July 13, 2011

How Omitting Information Can Harm Your Car Insurance Rates

When searching for car insurance, people often simply focus on the make and model of their car and the year of its make. Sometimes even the amount of miles on the car is considered during this process. However, there are a number of factors that go into an auto insurance quote that ultimately determine how much you will pay. Insurance companies take into account all of these factors when calculating your auto insurance policy rate. Bad car insurance rates result when you omit a thing or two when filling out information for quotes. This is one of the main reasons why bad auto insurance rates happen - a lack of information on the part of the policyholder.

It's not always a whole lot of information that is omitted that results in bad car insurance rates. Sometimes it's just one or two pieces of key information that are missing or omitted by the policyholder that turn a good insurance policy into a bad one. You must make sure, before you go into the insurance company's office or fill out information online for a quote and a subsequent policy, that you have all of the necessary information with you. Those who go in unprepared are often the reason why bad auto insurance rates are given.

Insurance companies need to know things like your age and the age of all the drivers who will be operating the vehicle(s) in question. If you fail to provide the age of each driver, either purposefully or accidentally, the resulting rates will be invalid. Along with this information is the driving history of each of the vehicle's operators. The driving history involves both the driver's licenses of each driver, as well as traffic or violation history of those drivers. If points are not reported or if an accident, no matter how small or how big, is omitted during the process, the rates you receive will not truly reflect what you should be paying. Points and accidents are some of the biggest factors taken into consideration when creating a policy rate. The rate will be skewed by missing or incorrect information, resulting in a gap in insurance.

There are other factors also such as the condition of the car. If you need insurance on a car and have told the insurance agent that it is in pristine condition, when really it is not, then the rate will not reflect the true amount of the policy. Many agents will ask for pictures if the car is not present. It is important to present the agent with the most recent photo of the car. Make sure all information is made available and accurate.