Friday, 16 January 2009

How to Lower Your Teen's Auto Insurance Rate

How to Lower Your Teen's Auto Insurance Rate
By Felicia A. Williams

Sooner or later, no matter how much you want to avoid it or how much you dread it, your teenager will learn to drive. Worse than that, they may even get a car. To top it all off, they will have to get insurance for that car. We all know that getting an auto insurance policy for a newly licensed teenaged driver is expensive.

Forming a partnership between you, your teen and the insurance company will help you to reduce your rates and maybe keep a few extra dollars in you pocket. Here are a few tips:

  • Maintain a clean driving record: Make sure that your teen is aware of the laws and restrictions in your state. Instill in your teen the importance of following the rules of the road. Just one traffic violation for a newly licensed driver may have you paying two to three times what you should pay. Until your teen can afford to pay for his own policy, he must keep a perfect driving record to protect your pocket.

  • Follow my lead: Are you setting a good example? Do you speed? Do you tailgate? Your teen is watching you. Make sure you show them how it should be done. Remember, your soon to be driving pre-teen is watching you too.

  • Maintain Good Grades: Students who maintain an average of B or above may earn up to a 25% discount on insurance rates.

  • Drivers Education: Many insurance companies offer lower rates to teenagers that have completed qualified driver's education courses. Before you spend money on a course, check with your insurance carrier to find out which schools they accept.

  • Safety: When looking for a car, keep in mind that insurance companies like safety features. The safer the car, the lower the rate. The faster and newer the car, the higher the rate. Do a little homework before buying your teen a car. Be aware of the theft or vandalism rate for the car you're buying. The more likely it is to be stolen or vandalized, the higher your premiums.

  • Alcohol and Drugs: Under aged drinking is illegal. Your insurance company may void your policy as a result of an illegal action.

  • Watch your teen in action: Drive with your teen from time to time. See if they are still the safe driver they were when they first got their license, or have they developed a few bad habits. Be a passenger and observe. Compliment them if they're doing a good job, or diplomatically point out potential problems.

  • Talk to your agent: Your insurance agent can help you to determine whether or not it is cheaper to put your teen on your policy. If you drive an expensive car, your rates may increase dramatically by adding your teen. It might be cheaper to get a separate policy, depending on the type of cars in your household. Your agent can offer advice on the best way to insure your teen's car.

  • Shop: Get a couple of quotes and compare.
  • Working together with your teen and insurance company will help you to get the best auto rate for your teen possible. It's worth the effort.

    Felicia Williams, who worked in the insurance field for many years, is now a freelance writer and owner/webmaster of the family oriented site Tidbits and Stuff. For more articles like this, visit Tidbits and Stuff. Felicia also owns a Hudson Valley travel guide site Visit Hudson Valley.

    Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=FeliciaA.Williams
    http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Lower-Your-Teens-Auto-Insurance-Rate&id=513983

    Sunday, 11 January 2009

    Choosing the Right Auto Insurance Company

    Choosing the Right Auto Insurance Company
    By Peter Crump

    For any driver, finding the best car insurance company is an important task. While the insurance we take out for our automobiles is, much like the health insurance we choose for our families, a service we hope to have very little need to avail of, there is little doubt that should the worst happen, we hope that we will have chosen our car insurance company wisely. For any individual, however, or even the group of individuals we might know, like our family and friends, exposure to insurance companies will have been limited. But thankfully, there are people who deal with car repairs on a regular basis, making them ideally placed to help us select the best car insurance company for our needs.

    Who on earth are these experts, you might ask, and how on earth can we find them? The answer is simple, and you will be able to locate them in your own area more easily than you might think. Simple take a quick trip down to your local auto body repair shop, and you will find yourself in the midst of several car experts, who will each have amassed, through their years of experience in dealing with them, an essential insight into the workings of your local car insurance companies.

    There are two groups of people that we call if we are unfortunate enough to find ourselves in an auto accident the car insurance company with whom we took out our personal policy and the local body repair shop. Because these are our two ports of call when dealing with this kind of event, they necessarily have quite a bit of interaction with one another, making them ideally placed to determine the reliability and professionalism of the others operations. So if you are trying to find the best auto insurance company in your area, why not give them a call, or better yet, pay them a quick visit?

    Body shop managers and other personnel deal with insurance adjusters from several companies as a natural part of the course of their day. They will be able to tell you which car insurance companies are most professional, which are speedy in their response. Car repair shop workers will have the hands on experience of car insurance companies that allows them to determine which carriers offer the most user-friendly claims procedures, and which offer customers a more time-consuming and complicated service. They are ideally placed to offer you an unbiased opinion on which companies they would assign the best overall ratings in terms of the quality of the product they provide, and the quality of the customer service.

    When you are unfortunate enough to experience an accident in your vehicle, you will want to deal with people who are both speedy and professional, and no one can offer you a better insight to this end than the body shop workers who deal with car insurance companies every day. So if you are looking for reliable and unbiased ratings of the best companies around, then dont forget to give the body shop a call.

    To find out more about Cheap Car Insurance visit Peter's Website Good Cheap Car Insurance at http://www.goodcheapcarinsurance.com/ and find out about Car Insurance Discounts and more about cheap car insurance.

    Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=PeterCrump
    http://EzineArticles.com/?Choosing-the-Right-Auto-Insurance-Company&id=283229