Blogging Insurance

Are you a struggling student? Do you have problems scraping money together every month to afford the finer things in life, like a car? With all of the demands placed on a student’s budget, you’d be surprised to find that most students overpay for car insurance. The reason is fairly simple, but most students neglect to take advantage of four simple things that can quickly lower their insurance rate by over thirty percent.

The first place a student should look for a discount is in a defensive driving course. Most insurance companies will give a flat discount of between ten and fifteen percent if you attend a defensive driving course. Don’t have the money to attend a course? Check with your local YMCA, community center, or municipal employment center. Many times they will offer the course for free or at a severely discounted rate. They sometimes will offer scholarships to students, with some of them requiring a grade point average minimum. It is somewhat like a reward for studying hard and making a concerted effort to get good grades. Lastly, you should check with your school! Some of them offer the course, but on an inquiry basis only. In order to keep the class size low, they may not advertise the fact that they offer the course.

Next, you should keep your grades up. Almost every insurance carrier offers some sort of good student discount. All you have to do is provide your carrier with proof of your grades (a report card or transcript) and they’ll give you a break of up to five percent. Statistically, good students are better drivers, so the insurance company is actually rewarding the good students just like they reward the drivers that have a long history of driving without accidents. While they are required by law to inform you of all of their discounts, you should ask about the good student discount.

Typically, most students do not drive very far when compared to their adult counterparts. It is because of this that every young person, student or not, should estimate a low amount of mileage that they drive when they tell their insurance company what their average annual mileage is. It is not unheard of for students to only drive five or eight thousand miles a year. The insurance companies will reward this, as every mile not driven is less of a chance for you to get in an accident.

Finally, if the student’s parents or guardians have an insurance policy with a certain company, it may be in their best interests to keep the same company when bringing their student on board. By having an established history with a company, they most of the time will give a discount for this. They will also give a break for having multiple policies in the same family.