The 45 Most Recommended Ways to Save Money on Car Insurance

There are very few places in the United States where it is legal to drive a vehicle on a public road without insurance, so virtually everyone who drives a motor vehicle in this country must purchase car insurance.

At the same time, everyone wants to pay as little as possible each month for their car insurance while still enjoying great coverage. 

For many the cost of their monthly car insurance premium is a real burden.  What can the average person do to reduce the cost of their car insurance?  Here are 45 straight-from-the-hip suggestions:  

1. Drive Safely – By this I mean obey all traffic laws all the time.  Convictions for driving under the influence (DUI) and driving while intoxicated (DWI) or tickets for speeding, reckless driving, running stop signs, failing to obey the orders of a police officer and similar violations…each of these offenses and many others will increase your car insurance premiums and keep them high for as long as three to four years.
    

2. Keep Your Credit Good – Many people are not aware that their credit rating can – and very often does – influence the price they pay for most insurance – including car insurance.  The higher your credit score the lower your monthly car insurance premium.
    

3. Ask For a Multi-Vehicle Discount – If you insure more than one vehicle with the same insurance company you may be entitled to a multi-vehicle discount.  Talk to your insurance agent and see how much of a discount you qualify for.
    

4. Get a Multi-Policy Discount – Buying all of your insurance – homeowner’s, life, health and auto – from the same insurance company qualifies you for what the insurance companies call a Multi-Policy Discount.
    

5. Good Driver Discount – If you are accident and claim-free for at least the past three years ask your agent if you qualify for a Good Driver Discount.  Not all insurers offer a good driver discount, and some may require more than 3 years of perfect driving, but it never hurts to ask.  If your company does not offer a good driver discount hint at the fact that you may look for a company which does and see if that doesn’t change their tune.
    

6. Drop Coverage on Older Cars – Many people believe that if you purchase collision and comprehensive insurance on an older car then your insurance company will compensate you if your car is damaged.  Not necessarily.  If your car has little or no Kelly Blue Book value then your insurance company is not going to pay you anything for your car regardless of what coverage you have been paying for.  Stop throwing money away on comprehensive and collision coverage on older or worthless cars.
    

7. Increase Your Deductible – This can be the easiest and simplest way to lower the cost of your automobile insurance – but, of course, it puts your pocketbook at risk so consider carefully how much of a deductible you can really afford to pay.  The higher your deductible, the lower your premium payment is going to be.
    

8. Low Mileage Discount – If you drive very little, say just to the store and back and maybe a trip now and then to the doctor, talk to your agent about a low mileage discount.  There’s no point in you paying for insurance if your car’s going to sit in the garage most days.
    

9. Good Student Discount – if you’re under 25 you know how outrageous car insurance premiums can be.  One way to keep them down is to stay in school and maintain a “B” grade point average or better.  Students who can maintain good grades are perceived as better drivers and can get a Good Student Discount that can be as much as 5% or more of their monthly premium.
    

10. Take a Driver’s Refresher Course – Drivers over 55 can often take a special Driver’s Refresher Course.  Passing such a course can reduce your monthly premiums by as much as 10%.  Ask your agent if your insurance company offers such a program; most do.
     

11. Retiree Discount – If you are retired (or, in some cases, when you reach age 50 or 55) and you are not driving as much as you used to, possibly no longer driving to work and back each day, many companies offer a special discount.  Check with your insurance agent for exact details for your particular insurer.
     

12. Anti-Theft Discount – If you’ve taken steps to insure that your vehicle is less likely to be stolen than other vehicles, such as installing an alarm system or an automatic gas cut-off system, or even if you have purchased and routinely use a steering wheel locking device, ask your agent about an Anti-Theft Discount.
     

13. Auto Club Discount – If you are a member of AAA or of another auto club your insurance company may offer you a special discount on your car insurance premiums.  Auto club discounts may not be large, but every little bit helps, especially if you can combine this discount with several others in this report.
     

14. Association Discount – If you belong to any type of club or association with a substantial membership – such as your school alma mater, or a union, or a business association – ask your insurance agent about an association discount. 
     

15. Away-At-School-Discount – A few insurance companies provide parents or students a discount on their car insurance if a child is attending college and living outside of the parent’s home and no longer using the car.  If your child is away at school ask your agent if your insurance company has such a discount.
     

16. Choose Your Car Wisely – The car you drive can affect the cost of your insurance in a big way.  In general, the more expensive a car is to purchase the more expensive your insurance will be.  However, some cars that cost less to purchase are notoriously costly to repair if they are damaged and these cars can carry the highest insurance price tag.  If you are considering buying a new or even a used car, check with your agent before you make the purchase to see if there are any insurance surprises awaiting you.
     

