How Do I Get A Student Car Insurance Discount?
Reader question:
I’m getting student car insurance for the first time. How do I do this?
Mandy
Great question.
Stepping into the car insurance market can be a disorienting thing when you are a student who has possibly just gotten her first car. In fact, it might not be the first thing that you are thinking about when you embark on your journey to college and the rest of your life, because so many people do not put the priority on car insurance that it requires.This general lack of attention is one of the primary causes to the fact that the majority of policy holders driving in this country are paying more for their car insurance policy than they actually need to. When you’re a student and are paying higher prices than most anyway, shopping around for a good car insurance company becomes extremely important.
Most of the time, when you are just getting into car insurance for your first time, you might not be clear on the details. Do I even need it, you might ask. And why? There’s a good reason why. In every state there is some kind of law regulating posession of car insurance, and if you go driving without car insurance coverage, then you are going to end up with serious fines and possibly the loss of your license–and once you shape up and get that insurance, after you’ve made your mistake you might be paying higher rates than before.
There is another good reason to get the state’s minimum car insurance coverage. The fact is that if you cause an accident, you are responsible for the damages to the other car. If you don’t have car insurance, then the only person the other driver has to come to for their repairs is you, and you could end up with a big law suit on your hand. Even the most expensive car insurance premium is cheaper than thousands and thousands of dollars in legal fees.
One thing that most who are under the age of twenty five know when they are going into the student car insurance market is that they will e paying high prices. This takes their guard down. The truth is, you can get a good price even at twenty. How?
- Shop. The first thing you need to do when looking for car insurance coverage is get online and find a site that offers free online auto insurance quotes from several companies. Then, take your best quotes and look up the websites for their companies to find out which one you like best.
- Be informed. Figure out before you send over the money what kind of coverage you need. Get to know what your state minimum is. As for the other ones, do you have health insurance? If not, get personal injury protection. Is your car pretty old and junky? Then you probably don’t need comprehensive or collision.
- Inform your car insurance agent that you are looking at several other companies. This makes them more competitive in giving you a good price.
- Discounts are one of the best ways to get a low car insurance rate. Since you’re a student, you might do well to get the good student discount which rewards a B average or better. If you are studying something like mathematics, some companies give discounts for that, too.
- Make your deductible as high a you can afford. That will keep your premiums extra low, and if you drive safe, then you might not ever need to pay it.
- Always stay aware of what’s going on. If something is seriously wrong with the company, then you might need to file a complaint.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
What is The Most Common Auto Insurance Fraud?
Fraud is something that plagues all types of business, and car insurance is no exception. In fact, auto insurance fraud is rising, especially in no fault states where, while the premiums are lower, it is much easier to cheat the system. 
In no fault states, billions of dollars are lost every year into fraud, and it comes in many ways, shapes, and forms. So why should you care? Well, fraud is one of the largest factors into the rise of auto insurance premium rates everywhere, and while sometimes it is out of your control, there are several things that you can do to prevent it.
I know what you’re thinking. Tell me everything! Patience, now. Fraud is a difficult subject, and it is one that you have to be very sensitive to when you want to stay above the water in car insurance. You might think that it doesn’t affect you directly, but some kinds of fraud can end up with you implicated as an accomplice to the crime, even if you never had a hand in any of it. Even if you do end up being proved innocent, the court costs are phenomenal, and it’s just another good reason to keep aware of fraud.
So how can you protect yourself from fraud? The first step is to
DOCUMENT EVERYTHING.
This will help you if you are involved in repair shop fraud, for one. The way that this kind of fraud happens is when repair shops report the details of what about your car needs to be fixed incorrectly, so that they end up being paid more for repairs that they didn’t do or being paid too much for repairs that they did do. Documenting isn’t the only way to stay on top of this. You should shop around for a repair shop if given the option, and thoroughly discuss the problems with your vehicle with the repair shop so that it is clear what is getting fixed, why, and what is being charged from the beginning.
Another example of fraud where documentation comes in hand is when someone else instigates an accident with you on purpose. Keep track of their story at the time of the accident, in case it changes later. Take pictures of the vehicles, so that they can’t claim bogus repairs. Make sure you get a police report. Or avoid it all by practicing defensive driving.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
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