The cost of motoring just gets more expensive each year and many of us have to juggle the finances in order to keep our car on the road.
There is not much you can do about the cost of fuel to run your car, other than try and use it a bit less, but when it comes to insurance rates, there are some ways that you can keep the costs in check.
If you don’t Ask you don’t Get
Remember that you are the customer and when you are looking to renew your auto insurance, don’t just take the first quote you get from your existing insurer. Ask them whether the quote they have sent you is their best deal and tell them that you are going to shop around for a better deal, to see if you can squeeze a lower rate out of them.
Claim all your Discounts
Insurance companies love people who just auto-renew their car insurance out of loyalty or maybe just plain laziness, whatever the reason you are almost certainly going to end up paying a higher rate than you need to as a reward for your unquestioning loyalty.
Carry out your threat to shop around and check out sites like http://www.kanetix.ca/toronto-car-insurance-on to see how much you can get a deal for and make sure that you claim all the discounts you are entitled to, such as paying less for keeping your licence clean and not making a claim in the last year or more.
If you are a senior or at the other end of the scale, a relatively young or inexperienced driver then enquire whether you might get an extra discount for going on a recognized advanced driving skills program.
Raising your Deductible
One of the simplest ways of reducing your car insurance cost is to increase your deductible. There is an element of financial risk in doing this though, as the amount of money you will have to find in the event of a claim will be higher and you would have to be sure that you could meet the cost at short notice.
You can decide how prudent raising your deductible is by taking a look at your driving record and see how many claims you have had in the past and also by checking your bank balance and seeing if the gamble could backfire and leave you unable to afford the cost of repairs out of your own pocket.
Other ways to Reduce your Rates
You can get some good information and statistics about accident rates and also incentives being offered to responsible drivers from the Insurance-Canada website and there you will see for instance that a quarterly review of rates carried out by Kanetix relating to Ontario, Quebec and Alberta actually showed a reduction in rates had been achieved as a result of incentives introduced.
Motorists were able to claim a discount for having winter tires fitted and they could also get a reduction for being a member of a roadside assistance program.
There are plenty of ways to tackle the spiraling cost of insurance and if you want to keep your finances under greater control then you should explore as many of them as possible.
Donald Ayers is an insurance consultant. He enjoys passing on his insights through blogging. His articles mainly appear on personal finance blogs.