Auto insurance is something that everyone is required by law to have, and the auto insurance companies know this fact and take full advantage. If you’re looking for auto insurance, you’ll have to be prepared to deal with all kinds of scams and hidden problems. Read on to find out how.

It’s very important to keep your driving record spotless. If you have accidents or driving tickets on your record, this can vastly increase the amount you have to pay for your insurance. If you already have an accident or tickets on your driving record, you may be able to lower your insurance costs by taking a traffic course.

If you have a shiny new car, you won’t want to drive around with the evidence of a fender bender. So your auto insurance on a new car should include collision insurance as well. That way, your car will stay looking good longer. However, do you really care about that fender bender if you’re driving an old beater? Since states only require liability insurance, and since collision is expensive, once your car gets to the “I don’t care that much how it looks, just how it drives” stage, drop the collision and your auto insurance payment will go down dramatically.

If you can afford to do so, save some money on your car insurance by paying the entire year’s premium at once. Most insurers will offer the option to pay premiums monthly. But this adds on a fee for the convenience, which can add up over the course of the year. You can still save by splitting the annual premium into two payments.

If you’re currently covered by a car insurance policy and happen to see the same policy for a better price, do not jump at the offer right away. A lot of drivers will instantly switch sides when they see the dollar signs, but they never bother to read the fine print. Companies lure you in with the promise of low payments, but leave you lacking in coverage, so always be weary of this fact.

Before you decide to purchase any auto insurance policy, one of the first things you should do is calculate your total mileage. Some people do not drive their vehicles that often, and they may be privy to certain discounts if they only use their automobiles for work use or other limited uses. Driving less means you are less of a risk.

If you are married, you can drop your monthly auto insurance premium payments by simply putting your spouse on your policy. A lot of insurance companies see marriage as a sign of stability and assume that a married person is a safer driver than a single person, especially if you have kids as a couple.

As an automobile insurance customer, you should always be on the lookout for scams out there. With new insurance companies popping up every day, some of them make bold statements and promise to offer lower monthly premiums, but the coverage is cut-rate at best and is likely to drastically increase after you file a claim.

Being an auto dealership can have it’s insurance perks. You must maintain insurance policies on the vehicles you carry, but you can get a deal for this through dealers insurance. These policies will allow you to drive any of the company owned cars, essentially eliminating the need for personal auto insurance.

As you read at the beginning of this article, auto insurance scams and tricks are incredibly common. If you know how to avoid them, though, finding the insurer that’s right for you is simple and easy. We hope that this information helps you to make an informed decision when insuring your vehicle.