high risk auto insurance

High Risk Auto Insurance

In order to keep your auto owners insurance as inexpensive as possible and avoid a high risk auto insurance, you need to counteract any negative risk factors you may have with positive factors that help lower your risk profile. For example, if you've recently had an accident or moving violations, you'll pay a higher rate. But many insurance companies will give you a discount for taking defensive driver training, because the training helps offset the risk of a poor driving record.

What decides a high risk driver?
More factors decide this than you may expect. Here are the big ones:

• Driving record. Everybody knows that at-fault accidents will increase your rates, but tickets and not-at-fault accidents can too. Why? For every speeding ticket you get, your chances of being involved in a traffic accident rise by 100%, and being involved in multiple car accidents, (even if you're "not at fault") may suggest a pattern of reckless driving.
  


• Personal profile. This probably doesn't come as a surprise, either. And there's not much you can do about it. Insurance companies will always consider men a greater risk than women, teens greater than adults, and urban dwellers greater than rural folk.
  


• Continuous coverage. Whether you've carried auto insurance coverage continuously over the past few years will affect your ability to get a policy now. That's because the assumption is that you've either been driving without coverage (a big no-no!) or had your policy canceled by the previous insurer.
  


• Your credit history. It may not seem fair, but your credit is a factor that increasingly influences other areas of your life, including insurance. Statistics show that drivers with poor credit file more auto insurance claims, and so companies use this info to classify high-risk drivers.

But there are a few things you can do to cut high risk auto insurance costs now. Consider driving an older car and dropping collision and comprehensive coverages. Or, if you can accept the risk, carry lower amounts of other standard coverages.
And don't forget that shopping online is a great way to access high risk auto insurance companies in your area. You can comparison shop between several offers to find lower rates on your auto insurance!