More Savings Please: Car Insurance Discounts To Ask For

One thing about discounts is you don’t have to wait until your car insurance policy is up for renewal to request them. Your agent may not have alerted you to all the discounts for which you and your family may qualify. But you can be your own advocate by shopping around and learning about the different types of discounts available.

There are four general categories of auto insurance discounts: driver status, driver safety, vehicle, and policy:

• Driver Safety Based Auto Insurance Discounts: This will reward a driver for his or her good driving habits. These discounts are very common among insurers.
• Defensive Driving Discount: If you take a defensive driving lesson you can save up to 15% on collision, liability, medical payment coverage, and personal injury. You can get some skills in these classes such as how to better asses the road, weather conditions, crashes, and how to avoid accidents. Some insurers may initially ask you if you took defensive driving lessons, or you can also get a discount in the middle of your policy.
• Good Driver Discounts: If you have been a good driver for a while, it will pay off – whether that means wearing your seat belts, less aggressive breaking, low driving speeds, and so on. This is a discount that should be automatically applied. However, if you didn’t qualify at the time you signed up and you stayed accident-free for the expected time, you may be able to adjust your premium later on.
• Safe Driver Discount: You may get a discount of as much as 10% on your premium as a reward for your conservative driving habits.
• Low Mileage and Usage: Drivers who may not use their vehicle that often, can request a low mileage usage discount. One way to know whether you are in this group, is checking how many miles you drive per year. The average driver drives approximately 12,000 miles a year and some drive less than 7,500 – these will see greater discounts. Some insurers may offer a discount as high as 20%. However, as a requirement for this discount, you may be asked to sign up for the driver monitoring technology.
• Homeowner Car Insurance Discounts: Some car insurance companies will give you a 3% discount if you own a home or bundle, even if your auto insurance wasn’t purchased with them.
• Multi-Car Discounts: You can save with a multi-car policy. Some insurers may even consider unrelated roommates for multi-car discounts.
• Pay-in-Full, Signing Early and Auto-pay: Based on how much in advance you pay for your policy, you may be able to get a 3% to 10% discount taken off your premium. Also, if you pay in full your annual premium, they will give you a discount of about 5% to 10%. Likewise, when you opt for an e-bill, you may qualify for some savings.   
• Anti-Theft Car Insurance Discount: Some car devices and features that help avoid theft or help you recover your vehicle after it was stolen, can help you save 5% to 10% based on where you purchased your policy.

Driver Status Based Auto Insurance Discount

Besides driving habits, these discounts consider drivers based on things such as serving in the military, having a child that’s a good student, personal profile, etc.

• Good Student Discount: Once you turn 25, your auto insurance rates increase. However, drivers that keep a B average, may get discounts as high as 25%. The requirement is being a full-time student and provide proof of scholarship records to your insurer.   
• Away-From-Home Student Discount: This discount type is something you can request when your kid goes to college, for example – that is if your college is more than 100 miles away from home and your child doesn’t have access to a vehicle. You can have premium savings of as much as 25%.
• Professional or Academic Discounts: Insurance companies are affiliated with many organizations that provide their members or employees extra discounts of 2%-10%.
• Senior Driver: Drivers older than 55 may qualify for additional premium reductions of 5%-10%. Some insurance companies may give you an additional discount if you take a Mature Driver Improvement course online.
• Military and Federal Employee: Some companies may honor those who have served the USA military or federal government with discounts of 8% to 15%.

Compare auto insurance quotes here.