Used Car Insurance (cont.)
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While new-versus-used can affect the premium, insuring a vehicle basically boils down to the driver's record and the history of the particular model. Smart shoppers should consider these other factors when looking for wheels.
It's probably a little late to touch up a battered driving record when you're ready to buy a car, but it can't hurt to take some extra care in the months before your purchase. Tickets and crashes obviously are bad, and you definitely don't want to get any new ones. If you already have some black marks on your record, consider remedial efforts to patch things up, such as classes offered by many states to help reduce the number of accumulated points on your record. If you have any tickets pending, it may be possible to use a visit to such a school and continuing good behavior to have the unfortunate event removed from your driving record. In this case, it may be best to postpone buying that 800-horsepower Demonic Road Shredder GT (the limited edition with the aluminum bodywork) until you have your driving record in the best possible condition. Your location and parking arrangements may also affect premiums, according to Dan Kummer, director of auto insurance for the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America. Having a garage in the suburbs beats urban street parking for insurance purposes, even if you can't get a decent bagel in the 'burbs. And the naked city is a lot harder on the hardware than leafy bedroom communities. "There's less density in the suburbs, so there's less likelihood of the car getting hit," says Kummer. Not all will consider parking when quoting premiums, but do keep in mind that each insurance company calculates rates differently, so it helps to address such items ahead of time. An important insurance factor you can control is the type of vehicle you purchase. "If the car is high performance, such as a Corvette versus a Honda Accord, it is going to cost more to insure," says Kummer. Needless to say, the Demonic Road Shredder is not likely to have accumulated a sterling actuarial record with the insurance companies. The car itself may be perfectly safe, it may have even aced the latest round of government and insurance institute crash tests, but the drivers it attracts generally are an irresponsible lot who have compiled an unenviable record of crashes. |
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