Authored by Heaven Stubblefield in Insurance 
Published on 12-08-2009

Depending on what kind of car you’ve purchased, whether it’s new or used, it’s important that you shop around for the lowest rate for the particular type of car that you have.

If you happen to owe more on your car than it’s actual worth in the Blue Book, you might want to consider looking into what they call “gap insurance”. Whatever you do though, don’t even consider getting this type of insurance from a dealer because they will charge you $500 to $700 and you can get it online for half that amount.

You should always have a copy of your driving record on hand before you even go visit an insurance company. The reason for this is; quite often there will be errors on your records that you should be aware of so that these can be corrected before trying to get your insurance. That’s because anything that’s on your driving record that has not been corrected will cause any insurance company to raise the rates.

Try looking for insurance online. There are a lot of good sites out there that will do the comparison shopping for you and be able to sometimes find a lot better deals than you can on your own. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and make sure that you are allowed to review anything they might have to say in “small print” or disclaimers that they might have.

Be wary of insurance rip offs. Don’t fall for those cheapie insurance agencies with the stupid commercials you might see on TV or hear on the radio claiming they have the lowest prices in town. A month after you sign up, you might end up with a letter saying that your policy is $200 higher now because of a “Company Rate Error”. This is what is known in the insurance industry as “Low Balling”. It happens all the time to unsuspecting clients.

Make sure that you do your research on insurance lingo before you sign any contract with an insurance company. They have their own language and it’s not meant for you to understand. However, with a little Internet research you should be able to hold your own when dealing with an insurance agent.

Make sure that the insurance company you are checking out offers any discounts for any of these things:

• Air bags
• Anti theft alarm
• Driving School
• Safe driver
• Multi-car or Home-car
• Safe vehicle

Make sure that you are familiar with the different types of coverage and know before hand exactly which coverage you want to carry on your car. Don’t let yourself be conned into anything you don’t want or need by an overzealous insurance agent who is looking to make a little extra commission.

Always make sure to ask a company what their rating is and demand that you see what it’s for in writing to back it up. Try to only purchase insurance from carriers with “A” ratings. You could also go with “B” ratings, but you should not go any lower than that. One final little tip: avoid the sleazy insurance offices that attempt to make it look like they’re “The Tag Agency”. They care more about getting your money under the pretense of handling the paperwork for your license than trying to get you a deal on your insurance.