Go Insurance Rates

It's no secret that credit scores and reports determine insurance premiums of all types, so you can imagine that there is no exception for auto insurance quotes. You hate that, right? When you've made a few errors over the years, or have even suffered for the first time during this recession after the loss of a job and/or home, the last thing you want is for your car insurance costs to pay the prices as well.

The good news is that there are ways to get around the curse of bad credit when searching for auto insurance quotes. Let's explore more closely what they are ...

Increase Your Deductible

So you already know that your monthly premium is higher than most others if you have bad credit, so how can you get around it? One way is by increasing your deductible. The higher your deductible is, the lower your premium will be. This is one easy way to decrease that premium.

Consolidate Coverage

If you currently carry homeowners insurance, or even life insurance, you may want to see if you can acquire your auto insurance from the same company. Often times, companies will provide discounts for obtaining more than one coverage from them. So as you're searching for auto insurance quotes, consider this as an option.

Check Your Report for Errors

If you have some time on your hands - hence, you don't need coverage yesterday - you might consider obtaining free copies of all three credit reports to make sure there are no errors listed. If you find any discrepancies that could make your score higher than it should be, you can contest to have them removed. This may help to increase your score some, so it doesn't hurt to try. You can get your FREE credit report very easily online.

Go With a Company That Doesn't Check Credit

There are a few companies out there that don't conduct credit checks in order to supply car insurance. And many of them still offer reasonable rates. You'll have to do a little searching to find them, however. And, of course, you'll need to make sure they are reliable and are able to pay out if you have an accident.

It's never fun to think about being charged more for insurance because you have not-so-great credit. But if you consider the above options when shopping around or adjusting coverage, you may be able to lower your auto insurance quotes considerably - but it might not always be the best choice for you.

It's no secret that car insurance companies sometimes come up with policy features/riders that are basically useless. While some features like roadside assistance, rental reimbursement, gap coverage and towing and labor can be very beneficial, some being offered just aren't.

So in case you're not sure of what features you want before buying an auto insurance policy, take a look at the top five features that you can pretty much do without.

Photo by brian cors

1. Customized Equipment

Customized equipment features can cover any variety of parts on your car, including the customized wheels, spoilers, and customized paint or decals. While this isn't a bad option to have if you own a "Pimp My Ride" styled car, if you have a run-of-the-mill, point A to point B car, you don't need to insure anymore than the car itself - and of course, the passengers in it.

Photo by thefatnick

2. Sound System

If an insurer tries to convince you to add on sound system coverage when you're working with the standard manufacturer-installed system, you can feel free to throw any expletives you want their way as you tell them to remove the feature. This type of coverage protects your high-end sound system if it is stolen or damaged, but since warranties typically come with this type of purchase, you shouldn't need this feature at all.

Photo by aramk

3. Vehicle Rental/Trip Interruption

While this feature isn't entirely worthless, it's really not necessary unless you are an avid traveler. Usually, you can take advantage of some decent features with your rental car, credit cards, etc., that will help reimburse you quite impressively. So paying every month for this type of feature is essentially a waste of your money.

Photo by nedrai

4. CD/DVDs

Do you carry that many CDs and DVDs that you feel the need to insure them - alone? Well, if the answer is yes then you can take advantage of CD/DVD coverage that will reimburse you for a certain amount of the loss of the digital media used with your car's stereo as long as they were in the car at the time of loss. For most people, however, this is just throw-away coverage.

Photo by sea turtle

5. Auto Glass

If you already have a comprehensive auto insurance policy, it will cover broken glass. So paying for additional auto glass coverage is only beneficial if you carry only liability coverage and for some reason worry that your crazy ex-boyfriend/girlfriend will smash your car windows.

When obtaining your quote for auto insurance, whether online or in person with an insurer, you want to double check that you're not about to pay for these or other worthless auto insurance features. Affording auto coverage can be tough enough without having to pay for features that you will never use.

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