Required Information for Getting Auto Insurance Quotes
Shopping for Auto Insurance Quotes
If you are planning to insure your car, there are certain basic information that insurers will like you to supply. Therefore, it is good that you have them handy so that you don’t keep going to and fro. For this reason, I will like to summarise the required information for your auto insurance below.
Name and Address: You cannot insure your car as an anonymous person. If you want to insure your car, you should be willing to provide the insurer with your name and address. Your name is mainly for identification but your address may have a very significant impact on your auto insurance rates. Even if you just want to get quotes in order to make comparison so that you can choose the best quote, every insurance company will like to ask for your zip code. Every location across America has been categorized based on their zoning risks. Therefore, if you live in a place where there is high incidence of theft, the zoning risks in that area will be high. This will impact on the auto insurance rates you will be charged.
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Social Security Number: All your credit information are linked to your Social Security Number. So, for any credit check to be carried out on you, the insurer will need the information. If your credit score is bad, you may not be able to get cheap auto insurance quotes. If you want cheap auto insurance, you will need to plan this ahead. You should try to improve your credit score before applying for auto insurance. If you are fond of making late payments or maxing out your credit, you will need to stop this practice. That may be part of the reasons for your bad credit.
Driver’s license: In fact, it is an offence for anybody to drive without a valid driver’s license. Before you can get any insurance company that will be willing to insure your car, you should be able to tender your driver’s license. Expired driver’s license is not valid. Therefore, if your driver’s license has expired, you will need to get a new one.
Date of Birth: Insurance companies need to know your date of birth so that they can ascertain your age. If you are still a teen, your insurance rate may be high. Teens and young drivers are more susceptible to getting involved in accidents. But as you are growing older having more driving experience, your auto insurance rate will begin to drop. However, if you are a student with a good grade, you may qualify for good grade car insurance discount. Not all insurance companies offer this type of discount. Therefore, shopping around may help you save some costs.
Marital Status: You should not be embarrassed if you are asked about your marital status. This is one of the factors that insurance companies take into consideration when assessing your risk profile. Married people usually get lower auto insurance rates than singles. It is believed that married people will drive more responsibly thereby reducing their chance of getting involved in an accident.
Profession: Your profession has a way of influencing your insurance risks. There are certain professions that require you to always be on the roads while some may also mean driving in a long distance at a stretch. If you spend more time driving, this will increase your chance of being hit by another vehicle. Someone covering a long distance may even dose off while driving. Insurance companies will take all these factors into consideration to determine your auto insurance premium.
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Information about the vehicle: Your auto insurance premium is not just a function of the cost of the car. Your insurer will be interested in the type, year, make, model and installed safety features of your car. Certain cars may not be expensive but still attract high car insurance premium. It may be that the type of the car has history of theft. Surprisingly, a car like Limousine may not attract high auto insurance premium like sports cars. This is due to the fact that Limousine may hardly be involved in an accident or get stolen like sports cars.
Driving History: How long you have been driving and how safe your driving history has been will influence your auto insurance rate. If you have history of accidents or you have been issued tickets for over-speeding or violations of other traffic rules, you may pay higher premium than somebody with a clean driving history. People with clean driving history can enjoy no-claim discount.
Use of the Car: How do you intend to use your car? This is a question you should expect from your car insurer and you should prepare to tell the truth. Cars that are used for private purpose will cost less to insure than a car that is used for business. You should not in a bid to save costs refuse to let your car insurer to know that you will be using the car for business. If you fail to disclose this or other vital information, this may cause your insurance claims to be denied or the entire policy to be cancelled.
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Other Named Drivers: If you are not going to be the only one driving the car, you need to name other drivers. The information about the named drivers will impact your auto insurance rate. Insurance companies will assess the other named drivers individually based on their peculiarity.
Insurance history: If this is not your first time to insure your car, your insurer will want to probe into your insurance history. Have you filed claims before? If you are changing your car insurer, the new insurer may want to know the reason. If you allow your existing insurance to expire, you may be asked for the reason.
I believe that you are now equipped to a certain extent, about what to expect while shopping for auto insurance quotes. However, you need to understand that each insurance company may require other information which were not have been mentioned here. But if you want to get a fair deal, it is always good to shop around. You should start the process early enough so that your current car insurance policy doesn’t expire before you make a new deal.