How to Cut Car Insurance Costs: Tricks for Everyone

Today’s new luxury cars come equipped with a growing menu of high-tech driving-assistance options. Safety features like blind-spot collision-avoidance warnings can lower your chances of getting in an auto accident — while also reducing your car insurance rates.

In fact, a new Business Insider article just found that auto insurance companies are offering up to 10% discounts if your vehicle is equipped with an advanced driver-assistance system, or ADAS.

Ah, but what if you can’t afford a new luxury car? What then?

You’ll just have to lower your auto insurance premiums the old-fashioned ways. Here are three strategies:

1. Shop Around

You need to get quotes from a few different places to make sure you’re getting the best deal. So how do you know which companies to get quotes from? We suggest letting someone else do all the hard work for you.

A free website called Savvy will help you find the best price — in just 30 seconds. In fact, it saves people an average of $826 a year.

All you have to do is connect your current insurance, then Savvy will search hundreds of insurers for a better price on the same coverage. It’ll even help you cancel your old policy and get you a refund from your current insurer.

2. Raise Your Credit Score

Everyone knows a good credit score can help you buy a house, but here’s another reason to keep an eye on your score: It could lead to cheaper car insurance. So make sure you pay bills on time, and don’t use too much of your available credit at once. If you need to establish credit from scratch, look into a secured credit card or credit-builder loan.

3. Buy a Cheaper Car

In this case, you head in the opposite direction from the high-end luxury car. Generally, the more expensive the car, the more expensive it is to insure. You can save money upfront and over time by sticking with cheaper cars. Typically, that means quality used cars.

Because not everybody can afford a brand new luxury car — even if those cars do come with top-of-the-line safety features.

The Business Insider article about 10% car insurance discounts for extra-safe vehicles used the example of the 2021 Genesis GV80, a luxury SUV that can be equipped with rear cross-traffic and collision-avoidance assist, blind-spot collision-avoidance assist, highway driving assist, lane-following assist, forward-attention warnings, surround-view monitoring, remote-smart parking assist, and blind spot monitoring.

All very worthy features. And the car’s suggested price starts at $48,900.

The bottom line is that, no matter what your socioeconomic status is, there are ways to reduce your car insurance bill.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.