Insurance Information toThink About for New Car Purchases

Consider these pieces of insurance information when you are shopping around for a new car.

Don’t forget about the price of your insurance coverage when you are shopping around for a new car.

When people start looking at buying a new car, the insurance premium for the new vehicle is one of the last things they consider. They look at the car they want, the cost of that car, the gas mileage, the maintenance costs, and the financing rates all before they remember that they are also going to have to be able to afford the insurance rates also.

So before you get your heart set on a new car, consider some of these insurance premium affecting issues as you are shopping.

Insurance Information Number One: Safety Ratings

How safe a vehicle is will ultimately affect a vehicle’s insurance premium. You can find results of safety testing through the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The coverages affected the most by a vehicle’s safety ratings are the coverages that pay for the medical bills of people inside your vehicle. These coverages are known as medical payments and personal injury protection. Ultimately, the higher the safety rating is for a vehicle the lower the premium on these coverages

Insurance Information Number Two: Price

How much a vehicle is will have a direct effect on how much your comprehensive and collision coverage will be. The higher the price tag on the vehicle, the higher the insurance premium for these two coverages will be.

The price of the vehicle affects these coverages because it determines how much an insurance company will have to pay out if you were to get into an accident. For example, the collision coverage for a 1989 Buick Skylark is going to be cheaper than a 2012 Mercedes Benz because the cost of the parts to fix the Mercedes is going to be considerably higher than the Skylark. Insurance companies don’t like losing money, so they are going to charge more for the Mercedes than the Buick to make up for the cost difference.

Insurance Information Number Three: Image

Most of us have seen the Charlie Sheen commercials for FIAT. Using this type of a spokesperson further amplifies the “bad boy” image that FIAT wants. However, it also helps to increase the insurance premium for this car.

The more bad boys drive this vehicle and get into high-speed or DUI/DWI car accidents, the worse the statistics become for this vehicle. When an insurance company sets insurance rates, they are going to set the rates higher for this type of vehicle because it has a higher chance of being in a car accident according to statistics.

On the other hand, when they look at vehicles like a minivan or a station wagon, the rates will be lower because the vehicle has a reputation of being a family type vehicle. These family vehicles don’t typically have drivers that take a lot of risks while driving because they have families to think about, so the statistics for these types of vehicles show that they have a lower chance of being in an accident.

Don’t Depend on This Insurance Information Alone

Because insurance varies from one person to the next don’t assume because your friend’s insurance premium went up or down when they purchased the same vehicle you are looking at that yours will do the same. The only true way to know what your insurance will do when you add this new vehicle is to contact your insurance agent and get a quote.

That way all of your personal information and discounts will be applied to the potential premium of the vehicle you are looking at purchasing, and it will give you a better idea of what insurance premium you can expect. The above insurance information is more of a guideline for you to consider when you start shopping around for a new car.