Why It’s Important To Review Your Car Insurance Policy

Last Updated on May 9, 2021

You should periodically review your car insurance policies in a “check-up”. The insurance industry often suggests customers check up on their policies to ensure everything looks right and up-to-date. To a cynical person, that might sound like a ploy to get customers on the phone with an insurance agent. An insurance agent has an opportunity to pitch more insurance if they’ve got a customer on the line. Whether or not that’s what’s going on, it’s still a good idea to check up on your policies from time to time.

The main reason you want to be checking on your insurance policies regularly is that your life changes. Circumstances change. Your needs change and fluctuate over time and in line with your trajectory in life. You don’t want to be underpaying or overpaying for insurance. You want to drop the coverage you don’t need.

Say you bought life insurance when you first got married, and you’ve had a bunch of children since then, you’re probably in line for an upgrade. Or, maybe you purchased a brand new car, but it’s gotten so worn down and beat up over time that it’s not even worth the gas you’re putting in the tank. You could be paying a ton of money for coverage you no longer need on that old junk heap.

How to Review Your Auto Insurance Coverage

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) puts out tips to help people save money on car insurance. Brush up on standard policy terminology so you know how to reduce your bill as much as possible. You never want to go into an insurance office without a clue, only to leave with a policy you’re not 100% clear on. Be familiar with the declarations/information page and the personal auto policy or policy form. Get an in-depth understanding of what is included on each so you can save as much as possible.

While you might have no control over rising fuel costs, you can still save money by just reviewing your car insurance policy. You can save money by reviewing key information on your policy. Get in touch with your insurance agent if something has changed.

The people listed on your policy will have a major effect on how much you are paying for auto insurance. If there is someone high risk on your policy, you could pay a lot less by just removing them.

Your driving record is also something to look at. After a certain period of time, a violation will simply fall off your record. Still, you should check to see when that will happen.

Ask your insurance agent what role your claims history and credit history will have on your premium. Find out if there is anything you can do to mitigate any past problem with either one.

There Might Be Some Errors In Your Policy

You’ve probably got more than one policy – life, home, car, health, etc. – and, chances are, you’ve got an error or two among them. The odds are in favor that you’ve made a mistake somewhere. You could be overpaying. An Aflac employee survey discovered that the average worker was wasting $750 each year on supplemental health insurance.

You Could Get A Better Deal

You can also save money by comparison shopping online. You can lower your premium if you regularly compare insurance quotes. That’s a proven fact. It’s just that most consumers don’t want to go to the trouble of doing it. But, new apps, websites, and services make it a lot easier than ever before for someone to comparison shop online.

Insurance premiums can change for a lot of reasons, especially homeowners’ insurance. The crime rate might go up or down, the weather might have spiked your premium, and so on. You should compare different policies at every renewal period – or even more frequently – to ensure you’re getting the best deal.

You Might Have More To Cover

Your life changes all the time. You might buy a whole lot more stuff, for instance. You might fall into some cash or get a high-salary job. Getting insurance coverage for these changes gets even trickier. Think about this. Say you’ve had diamond jewelry appraised at a certain value, and it gets stolen. You get a check from your insurer, and you go to the jewelry store to replace what was stolen. The only problem is that it has appreciated in value a lot. If you had updated your coverage, you wouldn’t be out of luck.

What if you locked in a low home insurance rate when you first moved into your new place? If years and years have gone by, and you’ve since replaced all your ratty old furniture with brand new stuff, it could be time to have a chat with your insurance agent about amending your coverage. You need to make sure that all your brand new, fancy furniture is covered in the event of a catastrophe or break-in.

It’s Wise To Bundle Coverage

You might consider bundling if you get insurance from a couple of carriers. You can get a serious, but modest, discount. It also saves you time and hassle. It’s a little bit easier to log in to just one website to take care of all your insurance coverage. If you’re unhappy with the current bundle rate you’re getting at your current carrier, you might look to another carrier to see if they can offer a better bundle deal. You can usually get a great deal if you’re doing a first-time customer bundle deal with a new carrier. They want your business, and they will discount to get it.

Ask About Discount Offers

You can earn credits on your premiums by installing burglar alarms and water leak detection systems in your home, by getting a wheel lock for your car, and anything else they recommend to make your property safer and more secure.