Dirt Cheap Car Insurance For First Time Drivers -- You Too Can Save Big
You too can get dirt cheap car insurance for first time drivers if you read and apply the following tips...
1. First time drivers get higher rates because they are considered less experienced behind wheels and, therefore, a bigger risk. However, you can change this perception to your advantage: Take part in a defensive driving class.
Apart from the fact that this will make you a better driver, it will show your insurer that you're committed to keeping our roads safer. But make sure your training is at an accredited center. This will qualify you for a sizeable discount with the right insurer.
2. Paying your premium yearly will attract lower rates than choosing monthly payments. You might be sold that paying monthly is convenient but what you're not told is how much extra you pay for this.
Each check that is processed attracts a fee. While annual payment attracts a single check and therefore one transaction every year, monthly payments attrract twelve. You'll then have to pay the total of 12 transaction charges..
Apart from this there are also administrative costs that are incurred due to the monthly payment option. For example, it costs some money to send payment notices each and every month.
These and more are then included in your rate thus making it higher than if you paid every year.
3. A straightforward but effective way of lowering your rate is by authorizing an EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer). This authorizes your bank to credit your insurance provider with your premiums without any intervention from you until you advise otherwise. This reduces costs by removing the need for payment notices or checks. The insurer gives you part of what they save by bringing down your premium.
4. Having an extensive personal injury protection is unnecessary and costly if you have a very good health insurance coverage. Make your personal injury protection as low as the minimum required by law in your state if your health insurance coverage takes proper care of you in case of an accident. It doesn't make sense to pay premiums that won't translate to benefits.
5. This tip is very important for anyone looking for cheap car insurance for a first time driver: Reduce your Bodily injury liability coverage to the very minimum required by your state law and buy an umbrella policy instead. You should take this more seriously if you a person of substantial means.
What do you buy bodily injury liability coverage for? It's to take care of passengers involved in an accident along with the other driver. If you don't have coverage like this, your assets could be used to compensate victims in accidents.
You are, however, urged to opt for an umbrella policy because even the most extensive liability coverage within an auto insurance policy wouldn't be adequate if you're at fault in a fatal accident. If your liability coverage can't take car of their medical bills and damages awarded against you, you could lose all your assets, life savings and even your home. However, there is hardly a law suit or liability issue that an umbrella policy won't take care of completely.
You save on many ends with an umbrella policy: It helps you pay lower rates, gives you superior liability coverage on auto related issues but still covers liability claims that may arise else, for example, your home.
Price-wise, you get much more coverage per premium dollar with an umbrella policy...
If a 35-year old man who lives in New York City wants to raise his bodily injury liability coverage to $100K/$300K from $25K/$50K, his rate will increase by $300! Now how does this compare to the fact that he would get an umbrella policy with coverage worth $1 million for less than that? Furthermore, he could make it $2 million by just paying only about $75 more. After the $2 million mark, he'll only need to add $50 to his rate per $1 million extra coverage amount.
Do the maths in your own case and see if it doesn't pay you a lot more!
6. You can get a very cheap car insurance rate even as a first time driver if you get and compare quotes from up to five reputable insurance quotes sites. It will only take you a few minutes per site but if you do your comparison well, you can reduce what you'd have to pay by several hundreds of dollars.
