Free From Broke

A Personal Finance Blog for Regular Folks

car insurance

How to Save Money on Auto Insurance – Easy Ways to Save Money

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Auto insurance is a necessary expense, but one that we often spend too much for.

Many people seem to be much more likely to look for ways to save on groceries by clipping coupons or to save on gas by driving around town trying to find the lowest per gallon price rather than looking at their auto insurance.  Often people choose their auto insurer, pay their premium every six months, and don’t think about it further.

Yet why pay more than you have to? 

There are plenty of ways to trim your costs and save money on car insurance.

Consider the following easy ways to save on auto insurance:

[Read more…] about How to Save Money on Auto Insurance – Easy Ways to Save Money

How Age Affects Your Car Insurance Rate and What You Can Do About it

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When car insurance companies look at your risk profile, they take a number of factors into account. From your driving record, to your coverage amounts, to your credit score, an insurance company wants to get an idea of how likely it is that they will have to pay out on a claim on your behalf.

One of the factors that insurance companies look at when setting premium amounts is your age.

If you want to save money on your insurance premiums, it helps to understand how age affects what you pay.  There might not be a lot you can do about it, since you can’t change your age, but you can compensate for your age.

Let’s take a look at how age affects your car insurance and what you can do about it. [Read more…] about How Age Affects Your Car Insurance Rate and What You Can Do About it

Save On Your Car Insurance With Proper Emergency Savings

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We already know the importance of adequate savings don’t we?  Well here’s an additional benefit for having savings – You can save on your car insurance!

You know about your car insurance deductible? This is the amount you have to pay on an insurance claim before your insurance kicks in to pick up the repairs.  Say you have a $500 deductible.  You get into a fender bender and file a claim to have your bumper repaired.  An estimate for the repairs is $1500.  You have to pay $500 and insurance picks up the $1000.  If your deductible were $1000 then you pay $1000 and insurance covers $500.  Get it?

So why not make the deductible as low as possible?

Sounds reasonable. You would rather your insurance pay more and you pay less.  Things is though, the lower your deductible the higher your premium is!  You pay more on your plan when your deductible is low.  This is the insurance company’s way of getting that extra cash layout back before an accident.  The opposite is true too.  The higher you make your deductible the lower your premium payments are. [find out more about saving on car insurance]

Not Having The Police At A Car Accident Can Cost You

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Car crash

As I mentioned in an earlier article, our new car got into an accident on our vacation driving down to Virginia. The weather had recently turned to rain.  We were driving along the highway below the speed limit making sure to keep a safe distance from the car in front.  Suddenly traffic slowed down so we did as well.  Then I saw it coming in the rear-view mirror – BAMM!!  We just got hit from behind. The force was enough to throw us forward.  I moved to avoid the car in front but ended up clipping his fender.  All three cars pulled off to the side of the road.  Thank goodness no one was hurt!  The kids were shaken up (heck, we were all shaken up) but we were OK.  I got out and assessed the damage.  Man I didn’t realize how bad we were hit.  Back door was crunched inward.  At first I couldn’t even open it.  Our front has a small dent as well.  The other two cars – scratches at best.  It was an SUV Oreo and our poor mini van was the creamy middle.

Still a bit frazzled from the accident the other two drivers and I began to exchange automobile insurance information.  The person who hit me was in a rush to leave.  He didn’t think we needed to call the police since no one was hurt and we were exchanging info already.  Something didn’t feel right about this to me.  Thankfully, I listened to my Spidey sense and called the police.  A few minutes later an officer arrived and took all of our information.

What A Police Officer Does At The Accident

  • The officer took all of our pertinent information and heard separate descriptions of what happened from each of us. This was good because the officer gave us each a Driver Information Exchange Report which listed car insurance information, driver’s license #, address, phone number, car description VIN, and more.  After an accident it’s easy for a driver to forget to get a piece of information or write something down incorrectly.  Getting this from a police officer helps to prevent that.
  • I didn’t know it at the time but you could be given a ticket for driving too close and causing an accident (at least where I was). This may have been one of the key reasons the driver who hit me wanted to leave.  It ends up the officer gave him a written warning.  This is very important in that it gives official evidence that the officer felt it was the driver’s fault for causing the accident!  This will help in determining the fault for the insurance companies which will lead to me getting back my car insurance deductible from repairs on my accident claims (my deductible is $1000).
  • The officer filed a police report for the accident. The insurance companies will use this as well in determining the fault.  Without getting a police report you run the risk of a driver changing his story after the fact and it becomes an issue of his word against yours.  Again this will help in getting my deductible back.
  • Having an officer there helps keep everyone’s heads level. Things can get heated when there’s an accident.  I’d rather have the officer do the peace keeping than worry about it myself.  Also, I want to believe in the best in people but I don’t know the person who hit me from Adam.  An officer can confirm that this isn’t a criminal.  A little paranoid?  Yes.  Does it give me additional peace of mind at a stressful moment?  Heck yeah!

As you can see calling the police was important. With the written warning and the police report the automobile insurance company should see that the fault was on the other driver.  This will save me my insurance deductible of $1000.  Had I not called it could possibly cost me that $1000!

Creative Commons License photo credit: Mr Wabu