5 Tips To Reduce Your Auto Insurance Premium

Anyone who owns a car understands the pain of paying for auto insurance. If you are a safe driver, you will never be able to use something that you pay hundreds of dollars a year to use. Fortunately, there are several ways to reduce the amount that you pay each year for car insurance.

1) Improve Your Credit Score Research has shown that drivers who are not responsible with their money are often not responsible behind the wheel. In addition, drivers who have bad credit have a financial incentive to file fraudulent or shady claims in the hopes of getting a quick paycheck. If you have a questionable credit score, start taking steps to improve it as soon as possible.

2) Reduce The Amount Of Coverage You Have Your car insurance premium will drop if you reduce the amount and types of coverage that you have. For instance, you may not need collision or comprehensive insurance on a car that is more than a few years old or that you are no longer making payments on. By reducing your bodily injury coverage levels, you can see a significant savings each year.

3) Increase Your Deductible A deductible is the amount of money that you have to pay before your insurance policy kicks in. If you have a low deductible, you will have a higher premium. By increasing your deductible, you are taking on more of the risk if you get into an accident. Therefore, your premium will drop as a result. Policyholders should know that there is a separate deductible for damage to glass and damage to the body of your car. Typically, increasing the deductible for body damage lowers your premium more than increasing the deductible for glass damage.

4) Add Security Features To Your Car Adding security features to your car makes it less likely that someone will damage or steal your car. This reduces the risk of a policyholder filing a claim for lost or stolen property. In the event that your car is stolen and not recovered, your insurance company will give you a check equal to the current value of the car. Cars that have anti-lock brakes or airbags reduce the risk that you will get into an accident or suffer severe injuries in an accident.

5) Pay In Full Every Six Months The easiest way to lower your insurance premium is to pay in full every six months. When you pay in monthly installments, you are paying convenience fees as well as any fees to process a payment by phone or credit card. Paying your premium every six months as opposed to every month can save you up to 10 percent over the course of a year. Saving money on auto insurance doesn't have to be difficult. By improving your driver profile, adding security features to your car and paying in semi-annual installments, you can save a lot of money on something that you hope that you never have to use.

(Photo credit: Alan Cleaver)

Felony DUI Education Critical For Students

For the past few prom seasons first responders in the United States have launched a program designed to increase awareness of drinking and driving among students by staging mock DUI demonstrations. Official see these demonstrations as increasingly critical to avoiding incidents during prom season. Demonstrations are designed to teach students the realities of felony DUI and the risks of drinking and driving.

These mock DUI demonstrations require the participation of police officers, firefighters, EMS personnel, tow truck companies, makeup artists, corners offices, and mortuaries. Both parent and student volunteers from local high schools also participate in the mock motor vehicle accidents. Students learn the effects of driving under the influence by viewing re-creations of severe automobile accidents.

Friends against Drunk Driving, also known as FADD, are a coalition of police departments, fire departments, ambulance services, as well as several other organizations. The group has been dedicated to the education of students about the perils of drunk driving and the dangers of felony DUI for over a decade. In 1989, the organization was founded by Orange County Fire Authority Paramedic Captain Steve Concialdi. Concialdi continues to embrace the importance of the program and confirms that students come back to him year after year to tell him that the program has greatly impacted their lives.

According to Captain Concialdi, "These are realistic accidents that change the lives of everybody. We are showing them reality. We bring in a mom halfway into the program. She's distraught and every student can relate to if their mom showed up on an accident like that."

Many high school students confirm that the accident re-creations hit home with the students in a way that impacts their behavior on prom night. In Orange County, Fire Authority Battalion 5 Chaplain, Jeff Hetschel, reports that the program has been, incredibly effective. He also reported that over the last five years, DUI incidents among teenage drivers have decreased dramatically.

Understanding Your Car Insurance

Do you feel like pulling out your hair when it comes to car insurance? If so, then settle back and let us clear-up some of the definitions and details you will encounter when it's time to buy or renew your car insurance policy.

Do You Really Need Car Insurance?
The answer to this question is a legal one - not all states require a driver to have car insurance, but those that don't require a driver to provide a financial responsibility bond in place of insurance. So either way you must show financial responsibility in some form or fashion. This leads us to the next question: How much insurance is needed?

Full Coverage: If you buy a new car and you have a loan on it, then your bank will require that you have full coverage. This means you have liability plus collision/comprehensive coverage on the vehicle. Once your loan is paid off, then you have the option to drop the collision/comprehensive coverage.

Limited Coverage: A used car sometimes has less value compared to the cost of collision insurance, and in these cases the owner may elect to drop the coverage on the car. What's left is the liability coverage.

Definitions

Collision Insurance: If you're involved in an accident, then collision insurance will cover the damages. You'll have to choose the deductible amount; this can vary from as low as $100.00 up to $1000.00. This is the amount you will pay before the insurance starts paying.

Comprehensive Insurance: This part of the insurance plan is generally combined with the collision policy. This insurance generally covers: fire, theft, vandalism, natural disasters, and falling objects.

Liability: If you choose not to cover your car, then most states still require that you maintain a liability policy for your car. Liability covers: personal injury (you, passengers, other parties), property damage, and medical payments. The amount of coverage will depend on how much of your personal assets you want to protect. Lawyers for the opposing team are known to go after your personal assets if your liability insurance doesn't fully cover damage to their client.

No Fault Insurance: It's hard to collect damages from someone who doesn't have insurance. This is why no fault insurance is offered. Not all states require a driver to carry no fault, but many drivers elect to buy it anyway. In the case the other driver does not have insurance, then your insurance company will pay for your damages from the accident - no matter who's fault it is.

Personal Injury Insurance: Some states, not all, offer this coverage. This coverage will reimburse your loss of income, medical expenses, and other covered expenses resulting from an accident.

Gap Insurance: When you drive a new car off the lot you immediately have depreciation. Gap insurance takes care of this, you can consider it "supplemental insurance" in case your car is totaled in an accident. Having gap insurance alleviates the headaches and disputes if your car is deemed totaled.

Working with a car insurance agent you trust is the key to buying the type of insurance you need. You may not need all of the options we discussed above; your agent will help you put together an insurance policy that fits your specific needs.