My Personal Finance Journey

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My name is Jacob, a husband to a wine-blogger wife, father to two bouncy-boy toddlers, and I'm the owner/author of My Personal Finance Journey. By day, I am a scientist working in bio-pharmaceutical development. Personal finance has been my hobby since 2007 when I started teaching myself through books (that finance B.S. degree didn't teach me much!). Learning how to save, adopt a frugal mindset, and invest my own money soundly has allowed me to have a savings rate > 50%, increase my net worth by > 20 times, grow my career, and always do what I love. Check out the About Me page to learn more!

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Top 5 Ways to Reduce Car Insurance Costs

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Welcome to My Personal Finance Journey! If you are new here, please read the “About” or “First-Time Visitor” pages to find out more about us. If you would like to receive free updates on articles like this by email, then sign up here or you can subscribe to the RSS feed. Also, check us out on Twitter or Facebook. Thanks for visiting! Keep on learning!
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The following is a guest post. Enjoy!
Top 5 Ways to Reduce Car Insurance Costs
Car insurance is often a major cost for many people so it certainly makes sense to do everything you can to reduce your car insurance costs. This article looks at five of the top ways you can reduce your car insurance costs and why it definitely pays to bear them in mind.

Park on the driveway or in the garage


The security of your car plays a big part in the cost of your car insurance, so you should obviously keep your car as safe as you possibly can. It tends to cost more to insure your car if you keep it on the road, so if possible make sure you park it either on the drive or in the garage. This could save up to 7% on your insurance costs.

Have a steering lock


Another good security measure to take is to have a steering lock as this adds another deterrent for thieves. However, other than security-related modifications, you shouldn’t make any other modifications to your car as this can push up the cost of your insurance.

Add an experienced driver to a young person’s insurance


Young drivers typically cost more to insure than older, more experienced ones – especially people aged under 25. This is because young people are seen as greater risks, but one way to balance this out is to include a more experienced driver on the young person’s insurance (such as a parent). However, you can only do this if the older person will genuinely be driving the car as well, or else it will count as fraud.

Drive carefully


One of the best ways to reduce the cost of car insurance is to drive carefully. If you have a speeding offence on your license, it’ll bump up your insurance by around 5%, and two convictions will up it by around 20%; drive safely and your costs will come down instead.

Reduce your mileage


Finally, the less you drive the less your insurance will cost. This means that if you’ll only be using the car occasionally, make sure you make this clear to the insurers so you don’t get charged for something you won’t make proper use of. On the other hand, if you’re going to drive 200,000 miles within 5 years, you’ll want to be honest with your insurance provider as well, even if it means paying slightly more.

How about you all? What methods/techniques do you use to save money on car insurance? Do you use any of the ones listed above? How much do you pay on car insurance per year?


Share your experiences by commenting below!

Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.

  • @ Parking off of the street in a driveway or garage to lower your car insurance –
    • While it definitely makes sense that parking your car off of the street when it is not in use would reduce your risk of getting hit (and possibly having to tap in to your insurance if the other driver isn’t insured), I’m not certain that this will get you a discount in the United States.
    • This is due to the fact that if your car is parked and it gets hit by another car/driver, it would be quite rare for the driver of a parked car to be found “at fault.” Furthermore, it is required by law in the US for every driver to have (at a minimum) liability insurance covering the other driver in the event that the wreck is your fault.
    • Does anyone have experience with this aspect (I’m not much of an expert when it comes to car insurance)?
  • @ Having a steering lock to prevent theft – 
    • Steering locks used to be VERY popular in the US for a brief period of time. It was almost like they were a “fad” which came and has now faded.
    • In fact, it’s quite rare that I see people with a steering lock on their car.

***Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/stignygaard/194225065/sizes/l/in/photostream/

About the Author Jacob A Irwin

Hi folks! My name is Jacob. I am the owner and operator of My Personal Finance Journey. I started this blog in January of 2010 and have enjoyed the journey ever since. Since finishing up graduate school in Virginia in 2014, I have been working in biopharmaceutical development in Colorado. You can read more about me and this site here​. Please contact me if you have any questions!

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  • JohnsonSmith says:
    November 7, 2011 at 11:30 am

    These 5 tips are awesome and useful. I liked it. Thanks for such post.
    QuickQuid

    Reply
  • Super Frugalette says:
    August 8, 2011 at 6:49 am

    The steering locks were crucial in NYC…but my greatest fear in the country is that a farmer will get drunk and crash into my parked car…I live in Wisconsin which is known as a drinking state..

    Reply
    • MyPerFinJourney says:
      August 13, 2011 at 3:01 am

      Interesting to hear about the steering locks being needed in certain parts of the country!
      My recent post My Personal Finance Journey Vs. The United States of America – Round 2 – What Interest Rate is Your Savings Account Earning?

      Reply
  • Ashley @ Money Talks says:
    August 4, 2011 at 10:04 pm

    I was parked in my driveway and someone still hit me and did $2,600 worth of damage to my van. 🙁 worst part since the accident took place on private property (MY private property!) the cops couldn't do a thing about the fact that the truck that hit me wasn't registered or insured. He said he wasn't even supposed to take a report, but he still did. How do you like that? Cost me $1,000 out of pocket (my deductible) and they raised my rates $10 a month.
    My recent post First Money Memory

    Reply
    • MyPerFinJourney says:
      August 13, 2011 at 3:01 am

      That's a wild story Ashley! I'm curious – if the person that hit you would have had insurance, would their insurance have covered the damage to your car?
      My recent post My Personal Finance Journey Vs. The United States of America – Round 2 – What Interest Rate is Your Savings Account Earning?

      Reply

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