Safe Driving: a Surefire Way to Keep Auto Insurance in Check

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA, September 14, 2010 (Press-News.org) Although comparison shopping, maintaining a good credit score and driving vehicle models with good safety marks are all practices that will help a person get a reasonable rate on auto insurance, keeping a driving record free of accidents is still of the utmost importance in making sure those rates stay in place. Recently released government data show that Americans' accident trends have been improving, with the numbers indicating a 5 percent decrease in the accident rate between 2008 and 2009.

According to research produced by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the total number of auto accidents was down by 306,000 in 2009 from the year before. While this has obvious positive implications for drivers in that it means roads were safer last year than the year before, it also means more consumers may have been able to maintain cheap car insurance premiums.

Having at least one at-fault accident can potentially affect auto insurance rates for years. And, when an insurer sees the accident on a shopper's record, it could mean that they don't extend the good-driver discount to a prospective policyholder. The loss of this discount could mean a jump in rates of 20 percent, although this rate will vary.

States like North Carolina make it easy for drivers to understand how an accident can affect premium prices. That state's insurance infrastructure uses a point system dictating how much a policyholder's insurance price will increase as a result of accidents and traffic infractions. For insurance, if a driver in the state has one at-fault accident resulting in property damage or bodily injury that accounts for $1,800 or less in damages, the motorist will receive one point and an increase in rates of 25 percent.

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Considering that data show the average bodily injury claim in 2008 was $13,533 and the average property damage claim was $2,889, damages from an accident could add up to $1,800 with relative ease.

To learn more about keeping insurance costs down, shoppers can go to http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/cheap/ where visitors will be able to instantly compare premium estimates from a variety of carriers through use of the free online quote-comparison generator.