As vehicle owners shop for automotive insurance products, they naturally want to find the best rates possible for the coverage they want and need. It’s important to keep in mind that their own actions have a significant effect on insurance rates. Most people understand that getting too many speeding tickets or having a drunk driving conviction leads to a big spike in insurance premiums. Those incidents indicate risky behaviour associated with serious vehicle accidents.
People may not realize that something as simple as paying the bill a bit late can also cause an insurance rate hike. That late payment results in a lapse in insurance coverage. It may not immediately cause a rate change but, when the individual starts shopping around for auto insurance, that short lapse in coverage is a red flag to some insurers.
Why would that be? It’s similar to some insurance companies including a person’s credit rating in the mix of underwriting factors. A low credit rating may not seem to be related to driving behaviour, but underwriters may look for evidence of irresponsibility. They see a tendency to pay bills late as negligence or carelessness, and that behaviour could spill over into driving behaviour as well.
When a policyholder has trouble paying the premium, that’s a good time to see if he or she can get less expensive coverage. Raising the deductible is one way of lowering rates. If the person owns the vehicle outright and isn’t still financing it, dropping collision coverage is a possibility. That’s not always a suitable remedy, however. If the person ever causes an accident and doesn’t have collision coverage, he will have to pay for repairs for his own vehicle out of pocket
A company such as Business Namw provides auto insurance products. As an independent agency, this organization can offer quotes from multiple providers. An agent there can spend time with the potential client and go through different kinds of coverage and the costs from various insurers. As an agency that has been Protecting what matters most since 1983, they also provide home-owners insurance. A vehicle owner often can reduce automotive insurance rates by combining that coverage with home insurance in an umbrella policy.