17. Safe Vehicle Discount – Vehicles with certain built-in safety features can be less expensive to insure.  ABS brakes, automatic seatbelts and side air bags, for example, can decrease the cost of your monthly car insurance premium.  Since the details of safe vehicle discounts vary between different insurance companies, you will need to check with your insurance agent and find out which safety features can trigger a discount for you.
     

18. Comparison Shop – Thanks to the Internet it is now possible for any driver to quickly compare policies and prices between a variety of different insurance companies.  Don’t be fooled into thinking, however, that every website compares all of the car insurance companies in your area.  Each website makes comparisons among only a small number of companies.  Therefore, if you truly want to insure that you are getting the best possible rate, you will have to take the extra time to compare policies on at least 3 different websites.  In this way you can feel confident that you are seeing the best rates from the largest number of companies possible.
     

19. Group Discount – If you work for a large company you may be entitled to a group discount merely because you are an employee.  Insurance companies often offer discounts to any large group in the belief that they may be able to easily (and inexpensively) attract many members of the same group to their company.  Even groups such as Golden Key National Honor Society or Kiwanis Club can qualify you for a discount. Ask at work or ask your insurance company if your employment or a club affiliation entitles you to such a discount.
     

20. Occupational Discounts – The type of job you hold or the legal or educational degrees you hold may be another key to reducing your auto insurance costs.  Engineers, teachers, doctors, scientists, mathematicians, and people in the military can all qualify for occupational discounts.  Discounts vary between insurance companies, naturally, so check with your agent and see if you qualify.
     

21. Rural Discounts – Yes, where you live can affect your insurance rates.  People who live in the less-crowded suburbs may pay less for their car insurance than do those who live in the more densely-packed and crime-ridden inner-cities.  And rural drivers generally enjoy the best insurance rates of all.
     

22. Review Your Policy – Every year you need to review your auto insurance policy to make certain that nothing has changed which could reduce your insurance premium – things such as driving fewer miles, turning 55, purchasing additional insurance policies from the same company, fewer people in the household and so forth.  Many people buy a policy and then forget about it, potentially paying hundreds or even thousands of extra dollars each year simply because they have neglected to report a change in circumstance.
     

23. Don’t Let Your Insurance Lapse – Always, always, always keep your vehicles insured.  If you allow your insurance to lapse, even for a day or two, then getting new insurance can be more difficult and you are deemed a higher risk and you must pay the price in higher monthly premiums.
     

24. Drop Coverage on Vehicles Not Driven – It is easy to forget to take an unused vehicle off of your insurance policy.  Many people have a broken or never-used vehicle sitting on their property.  Many times owners simply forget that these vehicles are still on an insurance policy and can pay unnecessary premiums on them for years and years.
     

25. Pay For Your Policy On a Yearly Basis Rather Than Month-to-Month – It costs money – quite a bit of money, actually – to send out bills each month reminding people that they need to pay their car insurance premiums.  You can save money by saving the insurance company money and paying your premiums once each year.  Often the savings can amount to a full month of premiums.
     

26. Make Auto Insurance Payments Automatically – Many insurance companies will give you a discount on your monthly insurance premiums if you allow the insurance company to automatically deduct the payment from your bank account rather than forcing the company to send you a bill and then wait for your check to arrive. 
     

27. Keep Young Drivers Off Your Policy – If it is at all possible do not allow children to drive until they are 18.  A 16 or 17-year-old added to your insurance policy can drive your rates sky-high in the blink of an eye.  If it is not possible to keep your children from driving, consult with your insurance agent about the possibility of signing an “exclusion form” that, in effect, gives your child his or her own policy, separate from yours.  Make paying for insurance be one of the responsibilities your child must assume for the privilege of driving.
     

28. Stick With The Same Company – It is very tempting to constantly look for a new and less expensive insurance company.  One problem with that is that the low rates you find may be nothing more than “teaser rates” which rise substantially in a short period of time.  Rather than change companies every time you find a slightly better rate, you may end up saving more in the long run  by staying with the same insurance company – many companies offer a “long-term discount” for customers who have been with them for a specified number of years.  Also, some companies offer their long-term customers “accident forgiveness,” meaning that their rates will not rise if they have one claim.
     

29. Never Lie – Do not lie on any insurance form.  If you exclude a household member from your policy, for example, to save money and that household members gets in an accident with your car, you can be liable for another party’s medical expenses, which can sometimes be hundreds of thousands of dollars.  You could lose your home, your life savings and other assets.
     

30. Consider Reducing Your Personal Injury Protection – If you have sufficient health insurance through another policy to cover your needs in case of an accident, talk to your auto insurance agent about reducing your personal injury protection to the lowest level permitted by state law.  Reducing your personal injury coverage could save you considerably on your premium.
     

