What Auto Insurance Discounts Are Available In Georgia?

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Is your car safe? It doesn’t have to be as safe as this little car, dodging flying cows and avoiding tornadoes, but a certain degree of safety should be expected from any vehicle, and the standards are only getting higher. Not only will a safe car aid in avoiding accidents, but if you have one then you can also expect a  auto insurance premium discount. People with safer cars file fewer claims, so they naturally are charged less on their car insurance premium. However, the more safe your car is, the more expensive it usually is as well, and more expensive cars do cost more. The auto insurance discount is higher for safe cars, but to get the best deal you should check in with a car that’s at least a couple of years old.

Here are a few things you should look at in regards to safety when you’re trying to buy a good car that will have a low auto insurance rate.

• How well does it wreck?

A big factor in a car’s insurance quote is its crash worthiness, which is determined by government crash tests. To find out how well your future vehicle does on these tests, you can go to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety website, where they have crash test results for side impact, front impact, injuries, and more.

• How is it built?

There are two factors under this category that will affect your vehicle’s safety and as a result your insurance quote, and they are

• Restraints.

These tend to be a given on any car, but they should be taken for granted. Restraints have caused the largest decline in injuries and deaths from car accidents, and it is unlikely to see anything that will work as well as a simple seat belt.

Other types of restraint devices include air bags, which can be placed in various areas of the vehicle. They work best when they are combined with seat belts, especially shoulder restraints which protect the person from the force of the air bag as well. Georgia auto insurance companies are actually required to have discounts for seat belts and air bags, even though almost all cars have them.

Active head restraints are also helpful. They protect your neck from breaking by being jerked back from the force of the crash. They can usually be adjusted according to height.

• Anti lock disc brakes.

Anti lock disc brakes are part of a new wave of panic compensation technology that help you from getting into an accident when conditions cause you to panic. For example, if you’re driving on an icy road and the person in front of you stops suddenly, then you might hit the brakes quickly as well to avoid crashing. In a normal car, this action could cause skidding and you might end up worse than if you hadn’t hit the brakes at all. With anti lock disc brakes, though, the system keeps the wheels from locking up and allows you to make sudden stops safely. Aside from that, many insurance companies provide discounts for them.

• Daytime running lights.

Many people might not realize the impact of these lights, because they don’t see why someone would need lights during the day, but daytime running lights help set a vehicle apart from its background and thus make it more noticeable. They do, in fact, lower the incidence of daytime car accidents.

Georgia Student Car Insurance Discounts

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Reader question:

What kind of deal can a busy college student get on her Georgia car insurance premium?

Maggie

Great question, Maggie.

I guess it all depends on why you’re busy! Georgia car insurance companies are both very punitive towards students because of their age, and at the same time pretty kind to them. Although your initial car insurance rates might be twice as much as those of someone twenty years older than you, companies offer you a variety of breaks that allow you to purchase your  car insurance premium at a more reasonable price.

A favorite break of mine is the good student discount, which is offered by most companies and allows students to get a certain amount off of their insurance premium if they make certain grades. The requirements differ depending on the state and the  car insurance company, so to be certain of how you will benefit, call your agent first.

Here’s a list of companies and how they treat the good student discount.

• GEICO offers a car insurance discount to students between the ages of sixteen and twenty five. In some states, you have to be unmarried and under the age of twenty one to benefit, but they don’t offer state specific details. In order to get the discount, you have to get a B average or above. The amount of the discount can be as much as fifteen percent off of your car insurance premium. GEICO has a lot of discounts, as a matter of fact, and if you think you might be eligible for more than just the good student discount, you should consider checking out their website and/or calling an agent to see where you stand and how that would affect your rates.
• Farmer’s Insurance is a little more strict in its requirements. In order to qualify, you must be unmarried; under the age of twenty five; you must be a full time student in either high school or college; you should be in the top twenty percent of your class; you need to have a B average or higher; and, if your school has a Dean’s List or Honor Roll, you need to be on it. Tougher, but if you’re as a busy a student as you say, you’ll probably be able to make it.
• Esurance also has a deal for good students who are enrolled full time in either high school or college. For these dedicated young people, qualification for the car insurance discount requires you to be under twenty five and have a grade point average of at least 3.0. Some states have additional requirements.

I hope this information was helpful to you, Maggie. Of course, these aren’t the only three companies that offer the good student discount, but looking at their requirements does give you a good idea of what to expect even if you’re going to go with a different car insurance company.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.