Tightwads Guide to Saving on Mason Car Insurance

Did you fall for a flashy sales pitch and buy an underperforming, overpriced car insurance policy? Believe me, there are a lot of people in Mason just like you who feel imprisoned by their car insurance policy.

With consumers having so many choices, it's nearly impossible to find the most affordable insurance company.

Understand what determines the rate you pay

Consumers need to have an understanding of the different types of things that help determine the rates you pay for car insurance. When you know what positively or negatively impacts premium levels helps enable you to make changes that could result in big savings.

The following are a partial list of the pieces that factor into premiums.

Safer cars are cheaper to insure - Vehicles with good safety scores can get you lower premiums. Safe vehicles have better occupant injury protection and any reduction in injury severity means lower claim amounts passed on to you as lower rates.
Do you know your deductibles? - Deductibles for physical damage represent how much money you are required to spend in the event of a claim. Physical damage insurance, otherwise known as comp (or other than collision) and collision, is used to repair damage to your car. Some examples of claims that would be covered would be colliding with a building, damage caused by hail, or theft. The more the insured has to pay upfront, the less your car insurance will be.
Where you live can impact rates - Choosing to live in less populated areas is a positive aspect when talking about car insurance. Drivers who live in large cities regularly have more traffic problems and a longer drive to work. Lower population means reduced accidents as well as less vandalism and auto theft.
Bad driving skills means higher rates - Whether or not you get tickets has a big impact on rates. Drivers with clean records tend to pay less for car insurance compared to drivers with tickets. Even one moving violation may increase your cost forty percent or more. Drivers with flagrant tickets like hit and run, DWI or reckless driving convictions are required to file a SR-22 to the state department of motor vehicles in order to keep their license.
Do men or women drive better? - Statistics demonstrate women tend to be less risk to insure than men. However, this does not mean men are WORSE drivers than women. They both tend to get into accidents in similar numbers, but the male of the species have costlier accidents. Men also tend to receive more costly citations like DUI and reckless driving. Youthful male drivers tend to get in the most accidents and are penalized with high car insurance rates.
Do you have a high stress job? - Did you know your occupation can influence how much you pay for car insurance? Occupations such as judges, business owners and stock brokers are shown to have the highest rates in part from high stress levels and lots of time spent at work. On the other hand, professions such as actors, students and performers pay the least.

Save big with these discounts

Companies don't list all available discounts very well, so we researched both the well known and the harder-to-find savings tricks you should be using.

Fewer Miles Equal More Savings - Fewer annual miles could be rewarded with discounted rates on garaged vehicles.
Multiple Vehicles - Insuring multiple vehicles with the same company qualifies for this discount.
Auto/Home Discount - If you insure your home and vehicles with the same company you may save approximately 10% to 15%.
Discount for Good Grades - This discount can be rewarded with saving of up to 25%. Earning this discount can benefit you well after school through age 25.
Senior Citizens - If you're over the age of 55, you may be able to get a discount up to 10%.
No Claims - Drivers with accident-free driving histories pay much less when compared with accident-prone drivers.

A little note about advertised discounts, most discounts do not apply to all coverage premiums. Some only reduce the price of certain insurance coverages like liability and collision coverage. So when the math indicates all those discounts means the company will pay you, you won't be that lucky.

To choose insurers who offer car insurance discounts in New Hampshire, click here to view.

Car insurance ads bend the truth

21st Century, Allstate and State Farm continually stream ads on TV and radio. All the companies make an identical promise about savings after switching your policy. But how can every company claim to save you money? This is how they do it.

All the different companies are able to cherry pick for the right customer that makes them money. For instance, a profitable customer might be between 25 and 40, has no driving citations, and drives newer vehicles. Any driver who meets those qualifications will get very good rates and most likely will save a lot of money.

Drivers who fall outside this ideal profile must pay a higher premium and ends up with the customer not buying. The ads say "drivers who switch" not "people who quote" save that kind of money. That's the way companies can truthfully claim big savings. This illustrates why you should get a wide range of price quotes. You cannot predict which car insurance company will give you the biggest savings.

Learn more about New Hampshire car insurance

Even more information is located at the New Hampshire Insurance Department website. Visitors are able to find disaster information, report car insurance fraud, view agent and company licensing information, and file complaints about a company.

Other informative sites include this resource for New Hampshire car insurance prices and this page of Mason insurance agents.

Do the work, save more money

Cheaper car insurance can be purchased both online in addition to many Mason insurance agents, so you should compare both to have the best selection. A few companies do not provide online price quotes and usually these small, regional companies provide coverage only through local independent agents.

When trying to cut insurance costs, don't be tempted to buy poor coverage just to save money. There are a lot of situations where someone sacrificed collision coverage and learned later that it was a big mistake. The proper strategy is to find the BEST coverage for the lowest price while not skimping on critical coverages.