31. Don’t Include Towing – If you have AAA or another towing service, or if you have a credit card which includes towing as one of its perks, you might want to exclude towing from your auto policy.  Even using the towing feature one time can cause your auto premiums to rise, whereas most third-party towing services (such as AAA) allow more than one tow per year without penalty.
     

32. Park Your Car in a Garage – Obviously this may be difficult for some people, but if you have a garage you can save money on your car insurance by simply parking your car in your garage at night.  Leaving your car on the street all night exposes it to vandalism and natural disasters and increases the cost of your automobile insurance.
     

33. Don’t Make Small Claims – If you can avoid making any claims against your policy for at least four years you may be eligible for a discount on your insurance premiums or you may be offered the right to purchase a low-cost insurance policy that will guarantee not to raise your rates should you have a major accident.
     

34. Be a Woman – Typically women have fewer accidents and when they do their accidents tend to be less severe.  Therefore women tend to have lower auto insurance premiums than do men.  If you are a couple, placing the policy in the name of the wife, with the husband listed as a secondary driver, can reduce your premiums even further.
     

35. Buy Your Insurance Over The Internet – Selling online is more efficient and saves both time and money so most auto insurance companies reward online purchasers with up to a 15% discount when purchasing car insurance over the internet as opposed to purchasing it at a brick and mortar establishment.
     

36. Do You Need Rental Car Coverage? – Many credit cards offer rental car insurance coverage automatically any time you use them to rent a car.  If you have a credit card that provides such coverage there is no need to spend the extra money each month on rental car coverage as part of your auto insurance policy.
     

37. Don’t Reduce Your Liability Insurance Too Drastically – This may seem contradictory to saving money, and in the short run it can be.  However, if you are at fault in an accident and someone is badly injured you could be responsible for their medical bills.  If your liability insurance falls short in paying those medical bills you and your assets are responsible.  It is possible to lose your home, your life savings and all of your other assets if your insurance coverage is too low.
     

38. Comparison shop Online – Not only do most insurance companies offer you a discount if you purchase a policy online, there are literally hundreds of websites which allow you to make instant side-by-side comparisons of auto insurance policies and prices from several different insurance companies.  Don’t take the easy way out and only look at comparisons from one website.  No website compares all insurance companies.  In order to insure that you are truly comparing most of the auto insurance companies out there you will need to fill out forms on at least 3 different comparison websites.  It takes extra time – but the results can fatten your bank account for years to come.
     

39. Verify Your Policy Information – The quote you receive for your automobile insurance is based on the information that is on your insurance policy.  No one is perfect, so it can pay you big time to review your policy the moment you receive it to make certain that the age of all cars is correct, the age of all drivers is correct, and any and all safety features on the car are noted plus any other information from the 45 tips in this article is noted.  If anything is left out, bring it to the attention of your agent and ask that your premium be recalculated.
     

40. Ask About Discounts – Not all discounts are made very public.  Many companies may have discounts that apply to you but which you would never think to ask about.  Ask your agent point blank to give you a list of all the discounts that your insurance company offers.  You may be very pleasantly surprised to discover one or more discounts lurking in the fine print that you never knew you qualified for.
     

41. Find Out Which Cars Are Cheapest to Insure – Every insurance company has a rating system for virtually every newer car on the road.  Cars with a low rating cost more to insure and cars with a high rating cost less.  Before you go shopping for a new car of for a newer used car ask your agent for a list of car ratings.  Choosing the right rating can put you ahead of the game right from the start and allow you to save the most possible on your car insurance premiums.
     

42. The Carpool Discount – Make it a habit to carpool to work as often as possible and let your insurance agent know that you are a member of a carpool.  When you carpool you use your car less and most insurance companies offer a Carpool Discount.
     

43. Use Public Transportation to Get to Work, School & Shopping – Again, let your insurance agent know that you routinely take public transportation to work, school and shopping as often as possible.  The less your own car is used for routine activities the lower your car insurance rate will be.
     

44.   Get Married – Obviously no one is going to get married just to save money on their auto insurance but studies show that individuals who are married typically file fewer claims than singles and when they do file claims their claims are usually smaller.  Consequently most auto insurance companies charge married people less for car insurance than they do singles.
     

45. Do Not Modify Your Car – Adding sporty equipment to your car may make you feel good about your car and yourself, but be aware that many modifications will cause your auto insurance rates to climb.  Adding equipment that changes your fuel mixture to give you more horsepower, putting on special chrome wheels, changing the size of the tires from those prescribed by the car manufacturer, and other such modifications, whether done for racing purposes or simply to impress that certain someone can all add to the cost of your automobile insurance.

So there are 45 tips for keeping your car insurance premium payment in line. Implement as many of these tips as possible and make certain that your insurance agent is aware of each and every step you take to reduce your premium – and I can virtually guarantee that your next insurance payment will be a pleasant surprise for once!