My Personal Finance Blog

The school year is here again for college students across the United States. You know what that means? Spending. Yes, you’ll be paying a lot of money: books, tuition, housing, alcohol, and insurance. At least one of those things doesn’t have to be so expensive.

Learn how students can reduce the price of car insurance below.

STUDENTS FACING VARYING HIGH COSTS

College students will see some of the highest rates for insurance that exist. They are not as high as what high schoolers are charged on average, but they are pretty close. The reasons for these rates are down to the unique risks of college life and college towns:

• high numbers of inexperienced drivers
• many high-stress drivers
• busy schedules mean rushing
• congested parking situations
• increased risk of encountering drunk drivers
• more likely to be driving late at night
• higher theft rates

Of course, not all situations are the same. In reality, rates are more highly dependent on the actual collision statistics coming out of the college town than the fact that it is a student on the policy. Certain factors may alter the anticipated costs of insurance.

For instance, if a student’s school is in an urban environment, it is going to be more expensive than were the school to be in a rural or suburban environment. If the school is an a bad part of town with higher theft rates, you should anticipate paying more for insurance than if the town were safer.

Commuting to school rather than living there only partly removes you from this risk. You will still be driving in the same city, but you also have added risks of driving the roads in between. This may also make you more likely to be involved in collisions due to fatigue, stress, and hurrying on the highways or the city streets.

STRATEGIES FOR REDUCING COSTS

Most students can reduce their cost of auto insurance by simply staying on or joining a parental policy. Most companies will allow this until students are in their mid twenties. Combining policies disperses the risk and counters the increase in rates from the student with a group policy discount.

Good students will also benefit from good grades. Not all companies offer this discount, so search hard with auto insurance quotes for a company that does value this trait in customers. The logic behind the good grades discount is that responsible students prove to be responsible drivers.

Alternatively, students could simply not drive. For commuters, this is not really possible, but you could also look into carpooling. Even driving a lower number of miles annually could save hundreds of dollars.

No matter what you choose to do, use auto insurance quotes to do your shopping. There’s no better way to save time or money. Get started with this site by seeing our insurance provider list and getting instant quotes online. Make sure the quotes are for the coverage levels suitable to your needs. Be very careful to use only the most accurate, precise information – otherwise your quotes won’t be accurate. Factor in discounts and claims records, to be sure you have a good long-term partner, then compare the pros and cons to choose a provider.

Auto Glass Insurance

We all know we need insurance for your vehicles, but auto glass insurance is often overlooked . Of course liability insurance is a must just in case a person gets harmed while you’re driving. Did you know that you can obtain windshield coverage? Yes, it’s the truth. But frequently it is not really worth the cost unless you feel like you’ll have to replace your windshield at least once per year as the deductible is oftentimes more than the expense to swap out the windshield itself.

The Story Concerning Auto Glass Insurance

If you have auto glass insurance you may be able to have your window fixed for a very small price . You will need to have across the board coverage in order to have window coverage and it will allow for the replacement of you complete windshield. The only concern here is that your deductible is usually more than the cost to change the entire window but discuss this with your agent.

Once in a while though, insurance companies offer glass coverage separately . If this is the case I would recommend you to go ahead and get it. It is affordable , ranging from $10-$40 a year, and the deductible is much smaller , perhaps around $100. They also will fix splinters for free with this type of coverage. It is worth checking into your alternatives regarding auto glass insurance.

Do Not Wait in Getting Your Windshield Fixed or Swapped out .

Not many people are informed that the windshield of a car acts a guardian for them and their passengers. It can protect you from being expulsed out of your car if you have an mishap. There are thousands upon thousands of people that die yearly because they are thrown out from their cars in mishaps. Countless of these are due to the windshield having a splinter in it, thus, weakening the shield as a whole.

Regarding the Repair or Replacement

I advise you to ask the professional that you select to fix your windshield if they give consent to the Auto Glass Replacement Safety Standard. This ought to be a big factor in whether you choose to use their service or not. Additionally, query them if they use O.E.M. quality auto glass because this type of glass meets the National Glass Association’s standards. You want the finest windshield for your car so don’t be afraid to ask these questions. How the Windshield is Swapped out .

Your technician will use everyday tools such as a screwdriver and razor blade, but he/she will also use designed for windshield repair tools such as an air-powered knife, cold knife, Olfa knife, and an extractor to change your windshield. First, the technician will remove the windshield and remove the urethane. Second, a glass activator is attached to the new windshield. Thirdly, primer and a heated urethane adhesive are adhered . Lastly, the new windshield is cautiously installed. This process should not take too long, but be sure to get an accurate time and cost quote before allowing any company to repair your dinged windshield.

Accidents happen to anyone and anywhere. Of course people can be really careful when they are outside. There are just some people who are just unfortunate enough that they often have accidents when they are driving their car –or in many cases they just do not know how to drive carefully and do not understand most of the road signs. Whatever the accident is and however the accident happens what is more important is to repair the broken car. Repairing a broken car at a garage can cost pretty expensive. Many people are not prepared with cash or money in their pocket so that they tend to panic and not know what to do.

