There are a lot of factors that insurance companies use to figure what your premium will be for car insurance. These factors fall into two categories: things that you have no control over and other things that you can control. If you change some of these controllable factors, you can significantly lower your premium.
The factors that influence your insurance rate that you can’t change are:
1. Age – According to statistics drivers younger than 25 are the most likely to be in automobile accidents. When it comes to discounts, age plays a factor. There are five milestone ages when insurance rates will drop significantly and they occur at age 18, 19, 21, 25 and 30.
2. Gender – Women have proven to be safer drivers in general and therefore often receive discounts from insurance companies.
3. Marital Status – People who are married have lower premiums than single people with the same driving record. Combining two drivers into one policy is a considerable savings.
The following factors are things that you can control. Making a few changes can have a positive impact on the price of your insurance premium for auto insurance.
1. Location – Your address can actually affect what you pay for insurance. If you live in the country or anywhere with light traffic you will pay less for insurance. Living in busy cities or even the suburbs can negatively affect the rate you pay because of the increased chances of traffic accidents and car theft.
2. Driving Record – Any traffic violation automatically makes you a higher risk as far as most insurance companies are concerned. Luckily, as you get farther away from your last violation your premium should come down.
3. Value of the car – Cheaper cars cost less to insure.
4. Traffic Accidents – If have been involved in traffic accidents and have made an insurance claim, your premium will be higher.
5. Education – The more levels of education you have, the lower your premium will be.
6. Credit – Surprisingly, there are a lot of insurers who consider someone with a poor credit rating a high risk when it comes to determining insurance rates.
7. Owning a home – People who own their own homes will often get a discount because homeowners are thought to be more responsible.
Some other factors that insurance companies take into consideration are things like the distance your drive to your job, how many miles you drive each year, whether or not you use your car for business, whether or not you have theft protection devices, and how many cars you are insuring.
Tags: auto insurance, car insurance, Car Insurance Maryland, Car Insurance Rates, Landover, Largo, Laurel, Maryland