Perfect 7: Car Insurance Money Saving Secrets

Are you ready to learn how to use these 7 perfect insurance money saving secrets for yourself?

We all have felt the sting of car insurance prices, especially in Michigan. Additionally, we all probably wonder why the heck is the car insurance so darn expensive?

Well I cannot tell you specifically why it is so expensive, but the rumor is that it includes additional medical insurance. Nonetheless, I will share some money saving secrets that have helped me when it comes to insurance.

You are very blessed if you have never experienced a car accident. Car insurance is so expensive in Michigan, that I check the price of the car insurance before I look for a new car.

Nonetheless, this review covers 7 basic car insurance money saving secrets that I use and are easy for you to use.

Table of Content

Use multi-coverage money savers on car and house insurance
Use the numerous car insurance discounts offers
Compare annual car insurance rates and ask questions
Pay the full bill all at one time
Figure your students into your car insurance discount decisions
Get to know your car insurance sales person
Use your occupation and age discounts

Affiliate Marketing Disclaimer: This article contains Amazon affiliate links, thank you for helping me out. Financial Disclaimer: This article contains strategies that I use personally, but should not be taken as a prescribed method of use for you.

1. Use multi-coverage money savers on car and house insurance

Almost every, if not every insurance company in Michigan gives a multiple coverage discount on home and auto. If you own your own home, you can save hundreds each year by adding your auto to your home insurance. Likewise, you can save hundreds on your home insurance. When you add the oldest vehicle you own to your house insurance you should get a big discount.

I used to ask how this worked, but insurance sales people would never explain it because they make some kind of commission from the sales. However, I do not make any commission, so I will share what I have learned with using a multi-coverage discount. I added the oldest vehicle I have to my home owners insurance as a vehicle in storage.

That’s right, when you place the vehicle in storage, it cost less than $100. per year on old vehicles. Once I placed the old vehicle on my home insurance, the price of my home insurance dropped over $600. per year. You may ask how does that save on car insurance?

Well, I also placed that same old vehicle that is in storage, on my auto insurance. After that my car insurance showed three vehicles instead of two, and the cost of the auto insurance dropped. Then I used the money I saved on my home insurance to pay for the storage on the car insurance.

This is a car insurance money saving tip that really works if you take the time to study it out with your policy. I only recommend this type of saving in Michigan because I know it works.

2. Use the numerous car insurance discount Offers

I believe car insurance companies like to offer discounts to “woo” people into their company. I have seen discounts offered for the following reasons.

credit union membership
paperless statements
accident free / good driver
credit score rating
miles driven for work
multi-coverage home and auto
multi-coverage, home, auto and life
reduced medical insurance (PIP coverage)
raising your deductible

Likewise, reviewing your coverage each year and talking to your insurance sales person could help you find the best price or a least a discount. Also, in addition to discounts, a premium coverage review is another good way to save money on car insurance.

3. compare annual car insurance rates and ask questions

Annual car insurance comparisons is another one of my senior sense make cents for saving money strategies. Every 6-months, I check the new costs to the prior year costs for my cars when we get the bill for the new policy.

Since my policy also shows a credit rating, I check the rate and ask why the insurance was lower or higher if there is a price change. I also ask why the costs increase for certain areas. Usually, they tell me that the cost of repairs have increased, so the insurance cost increased.

4. pay the full bill at one Time

Back in the 90s it cost $3.50 for handling charges for car insurance. Now, car insurance companies charge the $3.50, but they charge it as a monthly fee. They also added a statement fee of $1.50 to go along with the handling fee.

These two fees alone are an additional $5.00 per month which adds up to $60.00 per year. The additional $60. is bad enough, but now many insurance companies charge an additional $80.00 each 6-months for monthly installments.

So how do I save money on this? I pay the full bill at once, but I also pull in my credit card to get the rewards, and to get some additional cash. I pay off the bills within 7-days, so that there is no interest paid on the charge. Then when I get the cash back reward it includes interest from them (the credit card company) and not from me.

If you are not sure how to make a profit using credit card cash back rewards, I have a strategy that may be of interest. You can investigate how to I make a profit on cash back rewards in my article on how to make credit card profits in 2021.

5. figure your kids into your Car Insurance discount decisions

My daughter is no long on my car insurance so I get a big discount for her moving to her own insurance. However, trying to save money on car insurance with a teen or college student in the house seems almost impossible.

it is very important that you do not depend on drivers education to teach them much more than how to drive down the street and park the car. I recommend that you spend a lot of time teaching your young driver the rules of life as a driver.

My daughter made numerous mistakes simply because she was an inexperienced driver. In Michigan, teach them how to handle icy roads, how to drive through a construction zone and to never backup to be able to pull into a gas station. Likewise, teach them to never try driving through a flood, or over broken glass.

Also, as a young woman, I had to teach her how to increase the life of her car. She needed to learn how to check the oil, and other fluids in the car and the importance of keeping road service. I recommend AAA road service because it is widely known and does not have to be connected to AAA insurance. Most importantly, make sure that your daughter has the hands-on experience needed to protect herself from road side danger.

As parents or grandparents, we often want the best for our kids. Also, girls are different from boys when it comes to cars. I highly recommend giving your daughter an older model car for her first car, but not so old that you are constantly paying for repairs.

Also make sure you have the “you better not get a bunch of speeding tickets” talk with your young driver. Tickets quickly increase the cost of car insurance.

6. get to know your insurance sales person

My husband and I have been with the same car insurance company since the early 80s. But, it wasn’t until the late 90s that we began to reap the benefits of knowing our car insurance sales person.

One of our best benefits occurs when we go to review the car insurance costs and she offers additional discounts that have recently come into affect. We also like the fact that it feels like she is working for us instead of against us when it comes to car insurance saving secrets.

7. use your occupation and your age discounts

Some car insurance companies offer great discounts to the following individuals because of age or occupation or both.

teacher educators
emergency responders
police officers and fire fighters
military or federal government employee
senior or mature driver
early signing bonus

If you are like me, the senior or mature driver discount is a plus. I have never been asked to take a defensive driving course, however, I would if necessary. Should you desire to take one of their classes, this link goes directly to the National Safety Council website.

In addition to the senior discount, I have noticed that when I have our insurance agent renew our car insurance policy 5 to 7 days before the required renewal date we receive a discount on the entire car insurance policy for that 6-month period.

I have read that the discounts range from 3% to 10% all of which is good for me. There may be other requirements for the senior discount, but I have never been asked to take the senior safe driving course to get this discount.

When seeking or using discounts, remember that asking never hurts anything. Also, two heads are better than one. There maybe something that you qualify for but your agent does not know that information. So be sure to talk it up when you meet.

Conclusion

We start by asking if you are ready to use these 7 perfect car insurance money saving secrets. Then we state that multi-coverage auto and home insurance saves hundreds of dollars. Next we explain the numerous car insurance discounts offered to customers. We also discuss the importance of the annual rate review and how much money you can save by paying the bill in full.

After that we discussed the importance of getting to know your car insurance agent so that they feel obligated to find and share money saving secrets for you. Finally, use your occupation and age to get additional discounts whenever possible.

Resources

Car insurance discounts https://www.valuepenguin.com/car-insurance-discounts

How to save money on teen car insurance https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/save-money-teen-car-insurance

11 Quick ways to save money on car insurance https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertberger/2017/12/10/11-quick-ways-to-save-money-on-car-insurance/?sh=19f9c13a4a885