Therefore it is very important for people who own a car to have car or auto insurance. Having auto insurance is very helpful when someone goes to take their broken car to the garage just after an accident on the road and they do not have so much cash or money with them. Auto insurance normally covers the entire bills of the repair. However, that actually depends on the deal of the insurance. Some insurance deals cover 100% of the bills and some other deals cover only a few percentages of the entire bills.

With Alice back in Wonderland thanks to Tim Burton, we continue this series of articles on how to earn discounts when insuring your vehicle. This time, the trip down the rabbit hole (or through the looking glass as you prefer), deals with the practicality of your use of private transport. Remember the insurance companies want as little risk as possible so they prefer you to have the vehicle parked on your front yard where you admire it from a distance and, when it gets dusty, wash and polish it. In short, the less you drive, the more you save. So lets see how it works. There are three times during the day when accidents are more likely. These are the two main periods for commuting to and from work, and the late night and early morning when driving is often associated with alcohol and other “substances”. The statistics show the more vehicles there are on the road around you, the greater the chance one will collide with another. At peak times for commuters, the roads are suddenly full and the risks of accidents are high. Now change the weather from sunshine and gentle breezes to the first ice and snow of the winter. The majority of drivers have forgotten the risks, made no advance preparations and find themselves on a skating rink without any way of stopping in a hurry. The accident rate goes sky high until people relearn their winter driving skills. At night, its the reverse problem. From 11 p.m. through to the early hours, there are fewer vehicles on the road, but the majority of drivers may be less alert. At best, this is simple tiredness. At worst, its substance abuse and you are in the way.

So, if you agree not to drive at the most dangerous times, you get a discount. For the same reason, agreeing to restrict your mileage also earns a discount. If you only drive a few miles every now and again, the chances of you being involved in an accident are small. The lower the mileage you accept, the better the discount. For the same reasoning, where you drive affects the premium. Although the practice is outlawed in some states, your zip code sets the tone for the premium rate. Some areas of the cities and larger towns are statistically more accident-prone. Equally, if you live in a wilderness area or in a remote part of the prairies, you can go miles without ever seeing another vehicle. Collisions are therefore rare, although some trees are known to throw caution to the wind when crossing the road. Be honest with yourself. Do you have to use the vehicle? Yes, it may be slightly inconvenient to use public transport but, if you are saving money on your insurance, you can be safer and better off financially.

In an earlier article, we mentioned the problem of fraud. The biggest discounts are given to those prepared to prove their honesty. Check the auto insurance quotes for those companies offering monitoring, whether face-to-face or through technology. Some companies ask you to call in once a month to prove your mileage is within limits. Others have devices to fit into your vehicles that monitor when, where and how you drive. This information is then routinely transmitted to the insurer. Sure Big Brother is watching but, if this saves you big dollars, its worth searching through the auto insurance quotes to find these offers.

The main thing to understand about discounts is the thinking behind them. The insurance companies want to encourage you to act in ways that favor them. If you are contrary and do the opposite, you will probably cost them money so your premium rates will be higher. Let’s take a few examples and see how it works. Obviously the point of insurance is that, if you have one of those unfortunate accidents or someone steals your vehicle, you get to claim money from the insurance company. From the insurer’s point of view, this is bad news. It wants to be able to treat all your cash as profit. The more it has to pay out, the more it should raise premiums. Except, at some point, you throw up your hands and say, “We’re not going to pay that.” So a balance has to be struck. The insurer wants all the safe drivers like you, and aims to discourage all the drivers with bad records – they are the ones who get the really big premium hikes. Although loyalty bonuses go some way in the right direction, there are more ways in which the insurer can save money. It all starts with the make and model of vehicle you are driving.

Risk assessment is done by the actuaries. These are the math wonks who collect details of every accident reported in the US. This is not just the data from claims on vehicle insurance. This is every incident reported to the police, attended by the firefighters or ambulance crews, or dealt with through claims on health insurance. Put all this together and the actuaries can tell you the probability of an accident in any make and model of vehicle, given its color, whether it was fitted with any additional features, who it was driven by, the time of day or night, whether the driver and passengers were badly injured, so on. Yes, it’s that detailed. Turning this around, if you drive a vehicle that’s statistically unlikely to be involved in an accident or stolen, your premium will be lower than average. Put a safe driver in a safe car and the chances of the insurer having to pay out are small and the profit is higher. Everyone is happy. So how do you find out which are the safest vehicles with the lowest premium rates? Well, you start with http://www.safercar.gov/, a site run by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This allows you to get the safety ratings from all the tests carried out by the NHTSA. There’s a guide published at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/Vehicle%20Safety/Articles/Associated%20Files/2009_Insurance_Costs_Comparison.pdf which is also helpful. Finally, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety publishes its own list of safe vehicles at http://www.iihs.org/ratings/

The safer the vehicle you drive, the greater the discount on the premium rate. So when you are filling out the questionnaire for those auto insurance quotes, aim to have a safe vehicle. If you vehicle is not safe and you cannot afford to change it, try to upgrade it by fitting safety features. Look at the questions asked in the questionnaire and talk to insurance agents to find out what features save the most money. Similarly, fit better locks and any systems making your vehicle more difficult to steal. Anything you can do to reduce the risk of a claim will be reflected in low rates in the auto insurance quotes you receive.