5 tips to pay less for car insurance without sacrificing your safety.
Money Girl
308 MG 5 Ways to Save Money on Car Insurance
In Colorado, our freedoms are everything. Gabe Evans would rip them away. Just like Lauren Boebert, he'd ban abortion without exceptions for rape or incest, and overturn the right to marry for same-sex couples. Don't let him take our freedoms. Paid for by DCCC, www.dccc.org, not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Hey, Fidelity. How can I remember to invest every month? With the Fidelity app, you can choose a schedule and set up recurring investments in stocks and ETFs. Oh, that sounds easier than I thought. You got this. Yeah, I do. Now, where did I put my keys? You will find them, where you left them. Investing involves risk, including risk of loss. Fidelity brokerage services LLC member NYSE SIPC. LORA ATOMS Hi, everyone. I'm Laura Adams, and you're listening to The Money Girl Podcast. If you drive a car, you already know that most dates require you to have some amount of auto insurance. But what if you're trying to cut your expenses? Well, you'll be glad to know that it's easy to reduce the cost of car insurance and still comply with the law. In this episode, you'll learn five of the best ways to save money on auto insurance, while keeping the coverage you need to stay safe and protect your finances. OK, let's dig into auto insurance. Before I tell you how to save money, it's really important to understand what's covered by a basic auto insurance policy. Car insurance is actually a package of six different types of coverage that are each price separately. The first is collision. This pays to repair your vehicle when you have an accident with another car, even if the crash is your fault. The second is comprehensive. This pays to repair your vehicle or reimburse loss that occurs due to something other than a collision, like fire, hail, flood, vandalism, or hitting an animal. Number three, property damage. This coverage pays for damage you cause to someone else's car or property, such as a mailbox, fence, or building. The fourth is bodily injury liability. This pays for injuries that you cause to someone else. The fifth is medical payments or what's known as personal injury protection or PIP. This coverage pays for any injuries that you or the passengers of your vehicle have due to an accident. It can cover a variety of expenses like medical treatment, loss wages, and funeral expenses. And six is uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage. This pays when you're in an accident with a driver who doesn't have auto insurance. It also covers you when the driver has it, but not enough to cover your loss. It also protects you from a hit and run. Now that you know the specific coverages that auto insurance gives you, you can figure out what you really need to pay for. So tip number one is assess your insurance needs. Let's say you buy a beautiful brand new BMW. On your way to work, you get caught in a terrible thunderstorm. All of a sudden, hail the size of a golf ball starts bouncing off your car and leaves hundreds of dents from bumper to bumper. If you don't have enough savings to repair that kind of damage, then you definitely need comprehensive coverage. What if you get into an accident? Well, if you couldn't afford to replace your car if it were totaled, then you need collision coverage. But if you have an older car that's paid for, consider dropping collision and comprehensive. A good rule of thumb is not to buy those coverages unless the annual premium is 10% or less of your car's blue book value. Otherwise, you'll pay more in premiums than you could ever collect in benefits. However, don't even consider dropping liability and injury coverages, because if you're in a serious car accident, you could be sued for a huge amount of money. Most states have minimum requirements for how much liability coverage you must have, but it's possible that you may actually need more. For instance, if you live in Florida, your insurance must pay up to $10,000 to cover medical costs for each individual injured or up to $20,000 per accident. You also have to have $10,000 for property damage liability and $10,000 for personal injury protection per person. As you can imagine, these are very low limits that are likely to protect your assets, like real estate, savings and investments, if you're found at fault in a lawsuit. So, take my advice and never scrimp on liability coverage, because that's where insurance really gives you a strong financial safety net. September is a great month for planning. We start thinking about the rest of the year, whether it's back to school, big year-end work projects, holiday plans or travel. Planning ahead is crucial in life, especially when it comes to what happens when you're gone. Getting life insurance may sound daunting, but policy genius makes the process a breeze. With policy genius, you can find insurance policies that start at just $292 a year for a million dollars of coverage. Some options offer same-day approval and avoid unnecessary medical exams. Policy geniuses technology let you compare quotes from America's top insurers in just a few clicks to find your lowest price. It's the country's leading online insurance marketplace. And if you ever need help or guidance, they have an expert license support team to answer your questions, handle all the paperwork and