Nobody looks forward to paying for car insurance, especially knowing the cost is too high. With so many car insurance companies to choose from, it can be challenging to find the most affordable insurance company.
Decisions you make can impact your rates
An important part of buying insurance is that you know some of the elements that help determine the price you pay for car insurance. Understanding what influences your rates helps enable you to make changes that may reward you with lower car insurance prices.
The following are some of the items that factor into rates.
- Younger drivers pay higher rates – Mature drivers tend to be more responsible, tend to file fewer claims and get fewer tickets. Young drivers are statistically proven to be less responsible in a vehicle therefore car insurance rates are much higher.
- Safer cars are cheaper to insure – Vehicles with good safety scores can get you lower premiums. Safe vehicles reduce injuries and fewer injuries means less money paid by your insurance company and lower rates for you.
- Occupation reflects on rates – Did you know that where you work can have an impact on rates? Occupations like judges, business owners and financial analysts tend to have higher average rates because of stressful work requirements and long work hours. Conversely, occupations like scientists, engineers and homemakers receive lower rates.
- Protect yourself with liability coverage – Liability insurance provides coverage in the event that you are found liable for causing damage or personal injury in an accident. It provides legal defense coverage which can cost thousands of dollars. Liability is cheap compared to physical damage coverage, so do not skimp.
Verify you’re getting all your discounts
Properly insuring your vehicles can get expensive, but there could be available discounts that you may not even be aware of. Larger premium reductions will be automatically applied at the time of purchase, but less common discounts must be specifically requested before being credited. If they aren’t giving you every credit you deserve, you’re paying more than you need to.
- Auto/Home Discount – If you have multiple policies with one company you could get a discount of approximately 10% to 15%.
- Safety Course Discount – Taking part in a course teaching defensive driving skills could possibly earn you a 5% discount depending on where you live.
- Drivers Education – Cut your cost by having your teen driver take driver’s ed class if it’s offered in school.
- Pay Upfront and Save – By paying your policy upfront instead of making monthly payments you could save 5% or more.
- Discount for Life Insurance – Some companies give better rates if you take out a life insurance policy as well.
- Early Switch Discount – A few companies offer discounts for switching policies prior to your current policy expiring. It’s a savings of about 10%.
- Claim Free – Good drivers with no accidents pay much less when compared to frequent claim filers.
- Passive Restraint Discount – Cars that have air bags or motorized seat belts can receive discounts of up to 25% or more.
- Homeowners Discount – Owning a home in Conway may trigger a car insurance policy discount because maintaining a house requires personal responsibility.
It’s important to note that some of the credits will not apply to the entire cost. Most only cut the cost of specific coverages such as liability and collision coverage. So when it seems like it’s possible to get free car insurance, you won’t be that lucky. But all discounts will cut your premiums.
More New Hampshire car insurance resources
Much more information about car insurance in New Hampshire is located on the website for the New Hampshire Insurance Department found here. Consumers can find a variety of consumer forms, learn about insurance regulations, read state legal mandates and laws, and view a list of available companies.
The following information may also be useful.
Affordable insurance is out there
We’ve covered many ways to lower your car insurance rates. The key thing to remember is the more price quotes you have, the better your comparison will be. Drivers may discover the best prices are with a lesser-known regional company. Smaller companies may cover specific market segments cheaper as compared to the big name companies such as GEICO and State Farm.
As you prepare to switch companies, it’s a bad idea to skimp on coverage in order to save money. There have been many cases where someone sacrificed liability coverage limits only to find out that it was a big mistake. The proper strategy is to find the BEST coverage at the best price, not the least amount of coverage.