MIND YOUR BUSINESS
How You and Your Behavior
Affect Your Car Insurance Rates
Article by Neil Richardson of The Zebra Insurance
(BPT) - The average American driver pays more than $1,300 per year for car insurance, but some pay a third of that average while others pay nearly 30 times that amount, according to research by The Zebra, an auto insurance search engine. High prices, wide disparity in rates and a number of misunderstandings could be why a survey by the same company found nearly 61 percent of Americans think their auto insurance is too expensive, and nearly 29 percent think it's an outright scam.
"Many people don't understand how insurance companies arrive at the rates they charge," says Neil Richardson, a licensed insurance agent with The Zebra, which has created the first and only Insurability Score(TM) to help drivers understand the risk factors that affect their car insurance rates. "Just as credit rating companies consider a number of factors in determining your credit score, car insurers look at multiple factors in establishing insurance rates. Those risk factors are all aimed at assessing how likely a person is to not cost the company money, that is, whether they're more likely to file a claim."
Learning about auto insurance risk factors can help drivers understand the formula behind rates offered by insurance
companies, and allow them to make
changes to their behavior to avoid higher premiums, Richardson advises.
Here are four controllable factors that can influence your car insurance rates:
* How you drive - Just one DUI on your record can raise your rates by more than $1,000 per year, The Zebra found. Safe drivers who obey the rules of the road and have no traffic violations generally pay less for insurance than similar drivers who have violations. Practice safe driving habits. Hang up the phone, and don't speed, drive recklessly or drink and drive - all those behaviors can lead to violations that will significantly increase your annual premium.