advocate for you throughout the process. It's never too late to plan ahead. Go to policygenius.com or click the link in the description to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you can save. That's policygenius.com. I love learning and anything that makes learning easier. If you're a parent and your child needs some homework help, then Ixcel is a right for your family. Ixcel is an online learning program for kids covering math, language arts, science and social studies. Ixcel has interactive practice problems for topics from pre-K to 12th grade, and everything is organized by grade and subject. As kids practice, they get positive feedback, awards and explanations for wrong answers. Ixcel figures out what your kids need more help with and recommends more topics to practice. Their videos, lessons, sample problems and learning games too. One subscription to Ixcel gets you all subjects and all grade levels. Membership started just $9.95 a month. It's no wonder Ixcel is used in 95 of the top 100 school districts. I think the positive feedback that Ixcel gives is really crucial when it comes to learning. So make an impact on your child's learning, get Ixcel now, and money girl listeners can get an exclusive 20% off Ixcel membership when they sign up today at ixcel.com/moneygirl. Visit ixcel.com/moneygirl to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price. If the new chicken Big Mac at McDonald's looks like a Big Mac, has sweet buns and sauce like a Big Mac, but has two chicken patties, then it's not not a Big Mac. I participate in McDonald's for a limited time. Tip number two, maintain good credit and a clean driving record. You might be surprised to know that your credit plays a big factor in the rates you're quoted for car insurance. Insurers use credit scores as a tool to help gauge how risky a customer might be. So that's just one more reason to maintain good credit scores by paying your bills on time and managing credit accounts responsibly. Another factor car insurers use to gauge risk and set premiums is your driving record. Having multiple moving violations and accidents on your motor vehicle record generally will cause you to pay higher insurance premiums. Tip number three, raise your deductible. A deductible is the amount of money you must pay before insurance benefits begin. For auto insurance, you typically can choose a deductible such as 200, 500, or a thousand dollars. The higher your deductible, the lower your premium will be. But the trade-off with a higher deductible is that if you have a car accident, you'll have to pay more of the repair cost out of your own pocket. So never raise your deductible unless you're confident that you'd have enough cash to cover it if you ever needed to make a claim. Tip number four, ask about discounts. Insurance companies offer a variety of discounts, but they don't always advertise them. So speak up and ask how you might qualify for a lower premium. For instance, you typically get a significant discount for purchasing multiple policies with the same insurer, such as your auto and renter's insurance, or having more than one car insured. You'll also get discounts for driving a car with safety features, like anti-lock brakes or airbags, having a good driving history with few or no accidents, being a student with a high grade point average, working in certain occupations, like medicine, education, or engineering, completing a defensive driving course, or even serving in the military. Tip number five, shop on a regular basis. It's important to shop most types of insurance policies on a regular basis, like once a year. So if you've never shopped your auto insurance, or it's been a while, don't put it off any longer because you're probably leaving money on the table. After comparing quotes, you may find that your current insurance provider is giving you a great deal, but you won't know until you shop at least several different companies. The easiest way to shop is online using a free site like insurancequotes.com or carinsurancequotes.com. They allow you to get multiple quotes at once from the nation's top insurance providers, and that saves a lot of time and hassle. Shopping for car insurance probably isn't something you look forward to doing each year, but since it helps many people cut their expenses, I promise that comparing auto quotes is well worth the effort. To get more money tips and advice, check out the MoneyGirl Facebook page or follow me on Twitter. Be sure to sign up for the free MoneyGirl newsletter for extra content that you won't find on the podcast. There are links to everything I've mentioned on the MoneyGirl page at quickanddirtytips.com. You can even read a transcript of this show, which is episode number 308, called "Five Ways to Save Money on Car Insurance." I'm really glad you're listening. That's all for now. Courtesy of MoneyGirl, your guide to a richer life. If the new Chicken Big Mac at McDonald's looks like a Big Mac, has sweet buns and sauce like a Big Mac, but has two chicken patties, then it's not not a Big Mac. I participate in McDonald's for a limited time. At Capella University, learning the right skills could make a difference. That's why our business programs teach you relevant skills you can take from the course room to the workplace. A different future is closer than you think, with Capella University. Learn more at Capella.edu. [BLANK_AUDIO]