Moving in with your significant other may mean that you have learned to overlook their faults. However, if your other half is a bad driver, your insurance provider may not feel the same way. Your partner’s bad driving habits may impact your premium. Fortunately, there are ways to keep your rate low under one roof.
1. Multi-vehicle discount
Insurance providers typically offer multi-vehicle discounts to households with more than one vehicle on a policy. This may provide families with a lower premium overall. However, if a driver on your policy has an at-fault collision, licence suspension, conviction, or a combination of violations, you may see a dramatic increase in your insurance rate. Your insurance company may decide not to offer the driver with accidents or tickets coverage.
Compare auto insurance quotes as a couple and separately to see if a multi-vehicle discount can save you money. Even if you maintain separate policies, your rate may go up because you have a driver with a poor driving history living under your roof. Although your premium may increase, you may still end up saving overall with a multi-vehicle discount.
2. Multi-line discount
If you decide to keep your auto insurance policies separate, then consider saving elsewhere.
Combining home and auto insurance under one provider may offer additional savings. Insurance companies may extend a discount between 10 and 15% per policy included in the bundle. A multi-line discount can be even more beneficial for households with additional policies, like life insurance or motorcycle insurance.
3. Accident forgiveness
No one wants to admit that they’re a bad driver, so you may want to tread lightly when suggesting this next option. If you think your spouse may have an at-fault collision, you should consider adding accident forgiveness coverage to your policy before an event occurs. This insurance add-on forgives a driver’s first at-fault collision and may prevent increasing rates.
However, this feature doesn’t mean the collision is magically waived from a driver’s record. Unfortunately, collisions appear on a driver’s history for six years. If a driver were to consider switching companies, this collision would be visible to the new insurance provider and may affect rates.
4. Primary driver
Some vehicles are worth more than others, which means some claims will be higher in the event of a collision. If you have two vehicles, suggest driving the one that would have a higher replacement value, leaving the lower value vehicle in the hands of your spouse. Most importantly, make sure both vehicles have the proper coverage.
Collision and comprehensive coverage can help cover the costs of damage to your vehicle.
Collision coverage typically covers:
- A collision between you and another vehicle
- A collision between your car and an object
- A single-car collision such as a rollover
- A collision involving an animal
Comprehensive coverage generally covers:
- Fire damage
- Vandalism
- Theft of your vehicle
- Some weather-related damage
5. Compare car insurance quotes
You may not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but you can try! While minor tickets appear on your record for three years and collisions for six, there is plenty of time to earn a clean slate and potential savings.
It may take time before you can completely reevaluate your insurance situation; however, that shouldn’t stop you from comparing rates before renewal. There are vast price differences between companies and how they view driving profiles. Often, you can find the best rate by shopping around.
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