Car Negotiation Coach

You don’t have to wait until your insurance policy expires or you buy a new car to shop around for new auto insurance.   You can switch insurance providers at any time and they are required to refund a prorated amount based on premiums you paid for coverage past your your termination date.

And when you do go shopping for a new car insurance policy, it pays to shop around and negotiate with car insurance companies.   

Negotiating Car Insurance Prices with a Car Insurance Company

 The major reason people overpay for car insurance is their complacency with slow/prolonged “price creep”.

For example, imagine you initially purchased car insurance for your family in 2000 and at the time you were paying $1,000 every six months. Your rates were systematically increased $50 every six months, and that this is something you have long accepted as a matter of course. It’s now 2011 and you’re paying $2,100 every six months.  With inflation you should probably be paying $1,400 instead of $2,100.

This kind of thing happens to people with car insurance prices all the time, and this leads us to the first thing you need to do in order to cut your car insurance bill: take a step back and stop assuming you are currently being charged a fair rate.

Shopping Around for Car Insurance

Before you can negotiate with your current provider, you need to shop around and see what else is out there.  It’s easy to get multiple car insurance quotes online. Get competitive offers from Esurance, Geico, or AllState. When you get quotes, just make sure that you get comparable coverage for each price inquiry, otherwise you won’t be able to fairly compare prices.

Follow-up Calls to Negotiate Car Insurance

Now you have the opportunity to follow-up with a call to try to lower the quoted prices even further. [...]

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The following is a guest post by Elizabeth from CarInsuranceCompanies.com

Do you think of car insurance as a nuisance that drains cash out of your bank account? Are you confused about all the options and fine print? This car insurance guide demystifies auto insurance and helps you save money in the process. Be sure that you not only find the best car price but also find the best price on car insurance!

Top 5 Reasons to Buy Car Insurance

1. Car insurance can pay for repairs and rental expenses if your vehicle is vandalized, stolen, or damaged by fire, flood, animals, hail, wind, or collisions.
2. After an accident, auto insurance can prevent sizable, out-of-pocket medical bills and legal fees.
3. Insurance policies provide peace of mind. They can shield you from the cost of minor and major damages–from lamp posts and mailboxes to buildings and luxury vehicles.
4. Car insurance can provide the same protections to other people who drive your car, sometimes even if they are not specifically listed on the policy.
5. It’s the law! Owning adequate car insurance and meeting financial responsibility laws is a necessity across virtually all 50 states. If your vehicle is being leased or financed, most lenders mandate a certain level of auto insurance.

Understanding Your Policy

The basic components of any car insurance policy are the premiums, deductibles, and coverage limits. [...]

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Everyone has advice these days on lowering your car insurance costs.  Even your mother’s blog has a list of the “10 standard ways to reduce your premiums”.  So let’s break the mold and take a more imaginative look at saving some dough.  

Here are some radical new methods you may not have considered using to lower your premiums and keep them low.

1. Become a full-time blogger.  Work from home and classify your vehicle as “recreational” to reduce your rates.  Even carpooling or telecommuting a couple days each week might warrant a reduction in rates based upon lower annual mileage. 
2. Build a lair and establish a secret identity.  Or just be careful giving out your social security number.  Identity theft will hurt your credit score.  And your credit score not only affects your premiums, but also your financing.
3. Take remedial math.   Students with good grades can qualify for discounts, so why not make it easier on yourself?
4. Wrap your car in bubble paper.  Or just tell your agent about your air-bags, ABS brakes, and other safety devices to get a lower rate.
5. Hire a limo,  take a cab, or invite your wet-blanket colleague out with the boys.  Just make sure that someone sober drives you home and you don’t get a DUI or your rates will skyrocket.     [...]

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It’s tax time again, and while you’re digging through your financials, it’s a great time to check in on your auto financial health. 

Here’s an auto finance self-checkup you need to perform at least once a year. 

Can you lower your car insurance rate? 

• Check with your agent and see if all possible discounts have been applied.  Do you have a home or renter’s insurance policy with the same agency (to qualify for a multi-policy discount)? Have you installed a car alarm or lojack, took a defensive driving class, or has it been three years since your last accident?
• How many miles did you drive this year?  Were you laid off, do you carpool, or work from home and use the car only for “personal use”?  Less miles typically means a lower rate.
• Can you save any money by raising your deductibles or dropping collision on an older car? 
• Have you shopped around for competitive quotes recently?  Insurance.com and Esurance are good for competitive quotes from multiple agencies.
• Are you paying your premium in installments with extra service fees?  If you can swing it, consider paying annually or semi-annually to avoid those fees.

What’s the interest rate on your car loan?

If it’s high, consider refinancing.  Check out rates on a site like up2drive and see if refinancing makes sense. [...]

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