How to make your insurance policy cheaper?

Are you satisfied with the quality of coverage you get for the money you pay? Of course, most of us think that cheap means low-quality and tend to overpay just believing that this will give them better insurance or services. In fact, it is not so. Paying too much money for insurance often leads only to over-spending money and doesn't increase the quality of coverage you get. So if money is vital to you and you want to lower your insurance costs, here are some simple tips how to do it:

Lower theft risk: The majority of new cars carry anti-theft features. And the more such features your car has the lower will be your insurance premiums. Theft is one of the major risks for insurance companies, especially in urban areas, and if you do something to prevent such risks your policy will be much cheaper.

Multiple car discounts: Sometimes insuring two cars can cost you the same amount of money as insuring a single vehicle. People often get pleasantly surprised with multiple car discounts they can get from their insurance companies when asking for one. It's much cheaper to have a single policy covering all your cars rather than separate policies for each individually. Even if you think of selling your second car, it is better to get it insured too because it will allow you to opt for the multiple car discount. But when you actually sell the car and report it to your insurer it is quite likely that your rates will go up.

Get one-year policies: Not only you save yourself from the hassle of looking for a new policy every six months instead of a year, but you also get fixed rates for a longer period of time. Which is quite nice if you find a cheap policy initially.

Storage discounts: In case you will be storing your car for a certain period of time, it would be smart to inform your insurance company about it. Because during that time you aren't likely to be needing any collision or liability coverage, making your car insurance much cheaper during the storage period.

Check your exact mileage: When the insurance agent asks you how much mile you drive within a certain period of time, it is better to be as precise as possible. Your mileage strongly affects your rates, so if you drive only a few miles to work and back it is good to know how much "a few" really is.

Opt for group discounts: In case you are a member of a credit union, college association, driver's club or any other organization, you can opt for a group discount on your car insurance in case the organization is affiliated to your insurance company.

EFT payments are cheaper: You might notice that every time you pay for car insurance by mail, you are charged more than by any other means. Start using your banking account for settling payments: it's not only more convenient but actually cheaper.

© 2010 Ranjan Kumar