Every year, your car insurance policy keeps going up. What is it? Inflation? Your driving? Your vehicle? Car insurance is pretty complicated — it could really be a number of factors. Your car insurance could be going up for a major reason or just a lot of tiny ones. Let’s take a look at what causes car insurance to go up and why you might want to shop around with someone like Affordable Car Insurance Tampa.
Your insurance company could just be increasing prices year-over-year
Sure, inflation could be a factor in your premium going up. You might not have had any driving violations or accidents, but the cost of living has increased, so your insurance company may raise rates to cover their own costs.
If this is the case, you might want to start shopping around for a new insurer that better fits your budget. A lot of insurance companies will just raise rates year-over-year because they know that most people don’t want to change their insurance companies and aren’t shopping around.
You may not be getting the discounts that are currently available to you
When was the last time you checked to see if there were any new discounts available? Your insurer probably offers a few different discounts, and you could be missing out on some serious savings.
Some common discounts are good driver discounts, multi-policy discounts (bundling your car insurance with other types of insurance, like homeowners insurance), and discounts for safety features on your car.
It’s possible that you’ve lost discounts — such as student discounts — after you’re no longer a student, that you now need to replace.
You might be driving more than you think
If you’ve been driving a lot more than usual, that could be another reason why your rates have gone up. If you’ve been racking up the miles, your insurer may see you as a higher risk and charge you accordingly. Of course, there’s really no way to avoid this if you need to drive those miles. Instead, you may want to talk to your insurance company about getting a policy that allows for higher rates.
You could have had an accident or received high-risk tickets
If you’ve had an accident or gotten any tickets, your rates will most likely go up. Your insurer may see you as a higher risk and feel that they need to charge you more to cover their own costs. If this is the case, you may want to start looking for a new insurer that offers accident forgiveness.
A lot of insurers will offer this as a way to entice new customers, and it could save you a lot of money in the long run. Just make sure that you’re not being overcharged for your accidents or tickets — you should only be paying a fair price.
You may have purchased another, more expensive car
If you’ve purchased a new car, your rates will probably go up. A more expensive car is going to cost more to insure because it’s worth more money. If you wreck it, they’re going to have to replace it.
That all being said, you’re probably not going to avoid purchasing a more expensive car just because it raises your insurance rates. Plus, you’ve already bought the car. The better bet is to find an insurance company that’s more affordable.
You can avoid this by shopping for the best car insurance every year
Of course, the best way to avoid your Florida car insurance rates going up is to shop around for a new policy every year. By doing this, you can make sure that you’re always getting the best possible rate.
There are a lot of websites that will allow you to compare rates from different insurers, so you can be sure that you’re getting the best possible deal. The most important thing is to make sure that you’re getting the coverage that you need at a price that’s acceptable to your budget. You don’t want to sacrifice necessary coverage to get a low rate.
Want to learn more? We can help. Contact us to find out more about the best insurance for you.
