Car insurance is a necessary evil, but it can be less of a burden if you take advantage of the many discounts offered by auto insurance providers.  While you may not qualify for all of them, you can likely cut down your bill with a few of the following auto insurance discounts.

Safe Driving

Most auto insurance companies offer discounts to drivers with spotless driving records – another great reason to stay safe on the road!  Some companies apply these automatically, but if you’ve gone 3-5 years without an infraction and haven’t seen a decrease in your premiums, call your provider and ask them to review your policy.  If they won’t, consider shopping around for a new policy – you may be surprised by the rates you’re offered.

Continuous Coverage

Many car insurance companies will give you a discount if you stick with them for several years.  From a marketing standpoint, this makes sense, as it often costs much more to recruit new customers than to continue to sell to an existing one.  Of course, you’ll only qualify for this discount if you stick with your current provider, so you’ll have to resist the urge to bounce around from provider to provider based on whoever is offering the lowest rates.

Credit Score

Many drivers aren’t aware of the impact their credit scores have on their insurance premiums, but a bad score can really raise your rates.  In the eyes of the car insurance company, a bad credit score indicates that you’ve been irresponsible in other areas of your life, so they assume that you’ll be similarly negligent when it comes to drive.  Although this may not seem fair, it’s something you need to be aware of.

However, all hope is not lost if you currently have a low credit score.  Put some effort into improving it by paying down any credit card or revolving debt you currently carry, and make sure to pay all your bills on time.  Once you’ve improved your score, you can ask your insurance provider to re-evaluate your policy to take these changes into account.  Depending on how significant the improvement is, they may be able to decrease your monthly premium.

Defensive Driving

Taking a defensive driving can do more than just make you a better driver – it can also cut your car insurance premiums.  For more information on how to qualify for this discount, contact your auto insurance provider.  They may only offer this discount if you complete a program they’ve approved, and you’ll likely need to submit evidence that you completed the program satisfactorily.

Good Grades

Having a teen driver on your policy can boost your premiums, but many auto insurance companies help offset this cost with discounts for students who get good grades.  Not every company offers these discounts, so you’ll need to call your insurance provider to see if you qualify.  If you do, a representative from your car insurance company will also be able to explain what type of records you need to provide to get the discount.