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Purchasing Auto Insurance for Young Drivers

April 13, 2012 Auto Insurance Tips
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Seeing a child reach legal driving age is a bittersweet moment for lots of parents. Bitter in the sense that their little one is all grown up, yet sweet in the sense that their days as taxi drivers will soon be over. Yet nothing can be set in stone until that child earns his driver’s license and is added to your insurance policy. As for the latter condition, that’s one of the things many parents fear the most.

Auto Insurance for Young Drivers

Auto Insurance for Young Drivers

Purchasing auto insurance for young drivers is something parents have to do. There’s no point in trying to avoid it or skirt around the issue in an attempt to save a few dollars. If you have a young driver, and you fail to add him to your policy as required, that is legal grounds for your insurance company to deny a claim if that child should have accident. As soon as your child earns a drivers license you need to inform your insurance company.

Young Drivers Are Expensive

One of the reasons parents try to avoid adding children to their policy is the fact that young drivers are expensive to insure. Again, that is something there’s no point trying to get around; it’s a reality that can’t be changed. Purchasing car insurance for young drivers’ cost more than adults because young drivers are more likely to have accidents that result in serious claims.

Furthermore, young male drivers cost more to insure than females by a significant amount. That’s not without reason, by the way. Statistical analysis shows year after year that young males between the ages of 16 and 25 are responsible for a disproportionate number of accidents and traffic fatalities. Since these young drivers expose insurance companies to the greatest amount of risk, they are also charged the highest premiums. In some states the difference in rates between young men and young women can be as much as 125%.

Tips To Keep the Rates Down

If you are purchasing auto insurance for young drivers there are couple of things you can do to keep the rates as low as possible. First and foremost is to assign them to the least expensive cars in your household. In other words, if you have a brand-new Lexus and an eight-year-old Chevy, assign your young driver to the Chevy. By having him drive the least expensive vehicle in the household you’ll be limiting his risk exposure and making your car insurance company that much more comfortable.

Second, make sure you do everything within your power to control your child’s driving habits. Enforce curfews, restrict the number of passengers, and be prepared to take away the keys if your child gets a traffic ticket. As a parent, the best thing you can do to help keep insurance rates down is to encourage your children to drive responsibly and legally at all times. All it takes is one accident or violation to send your car insurance rates through the roof.

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Top 5 Most Affordable Auto Insurance Companies

February 11, 2012 Auto Insurance Tips
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Have you ever wondered what the top five most affordable auto insurance companies are? We have that list, based on consumer voting through a number of online resources. Just so you know how we did it, we took the total number of votes received by each company and divided them by the total number of resources we used in order to get the average score. Using those scores we ranked them 1 to 5. Our top five list, then, is as follows:

  1. GEICO
  2. Esurance
  3. Liberty Mutual
  4. State Farm
  5. Allstate
Geico

Geico

Consumer Votes Don’t Tell the Whole Story

While we’re happy to provide this top five list for you it’s important to note that consumer voting doesn’t tell the whole story. Because there are so many variables involved in determining how much a driver pays for car insurance, there is no concrete way to say for sure who is absolutely the most affordable. You could have two drivers of approximately the same age, driving very similar vehicles, yet with totally different car insurance rates. Consumer voting does not take any of that in consideration.

When a car insurance company determines your premiums they look at a whole host of factors including your age, sex, driving history, where you live, accident rates in your community, your occupation, how much you drive on an annual basis, and much more. In fact, all of the questions they ask are designed to glean information they can plug into a complicated mathematical formula. It is very scientific, to say the least.

Most Affordable Changes from Time to Time

Another thing to remember is that the most affordable auto insurance companies will change from time to time. Between market conditions, your record as a driver, and the other factors that affect insurance providers, the one that’s most affordable in 2012 maybe second or third in 2013. In practical terms this means an annual review of your insurance company and your premiums is in order if you wish to always get the best price.

You should most definitely compare quotes in the event of any significant change in your life circumstances. Examples of such changes include a marriage or divorce, a child reaching the legal driving age, a move to another state, or the addition or subtraction of vehicles. All of these different circumstances play an important role in determining your rates. If a life change means a lower rate, that’s certainly not something you want to miss out on.

Ask About Discounts

When you’re comparing rates among the most affordable auto insurance companies you may find one or two with nearly identical prices. In such cases be sure to ask about any discounts that might apply to you. One discount here or there might mean the difference between getting the best possible rate and paying slightly more. The types of discounts you want to consider might include those for safe driving, good grades for students, and bundling multiple policies together.

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Cheap Car Insurance for Bad Driving Records

January 24, 2012 Auto Insurance Tips
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If you have a bad driving record and are in search for cheap car insurance, it’s a task easier said than done. Your prospects are not good based simply on the fundamentals of how car insurance works. However, if you’re willing to put forth the effort to look you can find insurance that will be less expensive than what some other drivers in your situation are paying.

Car Insurance for Bad Drivers

Car Insurance for Bad Drivers

You need to understand that car insurance is all based on risk. In other words, every time you get behind the wheel you are opening up your insurance company to the possibility they will end up having to spend money after an accident. Therefore, the more likely you are to have an accident the higher the risk they are taking. Drivers with bad records tend to be a higher risk because they are more likely to have an accident.

Company Specializing in High Risk Drivers

One of the things you might look for is a company that specializes in high-risk drivers or those with bad driving records. Often times they sell their policies through local agencies offering low down payments and low monthly rates. This type of policy may not be a less expensive over the course of a full year, but by breaking the total cost of the policy down into monthly payments it becomes vastly more affordable.

Companies with Forgiveness Programs

There are a couple of nationally-known insurance companies that have programs in place to help reduce your rates through forgiveness. Some of them will forgive your first accident or your first couple of violations – as long as you meet some of the requirements. Others don’t necessarily forgive incidents upfront but instead limit the amount of time they are counted against your record. You’ll have to ask specifically about such forgiveness programs because most insurance companies will not offer the information up front.

Keeping It Clean

Even if you can’t find cheap car insurance with a bad driving record you can bring the price down in due time by behaving yourself behind the wheel. For example, let’s say your state keeps a speeding ticket on your record for two years. There’s nothing you can do about that except wait it out. But if you make a point to not get any more violations or have any accidents within that time frame, your insurance rates will drop when the ticket comes off your record two years from now. On the other hand, if you continue to drive recklessly and incur more tickets and more accidents, your insurance is only going to go up.

The point is the best way to ensure that you get cheap car insurance rates is to keep your record clean. Always obey the law, always drive in accordance with weather and road conditions, and always be defensive when behind the wheel. Driving this way provides as little risk to your insurance company as possible. That will keep your rates down.

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