Posts Tagged ‘car insurance’
Top 10 Tips to Cut Car Insurance Costs in Half
This is a guest post.
1. Opt for higher deductibles. By agreeing to pay more out of pocket in the event of a claim, you can lower your monthly premiums substantially.
2. Install security devices on your vehicle. Alarms, immobilizers, and trackers reduce the chance of your vehicle being stolen or vandalized. By reducing your risk of theft, you present a lower risk to your insurance company and enjoy lower premiums.
3. Reduce your annual mileage. Most insurance companies assume a 12,000 mile per year usage when they quote you; if you drive less and can prove your mileage, you can enjoy lower premiums. The fewer hours your car is on the road, the less likely it is to be involved in an accident so vehicles that are driven less present lower risk to the insurance provider.
4. Shop online. Most insurance companies offer discounts for customers who buy insurance online, as the automation reduces overhead and labor costs. Processing your information online is cheaper than paying a customer service representative to answer a phone call. You can save five to 10 percent just by buying online. Alternatively, you could compare car insurance from several companies on one quote site and save even more by finding the best possible rate.
5. Don’t inflate your vehicle’s value. Expensive after-market parts like custom rims or fancy sound systems will increase your premium. Also, in the event that your vehicle is involved in an accident, your policy may not pay for any after-market equipment on the vehicle.
6. Consider buying an auto that’s cheap to insure. Luxury vehicles and sports cars are pricey to repair and expensive to insure; mini-vans and cars with high safety ratings are much more affordable.
7. Move to a lower crime area. If possible, consider moving to a neighborhood with lower crime or higher security. Not only will your insurance premiums decrease, your property will be safer from vandalism or theft.
8. Consolidate multiple policies with a single company. Most insurance companies offer discounts to people who carry multiple lines of insurance. Consider buying your vehicle and homeowner’s or renter’s insurance through a single company to receive discounts on both.
9. If your vehicle is older, consider dropping collision coverage. Carrying liability-only will dramatically reduce your premiums, and older vehicles are often not worthwhile to repair anyway in the event of an accident. Since vehicles depreciate quickly, any vehicle over 10 years will likely be totaled out in the event of any claim. Note before doing this that you must own the vehicle outright in order to drop down to liability coverage: Lienholders will require you to carry full coverage no matter how old your vehicle is.
10. Take an advance driving course.Many communities offer defensive driving courses or advanced driving certifications. Taking these courses can prove that you are a responsible, safe driver, which translates to lower premiums for you.
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Managing Your Finances
Thank you to TurboTax for sponsoring my writing about household finances.Learn more about how TurboTax can help you find every tax deduction you deserve. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.
Managing your finances is something that every family strives to do. I think in these times it is especially hard since so many people are out of work. Even Bill’s company has done layoffs, and they weren’t based on seniority. It is definitely a time that puts everyone on edge, because from day to day, you don’t know if your husband, your friends, or if your other family members are going to keep their jobs.
That being said, there are certain things you can do to help manage your finances. Something that has worked well for my family is that we hid money from our ourselves. I use a program on my computer to balance my checkbook. What I have done is that for our savings account on there, I’ve created “fake” accounts. For example, I have a “Christmas/Vacation Fund”, a “Tuition” fund (this pays for Madison’s Catholic school tuition), car insurance fund, homeowner’s insurance fund, and even a “TV” fund. I know, what’s a TV fund. We don’t buy big ticket items (like Bill’s big screen tv that’s downstairs) without having the money first. What we do is hide the money in our savings account and take the free financing. In the meantime, we are collecting interest on this money (plus it is available to use in an emergency situation).
Something else we do is charge everything. I know — you are screaming “WHAT!!??!!”. The key to this is being able to pay off these credit card charges every month. The reason we charge everything we can is because 1% of whatever we charge is taken off the principal of our mortgage. We do nothing — it automatically gets transferred there in $25 increments. This is better than any cash back or point system we’ve ever used. We slowly are paying down our mortgage doing something that we would have done anyway. We even charged the new siding we put on our house last year!
Every family has to do what works for them. Not everybody is able to hide money from themselves and NOT spend it. We are able to, and that has helped my family manage our finances. What do you do?
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