that have depreciated in value significantly.

Drivers can also look at installing a decent anti-theft system, thereby lowering your risk of claiming for theft. Irrespective of this, surely it’s a worthwhile exercise anyway to protect your pride and joy from irksome thieves. This may be a secondary consideration these days, as many new cars as fitted with anti-theft devices as standard. Although, it may be worth checking the quality of the system installed in your car and looking at a possible upgrade.

It may also be worth examining the merits of combining your house and auto insurance, if you currently have them separately. The rate for packaging your insurance in this way is very likely cheaper than taking (or maintaining) separate policies.

Finally, and here’s some good news (finally!) for younger drivers: insurance companies often give good auto insurance rate discounts to students. You will need to furnish the requisite documents to prove that you are, indeed, a student. The best place to search for this information is online at various search engines that specialize in insurance. Safe driving!