Every new driver is constantly reminded of the crucial importance of adequately covering their vehicle, yet few people are ever seriously taught why their car insurance costs tend to go up over time. For many people, the gradually rising costs of insuring your vehicle is a good enough reason to avoid insurance altogether, which doesn’t just put you into legal jeopardy but could also imperil your financial future after a costly accident.
Don’t content yourself with living in ignorance, but rather learn about why insurance rates go upwards and how to secure the lowest rates in your future. Here’s why the cost of your car insurance is going up, and what you can do to reverse this trend.
Some factors are within your control
The most important thing to understand is that some factors which cause your car insurance costs to skyrocket are under your control, meaning you can make adjustments to your daily life which ultimately end up saving you money. The most obvious reason that most car insurance premiums go upwards is that you’ve been involved in one-too-many at-fault collisions. An at-fault collision, or an accident wherein you were the party most responsible for the damages incurred to all vehicles and persons involved, will effectively serve as a black stain on your driving record for years to come. That’s why safe driving is imperative, as anyone who gets into even a small accident will likely see their premiums go up.
Furthermore, those who are risky drivers will also be charged more by their insurance providers. If you’ve never been in a collision but have been stopped and ticketed by the police for speeding, for example, your insurance provider is going to consider you to be a greater risk than those who have stellar, blemish-free driving records. It’s thus important to remember that hitting the breaks can end up saving you hundreds in future insurance bills.
Another easy way to get a better car insurance rate is to be an excellent student who brings home fantastic grades. Car insurance providers have recognized one simple fact: good students are likely better drivers, seldom getting into wrecks as often as those who struggle in the classroom. As a result of this, most of the nation’s leading insurance providers offer good student discounts to those who have high GPAs. Review some of the best insurance companies for college students if you’re a young driver with good grades trying to save a few extra bucks. Furthermore, you should be on the lookout for insurance or brokerage companies like BrokerLink that have stellar websites, as a good digital presence is a sign of a forward-thinking insurance company that will serve you for years to come.
Not everything is under your control
As unpleasant as it may be to admit, it’s a simple matter of fact that not everything is under your control when it comes to steep car insurance rates. In general, modern vehicles are laden with advanced sensory technology and more fragile electronics than their age-old counterparts, which means that cars made more recently are more expensive to insure. After all, anything that’s pricier to produce in the first place is naturally going to warrant a higher insurance cost than something cheap to churn out. The upside of this is that modern vehicles are more luxurious, comfortable, and safer than their predecessors.
Living in certain areas may impact your car insurance rates more than in others, too, as areas with notoriously bad infrastructure and weather are more likely to have a greater rate of collisions every day. If you’re living in an area that sees plenty of snowfall in the winter, for instance, insurance companies are likely jacking up prices in that area because of the amount of car accidents which occur as a result of icy roads and poor visibility from snowfall. Moving to a new area isn’t something most people want to consider when it comes to saving on car insurance, so this may be something that’s causing your rates to go up that you can’t really help.
If you’re considering moving to a new area, however, doing some research on which cities are the most expensive for car insurance is advisable. Finally, just because some things aren’t under your control doesn’t mean you can throw your hands into the air and ignore those few things which you can change for a better rate. Some vehicles are safer than others, for instance, so driving an environmentally-friendly car that’s less likely to rollover or breakdown is a surefire way to reduce your car insurance costs.
Knowing how to cut down on your insurance costs begins and ends with understanding which factors are under your control and which aren’t. Focus all of your time and efforts on driving safer vehicles in a more responsible fashion, and soon your car insurance rates will be lowered.
