7 Lesser-Known Auto Insurance Discounts

Discovering ways to lower your auto insurance premium rates can be easy by simply asking your agent to explain what discounts are available. The important thing to realize, however, is that, in most cases, you must ask in order to learn about the discounts for which you qualify. Available discounts, although they may differ from one insurer to another, can actually save you hundreds per year. Each time you take out a new auto insurance policy or renew existing coverage, you should ask again about discounts. Here are some of the lesser-known discounts to consider.

1. Bundling – Bundling discounts are offered by many auto insurers because it increases their business as well as providing you with a discount. If you have multiple autos, a motorcycle or boat, or even homeowner's insurance, covering all these with the same insurer can bring you significant discounts.
2. Telematics – some insurers, including Progressive, can install a tracking device in your vehicle that sends information back to the company letting them know your driving habits. They can learn how you drive, when you drive, how many miles you travel daily, how often you slam on your brakes, etc. They can get an accurate profile on your level of risk as a driver. Lower risk can produce lower premium rates.
3. Driving Safely – even without telematics, your insurer can tell how safely you drive by checking your driving record for accidents, moving violations, and claims activity.
4. Safety devices – while airbags and anti-lock brakes may not earn discounts with most insurers any longer, devices such as blind-spot detectors or rear-view cameras often will. Anti-theft devices, such as ignition cut-off switches, Lojack and car alarms may also give you a premium discount.
5. Prepaying – paying your entire annual insurance premium upfront or switching to paperless, online billing will often give you a discount.
6. Group membership – belonging to certain groups, such as AAA or AARP, can bring you a group discount from some insurers. You may also be eligible for having a certain profession, being in the military, or as a member of a certain labor union. Only one way to find out, though – ask!
7. Student – students maintaining a certain GPA may earn a student's discount. College students on their parents' policy and going to school 100+ miles from home and without a car may provide a discount for their parents' coverage.

3 Answers to Uncommon Insurance Questions

The subject of insurance can be a confusing one, and for someone with little or no experience in this area, there may be countless questions to be answered. If you've ever heard the term “insurance poor” used by someone, it likely came from someone facing premium payments for:

• Homeowner's (or renter's) insurance
• Vehicle insurance
• Life insurance
• Health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Disability insurance
• Travel insurance
• Umbrella insurance
• Insurance on a car loan

For someone owning a business, you can add to this:

• Professional liability insurance
• Property insurance
• Workers' compensation insurance
• Product liability insurance
• Vehicle insurance
• Business interruption insurance
• Home-based business insurance if involved in a home business

Who Should You Ask For Info?

When faced with deciding what kinds of insurance you need and how much you should consider for each type, it's best to obtain the advice of a professional. Better than going to an agent representing a singular insurer, you would likely be better served by consulting with an independent insurance agent able to tap into coverage offered by multiple companies in order to get an unbiased idea regarding what's available and the ins and outs of each type of coverage. In asking questions, here are some uncommon questions to consider that don't often come up:

1. Q – If I allow someone else to drive my vehicle and they're involved in an accident, are they covered by my vehicle insurance?
   A – In most cases, anyone else driving your vehicle will be covered by your insurance if involved in an accident, provided they are determined to be at fault.

2. Q – The water pipes in my home burst and ruined many of my personal possessions. Will my homeowner's policy cover replacement?
   A – Such water damage is covered by most standard homeowner's policies with a few caveats. Valuable items such as expensive artwork, furs, collectibles (such as a baseball card or stamp collection), jewelry, etc., will have limits, often conservative amounts, on how much will be paid on a claim.

If you're away from home for seven days or longer during cold weather and the pipes freeze and rupture because you didn't make provisions to prevent this, you likely won't be covered.

3. Q – If a family of rodents gains entry to my attic space and causes significant damage, will my insurance pay for repairs?
   A – Unfortunately, critter damage caused to your home is not covered.

Clean Your Dryer Vent to Prevent a Fire

Few people may understand the fire danger posed by clothes dryers when they're not properly maintained. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, however, an estimated 15,500 dryer fires occur in the U.S. each year, causing injuries, deaths and a financial cost of almost one hundred million dollars per year. In addition, improperly vented dryers have been blamed for causing hundreds of cases of carbon monoxide poisoning. Most all of this can be narrowed down to one problem – dryer lint buildup. The solution is simple – regular cleaning of your dryer vent system.

The Danger of Lint

Lint, which is composed of broken fibers from materials being dried in your clothes dryer, is highly combustible and will readily burn when exposed to an ignition source. Clothes dryers have lint traps built into them, and these traps should be cleaned out each and every time before drying a load of clothes. Failure to do so will allow the lint to build up on the lint trap screen, posing not only an increased fire hazard but also causing the drying efficiency of the machine to be lessened due to the obstruction causing reduced air flow.

Clean Your Lint Trap and More

As important as it is to clean your clothes dryer's lint trap before drying every load, there's more to keeping your vent system safe than this. Your dryer exhausts hot air through a vent pipe or metal hose through an outside wall in your home to the atmosphere. If your dryer is placed next to an exterior wall, the vent pipe run can be relatively short, extending just from the dryer, through the wall and to the outside.

Because your lint trap doesn't trap every bit of lint, allowing some amount of lint to make it past the trap and into the vent pipe, this can be a point of lint accumulation. A short vent pipe run is usually fairly easy to keep clean.

Some dryers, however, require much longer vent pipe runs due to the fact that the dryer is located away from an exterior wall. Some vent runs can be quite extensive, twisting and turning through walls, crawl spaces, etc. The longer the run, the easier for lint to build up and, through accumulation, become a fire hazard. These vent systems need to be professionally cleaned every year or two. This is typically not a DIY exercise.