A recent study has shown that only 16 percent of American motorists actually take advantage of all savings opportunities.
A new report was recently released by insuranceQuotes.com and has shown that a large majority of consumers in the United States are not taking advantage of all of the potential auto insurance discounts for which they might qualify with their providers.
The report showed that only 16 percent of drivers had actually asked their insurance company about discounts.
Among the types of auto insurance discount that are common are marriage, low mileage, good student, occupational, and defensive driver savings. Unfortunately, 84 percent of policyholders had not actually inquired into whether or not their insurance company offered this type of savings opportunity, so they don’t know whether or not it is available to them or if they are eligible to take advantage of it.
The issue is that these auto insurance discounts can generate a considerable savings for customers who use them.
Among the main findings in the study are the following:
• Drivers with low mileage pay less for their coverage. Someone who puts under 5,000 miles on their vehicle per year pays 8 percent less than someone who drives three times that distance. The average savings for low mileage is highest in California, where it is 25 percent. Next are Alaska and Washington D.C. where the savings is 11 percent in both places. Only North Carolina does not provide drivers with savings for driving shorter distances.
• Insurers will usually charge less to drivers who are married. That said, only 13 percent of Americans have confirmed their married status with their auto insurance companies. Young adults are the most likely to benefit from this savings, as the percentage of the reduction shrinks with the driver’s age, reducing from 21 percent at the age of 20 to 2 percent at the age of 30 years.
• People in certain occupations are considered to be safer drivers than others. Nurses, teachers and accountants can save, though only 8 percent of people have asked for this reduction.
• Every one of the leading 10 insurers give auto insurance discounts to students with good grades. However, only a fraction of drivers who are students have asked for this opportunity from their insurers.