College Student Car Insurance - Tips on Getting the Best Rates for Students

Being young comes at a premium price when it comes to auto insurance. Insurance companies view young people under 25 as a high risk for making claims. It’s not that they hate you. They have factual statistics to back it up. Teenage and college aged individuals are the most likely age group to get into an accident. Some of it is due to inexperience driving, making poor decisions, and reckless driving. But, this doesn’t mean that every college student is a bad driver. In fact, the vast majority of you are very responsible drivers. Here’s a look at five tips to help you get better rates on your car insurance premiums.

1. Choose a higher deductible. For collision and comprehensive coverage, choose $500 or $1000 for your deductible, but make sure that you stash enough cash away in an emergency fund to cover your deductible if you do get in an accident.




2. Choose a safe car to drive. You can’t get around the fact that an insurance company will give you high rates based on your age. But, you can control what type of car you drive. Typically, a 4-door sedan with high safety ratings will yield lower premium rates than a sports car or SUV. I know, the Honda Accord doesn’t get the chicks, but the money you’ll save on insurance premiums can go towards money for dates.




3. Skip on collision coverage. Most young people drive clunkers. I drove a 1987 reddish-pink Nissan Sentra for two years. It was worth about $1,000. A friend of mine drove a $2,000 Pontiac Firebird for a year. If you have a clunker, you probably don’t need to pay for collision. Any car with a book value of less than $3,000 warrants skipping out on collision. The amount you’d spend on the premium could be saved every month and pay for another clunker.




4. Get good grades. Most auto insurance companies will give you a 10% to 15% discount on your auto insurance premium for having good grades. A 3.0 GPA or higher is usually the standard for receiving the discount.




5. Buy another policy with the same carrier. Many insurance companies will give you a discount for having multiple policies with them. I recommend coupling your auto insurance with renter’s insurance. Most college students don’t buy renter’s insurance. It will protect your personal property in an apartment from theft, vandalism, fire, water damage, and many other perils that can destroy your stuff. The best part is that you can pick up a $20,000 policy for $10 to $15 dollars a month.

Saving money is a learned habit. You’re not born with the gift of knowing how to save money. If you develop this habit throughout your college years, you will be very successful with your money. You will typically spend 10% to 15% of your monthly income on insurance premiums in your lifetime. It’s worth it to put the effort into saving money on your premiums.

Some of the earlier articles in this series cover the best checking account for college students, how you can make extra money in college, and the best student credit cards.

Stay tuned for tomorrow when we’ll cover saving money with student discounts.

These tips for saving money on auto insurance for college students is part of the College Student Money Guide.

• College Student Money Guide - Financial Tips for Student Success
• College Student Money Tips - Managing Your Money on Campus
• Student Health Insurance - Finding the Best Health Insurance Rates for College Students
• College Student Savings – How to Get the most out of Student Discounts
• How To Lower Your Homeowners Insurance Premiums Without Even Trying