Car Insurance Premium Tips

Ask the Hackrs Insurance
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Hello Hackers,

I want to share with you some information regarding car insurance premiums, and ways to help you save with your lease.

  1. Let me start by addressing the elephant in the room. Our annual driving mileage has dropped and this is without a doubt the biggest factor that’s affecting your premium. So what I would do is I’d give your carrier a call and ask if they can lower your driver usage band. A good percentage of carriers defaults to the yearly national average of 15,000 Miles

  2. Personalize your coverage, getting the same policy limits as everyone you know might make sense on paper. However, you might be exposing yourself to liability or overpaying if you don’t need lots of coverage.

  3. Adjust your deductibles. Sometimes this makes sense, sometimes it doesn’t. It really comes down to how the carrier prices their coverage and how comfortable you are with risk.

  4. Pay your premium upfront rather than monthly. Most carriers offer an incentive for that. Others that don’t either finance your premium or slap a monthly fee to your payments.

  5. Bundle your policies. Most carriers offer a significant discount for having renters/homeowners policies.

In the end, I just want to say that car premium rates are individual specific. I often see people comparing their rates, and often judging their premium based on what their friend is paying. This discussion is pointless. There is simply no standard price that applies to everyone. It all depends on your (age, driving history, vehicle, location, etc)

If you have any questions please fee free to reach out to me. I’m a long veteran in the insurance industry and I’d happy to help.

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Solid advice! I’d also add that it doesn’t always make sense to insure all your vehicles with a single company. Case in point I have 3 vehicles with one company and another vehicle with another which saves me approx. $700 every 6 months. Shop around!!

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@Alexmao11 Just curious is the other car an exotic?

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Nope, an Audi e-tron.

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Probably the biggest thing you can do to lower your premium is don’t crash your car. Don’t set the car on fire. Don’t have your car stolen.

If you can do those 3 simple things then your premium will be lower

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One additional thing to look into for premium savings is whether your state allows for a defensive driver course to count as a possible discount. When I lived in GA w/ no accidents / tickets / claims I was insured through Geico…on their website it indicated if I signed up for an online defensive driver course ($40 IIRC)…at any rate I took the course and it lowered my premium ( 2 cars ) by $160 year +/- and was good for 3 years. Moved to CO and lost the discount b/c apparently it isn’t under the approved reductions / credits with the CO Insurance office.

It does take a couple of hours to complete the course though it does not need to be done all at once so obv you need to weigh out the time commitment and see if it would be worth it to you.

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I’m glad that helped. High limits & low deductibles is the way to go!

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Also, while it might seem obvious. Close your windows! I had one guy total his car when it rained last fall.

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Certainty. In California drivers of 50 years of age and over can complete the course online and earn a 5%-10% discount depending on the carrier.

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I heard a story from a hotel bell-hop about two patrons drinking away for hours and hours in the bar while incredibly heavy rainstorms were taking place. The bell-hop asked them if he could help by closing their car windows and moon-roof.

They replied, naw it’s just a rental. So the bell-hop left it as it both the drinkers and the car filled up

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Thanks for the suggestions!

I spoke with my Allstate agent and he advised Allstate stopped using usage bands a few years back, so unfortunately this was a no-go for me.

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Some good advice here. Thanks!

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