Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Auto Insurance --Saving $100’s Without Compromising Your Cover

This, for many is a big secret: The difference in car insurance premiums among insurance companies (for similar packages or policies) can be more than $1000. So unless you did due diligence, you are likely paying a lot more than you should. You certainly could do one or two things with an extra $1000. For most of us, a tenth of that will be highly appreciated. Let me show you how you can get savings on your car insurance...

How do insurance companies determine your premium? They do so by determining your risk level. So, how do they determine your risk level? They do so by your score against several factors (I guess that’s why you have to fill out a form). However, like most things, there is no general consensus among insurance companies on the relative weight of each factor against the other. This is what you’ll have to take advantage of to make huge savings in your car insurance...

Let’s use these factors to make things clearer: Age group and marital status. If you are an under-25, you are considered the highest risk age group. However, if you are married, you are considered the lowest risk group as far as marital status is concerned.However, if you are married and under-25, different insurance companies will score you differently depending on which factor they think is a stronger indicator of your risk level. If an insurance company decides to take marital status as a heavier factor of the two, you’ll pay less because you are married.

So you can see that although all insurance companies use the same factors to determine your premiums, your quotes will differ considerably based on which factors they consider as the strongest risk factors and those they consider the lowest risk factors.

Another factor that counts heavily is an insurance companies unique selling proposition. That is what they stand for and who they are focused on servicing. This will determine their biases and to a large extent, what premiums they will charge a certain group of persons. So it does help to find a company that is positioned to favor a group you belong to.

Just as an aside...

A number of folks can actually get so caught up in making savings that they forget what insurance is about in the first place: Providing cover. Don’t be caught in that trap. You can make savings without becoming uncovered or "undercovered."

On a parting note...

With the internet, you don’t have to go through the Yellow Pages to find the name of insurance agents and then start calling them. All you need to do is click to sites that give you quotes from leading insurance companies in your country.

The additional peck is that online car insurance quotes are usually less than those you’ll get from agents. The reason for this is the subject of another article. However, just take advantage of it.

And, never satisfied to leave a good thing alone (I like making them even better), I have researched the best car insurance quotes sites for you. So, I have made it really difficult for you to NOT make some reasonable savings without wasting your whole day. Remember, car insurance quotes are free so what do you lose?

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