Recently, CNBC reviewed a report by The Consumer Federation of America (CFA) which studied the factors that car insurers take into account in determining how much to charge an individual for insurance coverage. You will likely be surprised by the factors that are taken into consideration. The factors are so diverse, and often so seemingly unrelated to safe driving, that CNBC had this to say, “A new study shows auto insurers frequently charge good drivers higher premiums than those who recently caused an accident. And it appears from this research that the safe drivers who pay more are often lower income.” Since we at Women Drivers advocate that you take time each year and with each change of circumstances to review your car insurance policy and update it if appropriate, you will want to take these new findings into consideration when doing your research.
Let’s start with the basics:
When your circumstances change, you might need more or less coverage.
1) Are you now driving a shorter or longer distance to work than you did when your current policy was written? Or, do you drive your car strictly for personal use now when you were working in the past?
2) Are there fewer people in your household now so fewer drivers? For example, has a teenager gone away to college?
3) Have you gotten a divorce? You might lose the benefit of having multiple car insurance policies with one company but pick up benefits because your driving record is clean while your spouse’s is not.
4) Another factor is the age of your car so if you now have the older car and he has the newer one, your rate could go down accordingly.
5) Do you have passengers in your car who you want to protect or do you generally drive alone?
6) Do you still live in the same place or have you moved to an area with heavier and more difficult driving conditions, heavier traffic or increase crime rates?
7) Have you upgraded your car’s safety by adding equipment such as LED lights?
