So, you’re in college and you need something reliable to get you to school and work and back without eating your wallet with gas costs. But there’s more to worry about than just the price of gas, which may have pushed you away from that Hummer over there, but still left you looking hungrily at some cars that might not be good for your checkbook. Have you thought about how the make and model of the car you get can affect your car insurance? It does, and it’s one of the most important factors.
You probably know outright that more expensive shiny cars are more likely to welcome higher insurance rates, and this is for the obvious reason that they get stolen a lot. But how do insurance companies know that they get stolen? Well, common sense, of course, you think. I mean, if I were a car thief…
But car insurance agencies don’t work like that. Instead, every car has a different rating for each type of insurance coverage. A car might have a good rating in comprehensive coverage because it’s not very likely to be stolen, but at the same time a bad rating in collision because it doesn’t take very well to impact. For this reason, you’ll find really small cars will get higher ratings because they’re more easily damaged, whereas very big cars will get higher ratings because they cause more damage. A mid-sized car is a better choice than either of the two. And remember that safety features included on the car also have an impact on your premium.
Be a smart car shopper. Before you go and get the car, get quotes first. Compare quotes from different insurance companies and with different types of cars to see which will suit you best. This doesn’t mean that you have to get a car you hate to get good insurance rates, but even different types of car within a model could have different ratings–you may get the same year, make, and model but choose the sedan over the hatchback and save because of it.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama