Many car insurance companies offer a great discount on auto insurance policies for the safety features found in most new cars. If you’re looking for a new car, you may want to consider a few of these things as you shop. Typically, the newer the car, the better off you will be- as long as it is a low profile car. Cars less than 3 years old usually receive a discount, in addition to vehicles that have low theft statistics. As well, autos with anti-lock breaks, anti-theft measures, and airbags usually bring a decent discount as does adding your new vehicle to your existing policy. This is usually known as a loyalty discount.

If you’ve already got a policy, or even if you are shopping around for a new one, have a look and see if you cannot change the following to lower your rates:

o try reducing your payment limits on liability coverage (for example: lower property damage liability from $100,000 to $50,000)

o raising your deductible on collision coverage (such as $500 to $1000)

o reduce your payment limits on personal injury protection if you only occasionally use the car and the driver already has health insurance coverage

o don’t get the towing and labor coverage

o You may also raise your deductible on comprehensive coverage if the driver lives in an area where there isn’t all that much crime and risk to the vehicle itself.

o if you don’t often use rentals, you may want to decline the rental reimbursement.

o for cars older than 10 years, drop collision insurance

o if you already have roadside assistance, again, you can probably do away with rental coverage

o lower payment limits for under insured or uninsured motorist bodily injury policies

o decline medical payments coverage if already have personal health insurance and personal injury protection (and if you aren’t in one of the states that require PIP)

o combine your auto insurance with your homeowners insurance

Consider developing smarter driving habits so that you are not filing claims as often, if you already have an issue with a bad driving record. Being able to seek out policies with accident forgiveness clauses may be beneficial for those with less than cautious driving habits, but breaking those in the first place is probably one of the best ways to make sure that you not only get low rates, but that they stay low. All too often, just embracing a few good driving habits can have a tremendous impact on the rates that you are not only offered, but the rates you end up paying.

Auto insurance policies may seem complicated and hard to decipher, but if you know which areas you can change so that you can lower your rates, it can help. Being aware of the coverage you need and being able to drop the coverage you don’t, is one of the better ways of making sure that you are not paying too much for your auto insurance.