Car Insurance - Time To Check Around

Another great way to save money is with car insurance.

It pays to shop around and look for the lowest rates. You can accomplish this online by simply perusing the car insurance sites. 99% of them will offer free quotes.

By keeping a spreadsheet, you will be able to visually see which insurance company offers the lowest rates. It’s especially a good time to check if you’ve always had the same insurance company. Even calling your rep to see if you can get a lower rate may be just enough to pay less.

If the company senses that you may be leaving them for lower rates, a smart insurance agent will do what they can to keep your business. Especially if you have a good record with them. No tickets, accidents and always making your payments means you are a solid customer. And rightfully so, you should be rewarded with lower rates.

Another point you should make is if you started taking advantage of mass transit. Basically, the less you drive, the lower your insurance premiums should be. As an example, on my insurance policy, I told the agent I drive about 12,000 miles a year for work and pleasure. Now that I don’t frive as much, I told my agent and my insurance dropped by $253.49.

So do yourself a favor and start with your current company. But I would definitely get some quotes beforehand so you know what to expect. If you current insurance company won’t budge, then by mentioning the premiums from other companies will send the message that you are serious about saving money.

Free Quotes From Multiple Car Insurance Companies

Carpool - You Will Need a Carpool Agreement

Now depending on who you are carpooling with. I strongly recommend you have a formal agreement.

The agreement should contain:

• release of liability in case of accident
• contributing to a carpool account - no free rides
• location of pick-up and drop-off
• who’s driving on what days

Release of liability - if you are driving, you definitly want to clear yourself of any legal proceedings should an accident occur. What may be your friends now can quickly change if they are injured during an accident. You should be free and clear of any liability since you’re simply providing a service to save them money.

Carpool funds - If you will be the sole driver or drive the majority of the time.

You should get reimbursed for:

• Gas
• Insurance
• Tires
• Tune-ups
• Car washes
• Depreciation

The problem is, it’s hard to put a price on many of these things. Let alone try and split it up amongst others.

Of course you can do it out of the goodness of your heart, but when it comes time for you to buy a new car - will they help you pay for it? It can seem trivial to some and if they really feel strongly about it, let them be the driver. Your vehicle was probably picked because it gets the best gas mileage and you shouldn’t be penalized for being a smart buyer.

So where do you start in figuring all this out?

First you’ll need to list what will be replaced under normal conditions. things like oil changes, tune-ups, tires, batteries, windshield wipers, other fluids, brakes, clutch (if manual transmission)…etc

Personally I think you are doing everyone a favor by sacrificing your car for the group. So I would throw in the cost of car washes, wax jobs, cleanings and other mundane routine tasks.

If your car isn’t brand new and you have kept records of all the time you’ve had your car serviced, that’s a great place to start. You’ll have the proof of what the upkeep costs and no one can deny it.

So once you get the cost of repairs and upkeep, you’ll need to divide it fairly with the members of your car pool club. You can add up all the expenses for the previous year and divide it by 300. Why divide it by 300 and not 365? Because the wear and tear and residual value after stacking up all that mileage is unknown.

Remember, you are sacrificing your car and if one member has the exact same car, after 2 years - how much is your car worth? How much is the other car worth? A lot more because it has less mileage.

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Of course you can always use the gas stations gas card for the same affect. But there are limitations on where you can use them and I personally enjoy using a card that I can use beside at the gas pump.

Not to mention, it’s one less bill I get in the mail

I know Discover Card has an offer for cash back gas savings. It’s definitely something to look into.

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