Top 10 Ways To Lower Your Car Insurance Bill

Edmunds.com

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ruffled

State Farm changed my Automobile Premium Tier. When I called my local State Farm agent, the agent stated, "State Farm Agents don't know the criteria used to figure Premium Tiers". I was referred to the main Ballston Spa, State Farm office that issues my policy. I was told that it is a "secret formula" and they will not release the information.

I don't know what criteria of mine had changed. I don't know if State Farm received erroneous information, nor can I correct erroneous information if I'm not privy to the rating information. Where are the checks and balances of the Insurance Industry? There needs to be full disclosure of the criteria other than age, gender, driving record, home address and year and model of car.

krisdunn5307

The kind of car you buy has pretty much ZERO bearing on your premium (maybe just a couple bucks one way or the other) compared to your age, your driving record, where you live, and the age of other licensed drivers is your household. If you're under 30, over 75, or have kids in the house you're going to pay more.

One way to significantly reduce your premiums are to have a good driving record, or kick your kids out of the house as quick as possible.

A second way to save is to compare rates from different auto insurance providers. You're not gonna get cheap insurance unless you get rates from the right places. I'm paying $25/month for auto insurance [non-permissible content removed] and I know people who are paying even less than that. So, you gotta shop around!

Finally, the biggest impact on your insurance premium is your "insurance score discount". Starting in about 2005 ALL personal insurance companies adopted the practice of applying discounts to your policy based on your credit. Have bad credit? Then it is in your best interest to fix it because your auto/home/renters etc rate is probably 40% to 50% more than a person with good credit.