There are a number of common sense things you can do to help keep your rates low.  This article will touch on some of the basics.

1. Do not make unnecessary claims on your policy.

Why do I have insurance if I’m not going to make a claim you may be asking. Obviously nobody expects to have accidents, that’s why they are called accidents right. However, many people have low deductibles and they file a claim for a door ding, minor fender bender or other stuff that they can afford to pay for.  What you may not realize is every one of these little claims goes onto the record with your insurance carrier. I know a woman with a low deductible ($250) who constantly is getting involved in minor accidents. These are things that require say $300 for a paint touch-up or buff out. She files a claim for all of them. The crazy thing is she is wealthy and can afford to pay to fix these minor things and it would cost her a lot less money in the long run because her insurance has gone up dramatically every year as a result. If you make $1200 worth of nuisance claims they will end up raising your rates to make up for it or drop you. Then you get to try to find some other company to insure you with a bunch of accidents/claims at it will cost you more. This falls into the “penny wise pound foolish” catagory. REMEMBER : The insurance company is going to get their money back out of you one way or the other.

2. Raise your deductible.

I know it seems kind of obvious but Insurance rates are all about risk. They employ armies of actuaries to figure out the math of who is most likely to have accidents and cost the company money, who will be the best risk and how much to charge all of the various levels of risk.  What you are charged for auto insurance is directly related to those questions they ask when you get an auto policy quote.  The insurance company gives you a price break based on how much you reduce their risk.  So if you can set aside 500 or 1000 dollars, the cost of the average higher deductible, you will be rewarded with a lower cost auto insurance rate.  If you think about it, the money you save by having a lower payment can get set aside to cover your deductible if you ever need it. There is actually a company that offers an easy way to do this and reduce YOUR exposure to risk.  It’s called a Collision Deductible Savings Plan or CDRP for short.

3. MOVE

Did you know that where you live can make the difference in what you pay for auto insurance?  Of course some states have much cheaper car insurance rates than others. But can you believe even moving to the next zip code over could save you a hundred bucks or more a year?  Back to that risk thing. You know that some neighborhoods are better than others to live in. Well this is true for insurance too. It doesn’t even necessarily have anything to do with how expensive the houses are.  It comes back to those actuaries and the risk. Say you live in zip code A and it is a nice place but you get a better job or move to be in a better school district and decide to move to zip code B. Zip code B might be a nicer neighborhood but there are  more distracted drivers that have more accidents.  Because there are more accidents there you will pay more for insurance  When considering a move it can really pay to check out what will happen to your insurance rates in your prospective zip code.  I personally moved from one state to another both with high auto insurance rates. I expected to save a little on car insurance. After checking the rates  it became a big factor in my choice of destinations.  By moving to a different county than where I was originally planning to go my insurance was less than HALF as much there. All you need to do is call your broker and have them compare the same policy in your proposed destination. They should be able to do that for you in a day or so and it doesn’t cost you anything. If you are moving to another state and your broker can’t help you.  Before you move call anyone for a quote for your proposed zip codes. You will at least get an idea of which zip code has the cheapest car insurance.

4. Resist the temptation to buy or lease an new expensive car every 2 years.

I’m not suggesting you drive a beater car just consider the impact on your insurance before you let the car salesman talk you into a