Car insurance is a very expensive outgoing for most drivers. In many cases it can be as expensive as the car, because certain categories of people are considered high risk, regardless of how competent or safe a driver they are. Age and gender have an unavoidable effect on your car insurance premiums: Young males are more likely to have an accident than older women, so their insurance is more expensive, naturally. There are, however, tricks you can use to reduce the cost of your insurance.

Shop Around

No matter how ‘high risk’ you are, there are ways to reduce the premium that you have to pay. Looking at comparisons between policy offerings will give you a good idea of how you can save money to start with. There are huge discrepancies between companies, in terms of the cost of insurance in different areas and for different people. Shopping around is one of the best ways to save on your insurance.

The Right Job Title

Sadly, there is a huge amount of discrimination in the area of auto insurance. Many insurers will jump to conclusions about you based upon your occupation. These assumptions tend to include anything which is stereotypically true of an occupation. For example, journalists are considered higher risk because it is thought that they use cars in high-pressure situations and are more likely to be carrying an important passenger. None of these assumptions are necessarily true, and yet the insurance premiums for journalists are higher than average. Other groups that experience higher premiums are students, builders, and delivery people. The best way to avoid these rises in cost is to experiment with your job title. For example, a ‘journalist’ is also a ‘writer’ and this simple change can chop hundreds of dollars off your car insurance quote. Last year, for example, I could have been considered a student, a manager, or a trustee in terms of occupation. All of these titles remained true but the variation of insurance costs between student and trustee was over $500 without anything else being changed. This saving made a huge impact – just make sure that the information on your form is true. Builders can try ‘brick-layer’ or ‘plasterer’ to see similar reductions.
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