Easy question. The answer is “no”. While statistics show that certain car colors are more likely to be stopped for speeding, be involved in an accident, etc., car insurance companies do not use this information to rate your policy. When you call the office to make a vehicle change for a new purchase, we do not even ask the color of the new car. Most modern cars do not even have a digit in the Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) for the color of the car since you could easily paint your car a different color making the VIN inaccurate. Even though insurance companies do not use color statistics to formulate rates, they do use other statistics that you can use to your advantage to keep your auto insurance rates affordable.
Work on Improving Your Credit Score
Believe it or not, statistics show that people with higher credit scores have fewer insurance claims. Your credit score has a huge impact on your home and auto insurance prices. We have even seen higher auto and home insurance prices for some senior citizens who although they have no debt and have had no tickets or accidents, they have low credit scores. Some seniors have a low credit scores since they have no credit cards or mortgage records to report to the credit bureaus each month. Even if you are debt free, having a small credit card that you use for things like gas and groceries that you pay the card off each month will help you keep your credit score up. Free websites like creditkarma.com will allow you to check your credit score without hurting your credit.
Keep Your Record Claim Free
Do not turn in small claims. You lose your claims free discount even if you turn in a small claim or if you turn in a claim and the insurance company ends up paying little or nothing after your deductible is applied. It is true that you buy insurance to protect you from having to pay for damage. But if you want to keep your rates stable over your lifetime, you should think of insurance as something that will protect you for major things and you “self-insure” for smaller claims. Even small comprehensive, glass, and towing claims can hurt you over time. Statistics show that people who turn in numerous small claims are more likely to be involved in an accident. Raise your deductibles to a higher amount such as $1000 with a lower glass claim deductible such as $50. Over your lifetime, you will come out better even if you have to pay for some small $500-$999 claims yourself.
If you would like additional suggestions on how to improve your insurance rates, just give us a call at the office. We can not only offer quotes from our companies, but you may be able to transfer your current policy to our agency without having to change insurance companies. You can transfer your current policy to The Holland Agency from many companies such as Allstate, Nationwide, Kemper, Travelers, Progressive, Safeco, Foremost, Grange, and many more.