Drivers of all ages and from all walks of life may struggle to keep up with the costs of both owning and insuring a vehicle in 2020. Cars can be expensive, no matter what type you get. You must then insure the vehicle based on its model and various personal factors about you, including your age and driving record.
Given those costs, many people try to get creative with their auto insurance coverage to lower their premiums. You generally cannot negotiate a lower price with your provider with simple haggling, but you can take several steps to ensure you are getting the best deal possible.
This is a subject we think about often at Shyft. Here are five ways to lower your auto insurance premiums when buying motor insurance in Trinidad.
1. Insure Everything with One Provider
In many cases, a single insurance provider will discount some of your insurance premiums if you purchase more than one policy. You can do this by insuring two vehicles with the provider, or by buying both car insurance and home insurance in Trinidad. An example of how this might work could be: you have an auto policy with an insurer. You then buy home insurance with that company and consequently get half off your car premium. Check with your provider to see if this can be done. You may also find that you can still get better deals by splitting up your coverages among providers. This punctuates the importance of shopping around and comparing.
2. Reduce Coverage as Needed
It can be easy to purchase insurance policies for your vehicles and then keep them for many years without reexamining them. If you were to look at all your plans again after a set amount of time, you might find that some of your needs have changed. Perhaps you have older cars that no longer need all the coverage they needed five years ago. You can drop some unnecessary coverage to bring your car insurance costs down a bit.
3. Compare before Buying
Car insurance providers determine their rates based in part on the type of vehicle you own. If you are preparing to buy a new or used car, you should compare insurance rates for that make and model before you buy. For instance, a vehicle model that is statistically stolen more frequently will probably cost more to insure. A vehicle that has earned high safety ratings might cost less. It will be worth it to put the time into this to get the best insurance rates. Shyft can help here: our tool lets you compare car insurance quotes and get figures in seconds.
4. Raise Your Excess (Deductibles)
One way to lower your auto insurance premiums directly is to increase your voluntary excess requirements, or deductible payments. A deductible is the amount you must pay toward an insurance claim before your provider begins paying. If you opt to raise your deductible, you can bring down your annual car insurance premiums, since your provider will know you are now prepared to shoulder a bit more of a potential financial burden. This is a decision you must weigh carefully, however. You might save on your yearly costs by doing this, but will you be able to afford that higher deductible when an unexpected accident arises?
5. Maintain a Safer Driving Record
People generally know that a spotty driving record means higher car insurance premiums. If you have a habit of driving inattentively and causing accidents, insurance providers will see you as a risk. Cleaning up your driving record can help the situation, but it might take time. If you can maintain a mostly clean driving record over several years, your provider may eventually agree to lower your rates. This is obviously a long game, but it can pay off for you.
Compare and Save on Motor Insurance with Shyft
Of course, one of the smartest things you can do to lower your car insurance costs is one item we already mentioned: shop around and compare insurance quotes. This is exactly what we offer here at Shyft. You can input information about yourself and the vehicle you plan on insuring, and in a matter of moments, you can compare quotes across a range of the best providers in the region.
If you need to start lowering your auto insurance premiums, let us help. Compare motor insurance in Trinidad right now with Shyft.
