Need Low Cost Insurance Fast?
Need Insurance Fast? Click here to get the lowest possible rate in your state now.
In the previous post we were talking about how your profile affects your rate.
Your Insurance Profile
Even though underwriting criteria differ, insurers use the same basic factors in setting their rates. You can use the following information to sketch your own profile, as it appears to an insurance underwriter.
Your Age, Sex, and Marital Status
If you’re under 25, single, and male, you’ll pay more for insurance than other drivers; you’ll pay much less than the single male if you’re a married woman of 42. The reason is simple. Long-established and undisputed evidence shows that young drivers are worse insurance risks than older ones. There’s also plenty of evidence that young male drivers are worse risks than young female drivers. In 1987, for example, drivers under age 25 made up only 19.1 percent of all Americans behind the wheel, but they comprised 33.4 percent of drivers involved in all accidents, and 31.4 percent of drivers in fatal accidents.
Get insurance fast for your car or truck here
Nearly 52 percent of all U.S. drivers in 1987 were men, and they were involved in almost 70 percent more accidents than women drivers! What’s more, National Safety Council data show that male drivers were involved in more than three times as many fatal accidents as females.
Why? There are several likely reasons. Men drive more frequently than women, which automatically increases their chances of being in an accident. They also tend to drive more aggressively. And, they’re more likely than women to get behind the wheel when they’re drunk.
Similarly, statistics show that married drivers have fewer accidents than single ones. The emotional commitments and responsibilities of a marriage tend to make people more careful drivers. The driving habits of a fancy-free 18-year-old, barreling down the highway, are likely to have undergone a real change by the time he’s 28 and chauffeuring a small passenger to her ballet recital! Getting low cost insurance fast is a breeze.
As a result, insurers charge young drivers higher rates than older ones, young males higher rates than young females, and young, unmarried males more than those who are married. And, a woman between the ages of 30 and 65 qualifies for special discounts from many companies, if she’s the only driver in a household.
Your Driving Record
Insurers typically consider your driving record for the past 3 years. Each company has its own idea of what constitutes a standard driver, but clearly, an accident in which you were at fault is going to weigh more heavily against you than a traffic violation. A conviction for drunk driving will get you rejected out of hand by most insurers.
Standard risk drivers generally pay a premium that is about 20 percent higher than for preferred risk drivers; and some companies won’t sell insurance to people they deem nonstandard. (A few, as I mentioned before, specialize in higher-risk drivers. And every state mandates an insurance fast pool or facility that must provide coverage to all applicants.)
If you haven’t owned a car in 3 years, many insurers will rate you as if you’ve never driven before, which at some companies is grounds for refusing to cover you. Others are ready to take on new drivers, but may charge you more than if you’d been covered by another insurer during the past 3 years just as if you were an “inexperienced” driver, even if you’ve been licensed and driving rented vehicles for a long time.
Be sure to find out how long you have to be a policyholder for such a company to consider you experienced, and how much your premium will drop at that time.
Getting the best possible insurance fast
Some insurers that charge inexperienced applicants a higher rate also treat long-time customers to special breaks. They offer accident forgiveness programs, under which a policyholder of longstanding-3 to 5 years or more at some companies—who has a good driving record, is allowed one accident without being surcharged for it.
The Records of the Family Members Who Live with You
Your insurance rate takes into account not just your own age, sex and driving record, but also those of other licensed drivers in your family who live with you. (Remember, the insurance company will be covering the car when family members drive it too.)
If your husband or wife has a bad driving record, it’s likely to mean a Higher insurance fast rate or a surcharge on coverage for the family car, even if your own record is exemplary. If you’re both good drivers and each of you has a car, putting both on one policy will get you a multicar discount from some insurers. (Unmarried people living together don’t qualify for this discount. On the other hand, they’re also less likely to be penalized for each other’s driving records than married couples!)
If you need insurance fast check out our premium sponsors
Related posts:
Comments