Best Car Insurance Discounts – Save Money On Car Insurance

Having car insurance is mandatory in nearly every state – but given that these expenses could get relatively high, finding the best car insurance discounts will help you save money while staying safe on the road.

Having car insurance coverage is a must since the coverage doesn’t only apply to repairs in case of an accident. It also offers personal injury protection and covers any medical payments coverage.

Keep reading to find all the discounts you’re qualified to get!

Types Of Car Insurance Discounts

Usage-Based Discount

The best car insurance companies out there offer phenomenal discounts to responsible drivers. That is where UBI comes in as a way to monitor a driver’s responsibility.

UBI (or Usage-Based Insurance) works like this:

First, a data-collection device – it could be a Bluetooth beacon or a phone app – is installed on your vehicle. The device then tracks your actual driving habits and evaluates them. Your discount percentages are adjusted over time based on these evaluations.

After a specified period has elapsed, the evaluations are locked-in, and a discount is determined.

Three Well-Established UBI Examples

Liberty Mutual’s Right Track program and Nationwide’s SmartRide may provide up to 30% and 40% discounts, respectively. Both of these programs come with different benefits.

Nationwide, as one of the best car insurance companies, clearly offers higher potential savings, but the discount takes slightly longer to lock in. That means that you’ll have to drive extra carefully during the first four to six months to get the highest car insurance discount.

On the other hand, Liberty Mutual has a lower maximum potential for discounts, but the price locks in after 90 days – a significantly shorter timeframe than Nationwide.

There’s another option:

State Farm’s Drive Safe & Save, which can lower car insurance costs by up to 30% – and even 50% for some drivers. Unlike the previous two, State Farm doesn’t penalize high mileage drivers.

Lastly, we need to mention that State Farm and Nationwide offer a 10% discount on signing up for UBI – while Liberty Mutual doesn’t.

Pay-In-Full Discounts

As you’d expect, there are benefits to paying your premium upfront.

So, if you’re in the position to pay your full insurance policy right away, consider doing so. Certain car insurance companies can offer discounts of up to 15% on your total auto insurance premium.

It might be a hefty sum to give right away – but you won’t have to think about monthly payments. Plus, you will save money in the long run.

EFT Discount

EFT stands for Electronic Funds Transfer. Even if you’re not familiar with the actual term, you likely use e-banking or online banking.

So, why is this important for getting car insurance discounts?

It’s very simple:

Certain auto insurance companies provide discounts if you set automatic payments from your bank account to pay for the monthly rates. Though, it’s worth noting that these insurance discounts are significantly low compared to others we’ve covered here.

Going Paperless

Similar to EFTs, these discounts don’t provide much benefit. Nonetheless, they are worth mentioning if you’re looking to save up as much as you can.

Opting to receive your insurance bills exclusively by mail (or app) used to be a bigger deal until recent years. Now that it’s become the norm, there’s no reason to incentivize clients – so these discounts are relatively rare.

New Car Discount

If your vehicle is new or no older than a few years, you could apply for this discount. Usually, having a new car can help you save up to 15% of your total premium, as it’s seen as more reliable by companies.

Anti-Theft Discounts

Most insurance companies reward drivers that have anti-theft devices on their vehicles. Plus, in case your car gets stolen, you want to be able to locate it before it’s too late.

An anti-theft device can be as simple as a GPS tracker:

Special GPS systems designed specifically for this purpose act undetected. They send signals to nearby authorities to help them track down the exact location of your car.

Vehicle identification numbers (VIN) are a very good investment, as well. Having a VIN engraved on the windshield of your car is a plus when applying for auto insurance discounts. Much like the GPS feature, this unique identification method helps the police trace the location of your vehicle quickly.

It also lowers the chance of your car being stolen in the first place.

If the robber sees the etching on your windshield, they’ll think twice before making any attempts. VINs make your vehicle much more challenging to sell after being stolen – since the robber would have to go through the process of replacing the windshield first.

Multi-Policy Discount

A multi-policy discount is gained when you sign several different contracts with the same insurance company and is, without a doubt, one of the biggest discounts you can get.

For instance, if you were to get home or life insurance along with car insurance, you would be eligible for the multi-policy discount. That’s also called “bundling” because the client gets a package of several policies at once.

Due to such a high commitment, agencies will often reward loyal customers with attractive discounts. The total price reduction can reach up to 25% – and even higher in certain cases.

Multi-Car Discount

This one is similar to the multi-policy deal – only simpler. Instead of signing up for life and/or home insurance to get a good deal, just having more than one car insured by the same company could land you a nice discount.

Granted, discounts vary. Still, we can look at State Farm or Geico, carriers that offer up to 20% and 25% discounts, respectively, to get an idea of how much you can save.

