Monday, September 9, 2013

The factors affecting auto insurance quotes are so annoying

It doesn't take a scientist or insurance know-all to understand the most important factors affecting insurance rates. After all, you get to see them every time you're getting auto insurance quotes: all the fields you have to fill are exactly the things that will affect your rates to various degrees. Most of these factors seem rather logic and at-their-place, but there is also a considerable number of factors that may seem rather irrelevant. But to make things even stranger than they are, most of these factors will actually be used by insurers to a large extent and will have a considerable influence on your final auto insurance quotes. It is therefore important to understand what are the annoying factors used by insurers and the actual reason why they are being used. How old are you? The first confusing thing about auto insurance quotes is that you're asked about your age. Does it really matter how old you are? In fact, it matters a lot for the insurer, to the point where the difference in auto insurance quotes between various age groups can be double or even triple! How is that so? Insurers state that the age grouping is due to the fact that drivers from different age groups tend to file various numbers of claims on average, so the average quotes for different groups are different. Young drivers and senior car owners tend to hold the record in the number of claims, so they are usually charged with much higher rates as compared to mid-age drivers who are considered statistically as the safest. Girls get better seats Your gender also has its say in the auto insurance quotes you get. Despite the widespread belief, women actually get to pay less because they are statistically better drivers than men. Driving and parking skills don't count here, it's the number of claims that matters the most. And it turns out that women cause fewer accidents and get fewer payouts from insurers than men. That's why girls usually get more competitive quotes than guys of the same age driving the same cars. Single or married? Are you single or married with children? The answer to this question will also have its weight in the quotes you'll get from the insurer. It was observed that married car owners are less aggressive on the road and tend to get into fewer accidents in general. Maybe it's because they get more responsible now that they have families, or maybe there are different psychological reasons for this. But it's still a fact that single men and women usually get slightly higher auto insurance quotes than their married peers. What's your degree? Have a college degree or dropped out of high school? Education is another weird factor used by insurers to calculate their rates. Insurance experts claim that people with higher education tend to have better jobs, higher income and show a more responsible attitude on the road, which is reflected in a lower number of claims. At the same time, people who have failed to graduate from high school tend to get into more crashes and have more problems with traffic authorities, so they file more claims on average. Now, this certainly doesn't mean that all MBAs are perfect drivers while school dropouts always break the law. But it's another situation when the minority gets to pay for the majority. Are you paying debts on time? But of all the things people consider irrelevant and weird when it comes to calculating rates, the most inappropriate things is of course the use of credit scores. In fact, most people don't even know of this since insurance companies don't have to notify anyone about accessing their clients' credit ratings. Now, if you think that it doesn't make any sense, insurance analysts have the answer as always. Statistically, people with higher credit scores are more responsible drivers and cause fewer accidents compared to people with lower than average scores. So the way you handle your debts and deal with credit lines has a direct impact on your auto insurance quotes.