Recently I was talking with a friend of mine who sells Auto Insurance in Fargo ND and was asking him about ways to save money on our 2 teenage drivers. It turns out I’m far from the only one who has interest in this topic as kids between the age of 16 and 25 are the most expensive group to insure. This past year our daughter got a couple minor tickets and had a minor accident so the first question I had for him was whether this was going to affect our (annual) renewal rates. Luckily I found out that in the state where I live minor traffic offenses are not reported to your insurance. Also, since the damage in the accident was less than $500 we did not have to report the accident so fortunately our rates should not be affected.

It isn’t just parents of teens that are looking for ways to reduce their car insurance costs. He also told me that since the recession began he has seen a steady increase in the number of people searching for ways to reduce their insurance costs. In fact, instead of talking about coverage options first many are initially asking how much is car insurance as their primary question.

He gave me several tips on how to minimize the cost of insurance and many of them are factors that we control.

#1 – Shop at several different companies. Each company competes for different types of risks so there is no such thing as a company with the best rates for everyone. That’s why auto insurance ads say “Drivers who switched saved an average of $450” instead of “By switching you can save $450”. Your unique situation will determine which company will give you the best rates.

#2 – Check out a variety of deductibles on both your collision and comprehensive coverage in order to see how much it affects your premiums. Sometimes it pays to go with a slightly higher deductible and save the extra premium, but not always.

#3 – Avoid foolish traffic tickets. Things like rolling through a stop sign can really cause your rates to go up. The same is true with careless driving or worst of all a DUI. If you have some scars on your driving record then it’s especially important to compare different companies. Some companies specialize in high risk where others (like State Farm) basically price themselves out of the market.

In the end, it all comes down to taking the time to do a little research and shopping. The various online rate engines make it easy to do price comparisons for several companies in just a few minutes.