Safety Discounts

You can apply for these by having certain safety features installed. These features can include anti-lock brakes, daytime running lights, and fully-equipped airbags.

Discounts for having these safety features may go up to 40%. So, consider investing in them whenever you get the chance.

Defensive Driving Course Discount

Speaking of safety:

As we grow older, staying safe on the road becomes more and more critical. Old age takes away our reflexes, eyesight, ability to concentrate on the road for longer periods, etc.

Because of this, certain insurance companies issue discounts for taking an approved driver’s education course. These don’t go out to everyone, though. Only drivers beyond a certain age – usually 50 – could qualify for this discount. A young driver wouldn’t be able to apply.

Defensive driving essentially means reducing all possible dangers of collision and similar risks – both for yourself and other drivers.

It’s a good practice for older citizens to take an approved defensive driving course for a few reasons. Not only does it qualify them for an additional discount, but it’s also easier to get through and remain updated on any law changes that one might have missed.

Good Student Discount

Good student discounts can be issued to either high school or college level students. There are a couple of conditions that students have to meet, though.

First of all, there’s an age requirement. Students in question need to be aged 16 to 25. Other than that, all that’s needed to qualify for a good student discount is to maintain at least a B average in school, and they’re set.

Occupational Discounts

As you might expect, military personnel are qualified for an auto insurance discount with many companies. These are sometimes called “membership discounts.”

With that said, here are our top three carriers with excellent car insurance discounts for military personnel:

• GEICO
• Armed Forces Insurance (AFI)
• USAA

But they’re not the only ones. Federal employees, engineers, nurses, pilots workers in the educational sector, mechanics – all can apply for these discounts.

If you’re unsure whether this applies to you, consult your agent. You never know what kind of neat benefits your occupation might be hiding!

Good Driver Discounts

If there’s one thing every car insurance company loves apart from customer loyalty – it’s responsible drivers.

If you haven’t had any car insurance claims and have kept your driving record accident-free, you’re likely to get better auto discounts. Liberty Mutual, State Farm, Progressive, and USAA all offer these discounts.

Note: GEICO and Allstate offer separate discounts for “safe” and “good” drivers.

Get Discounts Through Online Quotes

If you’ve been doing your research about different car insurance companies and websites, you’ve likely noticed that getting quotes can be anything but fast and easy.

Insurance Geek has a simple form you can fill out and get insurance quotes from multiple companies – making it easy to compare offers. Plus, a lot of companies offer discounts to clients that sign up for an auto policy this way.

Hiden Auto Insurance Discounts

Not all companies will reach out to you openly and give you a list of all the car insurance discounts you might be eligible for; a lot of the things we’ve covered here can fly under the radar, unfortunately.

Many drivers are surprised when they hear that just obeying the law and driving responsibly could land them as much as 40% deduction on their policy. Discounts should always be well researched; that’s our point.

How To Lower Your Car Insurance Rates

Let’s take a quick look at some of the things you can do to lower your overall car insurance rates.

Loyalty discounts and a safe driver discount come about when car insurance companies see that you’re a reliable driver and customer. Having a high credit score certainly helps – and so does cautious driving and an overall clean record.

Aside from that, there are times in your life when it might be more beneficial to go and search for a car insurance policy than others. These include:

• After you get married
• After joining the military
• Moving to a different state
• Starting college
• After someone else in your household gets a driver’s license

Finally, when your policy’s term is nearing its end, reach out to new auto insurance companies and see if they have any available discounts that would suit you. You could consult your insurance agent about the best steps to take, as well.

Things To Look Out For

When considering an insurance company to sign up for, there are a few things to consider.

The first is the number of discounts they offer.

The second thing to consider is the actual discount percentages. You might want to go for the company with the higher percentages – or the one with more discount options. It all depends on your needs and specific situation.

But there’s one more thing we haven’t mentioned yet. Companies can set limits on the highest possible discount rate. Here’s how this applies to you:

You may notice that you’re eligible for a dozen discounts when signing up with a carrier. And you may have calculated that when all these discounts add up together, your overall discount reaches a pretty impressive 50%.

That’s very convenient, isn’t it?

But when you actually discuss this with a car insurance agent, they might tell you that the company in question has a cap on their discounts. They may prohibit discounts from going over 40%, for example.

Summary

Seeing as it’s mandatory to have your vehicle insured, but the costs can add up, you might as well look into auto insurance discounts to get the best deal.

We’ve gone over a dozen different kinds of car insurance discounts available and what you can do to be eligible for them. Whether it’s having a good credit score, being a responsible driver, or merely reaping the benefits of customer loyalty, both old and young drivers have steps they may take to lower their car insurance premiums.

At Insurance Geek, we work with top-rated carriers all around the US. Try our rate engine to compare the best auto insurance quotes instantly!