Auto Insurance: Information to Exchange with Other Driver

Once you call the police to the scene of the accident, you would need to get insurance information of the other driver. It is professionally advised by insurance experts not to get into any argument with the other driver. The insurance information you would need to collect include all of these highlighted in this post and any other you could think of.

Name and contact Information

If you are meeting someone for the first time, you would ask for their name. Well the same applies in this situation. You should not just settle for a first name. Get the full name of the driver and the contact information. By contact information, we mean a reachable cell number, home and office addresses, if possible.

Insurance Company Information

You should ask for the name of his insurance company and their policy number. This would help with easy identification of the insurer. When your insurer contacts their insurer, it would be easy to identify the driver.

License and Plate Number

The next information to take down is the driver’s license number. You would have to politely request this from the driver. The plate number is easy to take down. Ensure you write it down in a place you can easily access it.

Vehicle Information

There are three main things to look out for here - the type of car, the color, and the model of the car. Every other thing to know about the car will fall into place once these and the plate number is known.

Location

Obviously you would need to tell the exact location of the accident to your insurer. The company may send an adjuster to the location to review and inspect the level of damage.

Getting the Best Deal Out of Your Car Insurance

Over the years, auto insurance premiums have slowly by steadily soared from what they use to be. Yet as the premium rates rise, there are always ways to get the best deal from your insurance. The topic on its own cannot be exhausted in a single post. We will just take a look at some tips to lower your premium rates.

Park Your Car in a Safe Place

One of the things you would expect your auto insurance to cover is damages or loss caused by theft or any other related activities.  The idea with lowering premiums is to reduce the risk associated with your car. You can reduce this risk by parking your car(s) in a secured garage or driveway.

Install a Car Alarm

A car alarm on its own does not have the capabilities to prevent theft but it can fend it off. Modern cars come fitted with a car alarm with gets triggered whenever there is an unauthorized entry or an attempted entry. You have to ensure you have a car alarm that is approved by your insurer.

Drive a Less Expensive Car

If you have a thing for cars, this may not go down well with you. For insurers, the less expensive a vehicle is, the less risk it has. This is because it costs more to repair or replace an expensive car than it is to repair or replace a less expensive car.

2 Saving Tips: Car Insurance

For most people, their car(s) will be the second most expensive investment they will make. The last thing anyone would want is to have an accident. If there is one thing driving has taught us, it has to be the fact that accident can occur any day. So no doubt, auto insurance policy is a must-have for everyone.

Evaluate Your Insurance Needs

There are several things to add to your coverage. If you are not careful, you will end up including coverage you don’t necessarily need. The limits for auto insurance vary from one state, country, and insurer. It is best you get a good understanding of what your insurer is offering and only select the types you know is suitable for your car(s).

Keep Your Records Clean

This may not seem like it but your credit card record can affect your rates. Insurers use it to determine how much of a risk a client is. If you have a bad credit card record, don’t be surprised if it is reflected as high rate premium. The same can be said of driving records. If you have a bad driving record, insurers consider you as a high risk client too. For this reason they will rate you in the category of high premium.

Additional Tips to Buying Auto Insurance Policy

Since you have decided to buy an auto insurance policy, it is best you get it right without having to live with regrets. Here are some other tips you should also take to heart as you shop around for a good auto insurance policy.

Look at Your Driving Record

Your driving record plays a very important role in determining your premium. If you have not have any bad record in the past, you may not need to worry much about this. Things like speeding tickets are enough to affect your policy. If you have bad points on your record that may soon disappear, it is best you wait it out before buying your auto insurance policy.

Gather Information about the Company

When looking to gather information, the two aspects you should focus your attention on are coverage and price. You should know the monthly and annual rates for the available policies. Next thing should be the payment policy of the companies. Usually different companies offer different payment plans. You shouldn’t assume one payment plan is the same for all. You should also avail yourself with the telephone numbers of the companies.

Call the Companies

Although internet based research is commendable, you still won’t be able to get all of the information for each company. With the telephones number you have gathered, contact each and every one of the companies to ask them more personal questions. If you are not ok with the information received, you can schedule a face-to-face appointment with a professional in the company.

Tips to Having Cheaper Auto Insurance

These are necessary tips all car owners looking to buy insurance should know. We asked some auto insurance experts at Greater National Group and they revealed some of these tips.

Drive "Low Risk" Cars

If you are driving an old car, the premium rates for such a car will be determined largely by the past claims history of the vehicle. With such information, the insurer is able to ascertain the risk level of the car being stolen or involved in an accident. The more expensive a car is, especially for new cars, the higher the premium on it.

Do Your Research on Premium Prices

The standard for coverage on auto insurance may be the same in your city, state, or even country. This doesn't apply for premiums as they are uniquely fixed by the insurer. It's best you do a detailed research on premium pricing for different insurers to ensure you are getting the best base price.

Multi-Vehicle Discount

If you own more than one car, ensure you insure all of them on one policy. Many insurers offer discounts for such arrangements. They also do this if you insure both your home and car with the same company. This is sometimes known as a "multi-line discount". These discounts go a long way in helping you save money.

Increase Deductibles

The basic idea for buying insurance is to take care of damages or loss you cannot afford. So instead of relying on insurance for everything, increase your deductible to like $1000. This means you would take care of any damage below this amount; the higher your deductible, the lower your premium rate.