How To Get Cheap Car Insurance (Part 2)
By Jacob Carter, Get-InsuranceQuotes.com
Leaving off where we began in the first part of our series on How To Get Cheap Car Insurance (Part 1), where I stressed the importance of shopping around and comparing rates. In this part of our series I want to talk about how accidents and convictions effect the cost of your car insurance premium.
Accidents and Convictions
This should be no surprise to you but the number one way insurance companies use to determine what premium you pay is based on how many car accidents you have been involved in and how many traffic-related convictions you have received. It should go without saying, the less accidents and convictions you have the lower your car insurance premiums will be.
Most insurance companies go back as far as six years for your car accidents. This means that accidents which occurred less than six years ago, you are being rated against and therefore are being charged more for your insurance policy. Depending on your state or country, insurance companies use a star rating system to make what is called a driving record. Each year you are accident free you earn a “star” for a maximum of usually six to nine stars and your premium should decrease as a result. For example, if you have been driving three years without an accident you would be considered a three star driver.
You are rated for convictions on the other hand through the use of surcharges. In other words, for every conviction and type of conviction you receive within the last three years your policy would be penalized an additional amount determined as a percentage. For example, if you are convicted of impaired driving you may have a surcharge as high as 50% to 100% of your premium. This would mean that on the renewal prior to your impaired conviction you were paying $1800 for auto insurance, on your next renewal you could be paying $2400 (50% surcharge) to $3600 (100% surchage).
For your information, you will be re-rated every six to twelve months depending on whenever you need to renew your auto insurance. You can read more about what happens during the renewal phase in our article Renewing Your Auto Insurance.
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