6 Proven Ways to Pay Less for Car Insurance

Consider giving up smoking. “Most car insurance companies don’t ask if you’re a smoker or not,” says Penny Gusner, consumer analyst at CarInsurance.com. Still, there are exceptions. A few car insurance companies may inquire about your smoking habit and charge you higher rates if you say yes. This has everything to do with their internal claims data. “It’s likely these companies have data that shows smokers are more likely to be in accidents,” Gusner says. If you’re a smoker and aren’t ready to quit, ask your insurer if your habit factors into your rates. If it does, consider shopping elsewhere.

Change your deductibles. A deductible is the amount you pay for a repair before insurance coverage kicks in. Often, people buy insurance with a deductible of $500. But if you can afford it — or truly believe in your ability to avoid causing an accident — consider raising your deductible to $1,000 or higher. “You can save up to about 30 percent off your monthly premiums by hiking your deductible,” Megna says. 

Lower coverage for older cars. “Don’t buy comprehensive and collision insurance if you have a car that’s more than 10 years old and worth less than $3,000,” Gusner says. State laws generally mandate only that you buy insurance that covers damage to others — liability insurance. Comprehensive and collision coverage for your own car is optional (unless the car is still financed; most finance companies require these coverages). Why pay hundreds of dollars a year for coverage that at most will pay out the full value of a car worth just a few thousand dollars?

Automatic Braking System

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Safety Features May Not Equal Discounts

You would think that insurers would offer discounts if you have driver-assistive features such as blind-spot warning systems, which are increasingly common on new cars. But most haven’t been on the market long enough to generate meaningful statistics. So many insurance companies don’t offer discounts for high-tech features. In fact, insurers may charge you higher rates if your car is loaded with them. The reason: “These items can be expensive to replace and repair,” says CarInsurance.com's Megna says.

This should change as data starts to roll in regarding the actual value of these safety features. And a handful of insurers have begun offering discounts for certain ones, such as a lane-departure warning system, a collision-preparation system  and  adaptive cruise control. Ask your insurer if you might qualify for lower rates. But don’t let insurer ambivalence keep you from buying a car with driver-assistive features. “Paying a little more to have a blind-spot detection system, for example, may keep you from having an accident,” Megna says.

Warren Clarke has been writing about autos for 17 years, many of them as  content  editor for Edmunds.com