Understand first the insurance companies to lower your insurance rate

How to Lower Your Insurance Rate

To understand how to lower your insurance rate, you must first understand how insurance companies determine your rate. It is more than just a whimsical bid. They look at the information that’s available about you, your community, and your choice of vehicles.

Praetorian insurance company will open their “black box” and show you some of the factors that they use to determine your cost. When you learn how to manage these factors, you can significantly improve your insurance rate.

Even if an insurance agent really wants to help you, there are some factors which influence your insurance cost, and there is nothing that your agent can do about them. In other words, only you can lower your rate by modifying the contributing factors. Some may be “fixed” quickly, others may take years to change.

Public Records

Every insurance company monitors the public records as Praetorian Insurance does because their experience has proven that such records offer a meaningful projection of your cost to the company.

If you have a “lead foot,” and have run afoul of speed limits or other traffic laws, your record – which is, legally, a matter of public record – will haunt you. Have you had one or more accidents? That, too, is part of your record.

Credit Rating

How good – or how bad – is your credit rating? You may not think that your credit rating should influence the cost of your automobile insurance, but in fact, it does. Is this just another excuse for them to “rip you off”? Believe it or not, statistics prove that people who have poor credit are a significantly higher risk for insurance companies.

Vehicle Brands & Models

Praetorian insurance as any other insurance company use statistics on vehicle brands and models to calculate their rates. Some are more likely to be stolen, some are more likely to be involved in wrecks, and some cause greater injuries when they are in collisions. Insurance companies base the rate that they charge on a combination of all of these considerations.

Zip Code

Where do you live? Although it may seem unfair, your zip code makes a difference in your insurance rate. No matter what your driving record is, insurance companies use standardized information which weighs their risk by zip code.

If you are living in a high-risk zip code, your insurance rate will suffer, and the only thing you can do about it is moving to a different community! For most of the people, this may not be an option, but if you are thinking of moving, ask your agent about the community that you are considering. It can make a big difference!

Young Drivers

Are there young people in your household? You’d better face this fact. You cost more to the insurer if you just start driving – A Lot More! There are some ways to minimize the extra cost, though. The kids really can help to lower the cost of their driving.

Driver’s Education

Drivers’ Education is valuable – even for young people who already know how to drive. Most insurance companies give a discount for young drivers who have satisfactorily completed a drivers’ course. Those without drivers’ course don’t qualify, no matter how well they may drive.

Academic Grades

Good academic grades are important, too. If you are good at school, you can get a discount from your insurer too. Doing well in classes offers good preparation for college or the job market, and at the same time, it will save you money on car insurance.

When they get their vehicle, it will save them money, too. Praetorian auto insurance recommends telling your kids that they must make the honor roll if they want to drive – this gives them a double incentive.

Driving Record

If you are cited for speeding or other traffic offenses, your insurance company will take notice, and you will pay for your indiscretion!

Everybody understands how difficult it is to restrain your enthusiasm, but if your budget matters, find a way to control yourself! Those stains on your record linger for several years. It is well worth-while to know and obey traffic laws.

If you have traffic offenses on your driving record, find out how long it is supposed to count against you – and check to be certain that your record has been purged when the offense is no longer chargeable – because some companies may neglect to remove it from your record.

Accident Record

A related factor is your accident record. When a vehicle which is registered to you is involved in a “reportable” accident, the insurance companies will take notice. In this case, insurers don’t all have exactly the same standards, but even when they don’t charge you more money, they are keeping records. Too many “incidents,” even if they don’t cost your company, are likely to cost you.

Incident Rate

Your “incident rate” is another of those factors which you should watch, because even though it happened long ago, some companies neglect to purge your record unless you check on it.

This raises a related concern:

If there is a police investigation, be sure that it is properly reported. Don’t sign anything until you read it. If you had an accident where the other driver was at fault, that might be excluded from your record, but again, you’d better ask, because they may or may not have accurately recorded the event.

This raises a related concern:

If you have nothing to do with being at fault in an accident, for example, “failure to yield right of way,” try to have the investigating officer state that in writing.

The truth is that sometimes “cops” are pushed for time and may not get all of the details exactly right. Unfortunately, it’s also true that if you are an unattractive guy and the other driver is a gorgeous girl, some cops may fail to cite her – intentionally.

Try to get the record correct before you accept it but be careful that you don’t offend the investigating officer, or you may make your situation worse!

Car Brand

It is important to find out how the vehicles that you own – and those that you are considering owning – are rated. For example, a 4 X 4 pickup truck will cost more to insure than a 2 X 4, even when every other detail is exactly the same. Do you really need Four Wheel Drive?

Before you even think about to buy a car, if somebody offers you an “excellent” deal on a “sporty” car, you’d better check on insuring it before you jump on the deal! There are a few vehicles that are almost uninsurable – especially if you have other problems with your insurance rating.

If your company doesn’t want to insure it, though, don’t give up until you have checked around. Some companies will exclude a perfectly “normal” vehicle that other companies will insure without hesitation.

In case you are absolutely in love with an uninsurable automobile, you might check on similar cars. In some cases, another model by the same manufacturer may be nearly identical yet cost much less to insure. Very cheap car insurance no deposit is an affordable option you can opt at sites like Goodtogoinsurance.org, and “convert” it by installing components for the “better” one.

While you are making these decisions, though, you’d better ask whether the insurance company will allow you to make those changes. Some will – and some may cancel your policy. Do your research, so, you won’t have unpleasant surprises.

Of course, if you are in pursuit of the glamor factor, installing your goodies may not work for you! What matters most – image, or budget?