There are many variables that can impact your vehicle insurance premium. Data is collected on people that are already insured and their information is broken down into categories that encompass different segments of the population. This gives the insurance companies a statistical average and you are compared to the averages in the categories that they have studied.
There are several basic categories that most insurance companies use to help determine your overall insurance premiums.
- Age: As a driver ages and gains experience their risk of getting into accidents lessens, while drivers under 25 years old are statistically a higher risk. Those drivers between the ages of 50 and 65 statistically have the least amount of accidents
- Gender: Statistics say that women are safer drivers than men, but as the number of women drivers increase that statistic may see variations in the future.
- Marital Status: If you are married – you will pay less than a single person with the same driving record.
- Where you live: What neighborhood you live in or what part of town will make a difference in the premiums you pay. More traffic brings the greater chance of accidents, and some neighborhoods have higher vehicle damage and theft than other neighborhoods – these will all play a role in what decides the premium you pay.
- Driving History: Any violations or accidents in your recent driving history will impact your premiums. Some companies will look back up to five years to study your driving history. The more violations you have the higher your premium will be. If you improve your driving record your premiums should reflect that as well.
- What you drive: The lower the value of your vehicle the lower your premiums will be. A less expensive vehicle is less expensive to repair or replace than those that are more expensive and more customized.
- Your Credit Score: You hear about your credit score so often these days – Insurance companies check this score as well. Some insurance companies believe that is you are not responsible with your credit you are also not responsible in other areas of your life and they see this as a risk.
- Your Job: Statistically there seems to be some value between what you do and how you drive. A person that drives during their job or for their job is more likely to have incidents on the road than a person that sits at a desk for 8 or more hours every day. What your job is does play a role when deciding your insurance premium.
- Your Education History: While there may not be statistically any correlation between your education and your ability to drive safely; the more education you have the less your premiums may be.
- How much you drive each day/year: Those people that drive more have a higher risk of being in an accident than those that dive very little. People who drive for their business tend to be on the road much more than those that sit at a desk.
- Experience: Those people that have more driving experience and have a history to prove that they are a safe and capable driver can command a lower premium than those that just received their license to drive.
- Insurance: Are you currently insured? What are your limits of insurance? If you are currently insured and carry the standard limits you are much more likely to be insured again and command a reasonable premium than those that do not have a current policy or carry limits that are too low or too high.
- Theft protection: If your vehicle is outfitted with an anti theft device – your vehicle will be more difficult to steal or break into – while the device may not stop all criminals – it may be a deterrent to them. it is easier for them to break into a vehicle that does not have a device.
- Grouping Policies: If you have more than one driver in your family or more than one vehicle or both – if you put all the policies together with one insurance company it is likely that they will charge you less than if each carried their own policy.
It makes a lot of sense to do some research on insurance carriers and how much they will charge you. Insurance companies base their premiums on a number of variables and each company places a different amount of emphasis on each variable – so it makes sense that some companies may offer you higher or lower premiums than others. The internet is an ideal place to go to research the information you need- there are several sites that will offer you quotes from several different insurance companies in one easy step.
Research can help you to pay the lowest price or get the greatest value when you’re looking for car insurance. Knowing all the different variables that can impact your premium is a good place to start.
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