Most car insurance shoppers are cost-conscious. When they turn to your agency for assistance, it's up to you to provide them with satisfactory results. A careful attention to detail will help you maximize clients' ability to save by adjusting the terms of their policies accordingly. However, you can also help them save by applying appropriate discounts to their policies. In many cases, clients can qualify for these important savings. Here's how you can ensure that they do.
Always consider the way that different discounts can apply to different clients. While some drivers might not qualify, others still might.
Understanding Insurance Discounts
All of your insurance carriers likely offer car insurance discounts. However, these are not discounts that apply to all policies. They only apply to drivers who meet certain qualifications.
These are usually the drivers who are the lowest risks to insure. Since most insurers base policy premiums on a driver's likelihood of filing a claim, those who have the lowest chance of doing so likely will pay the least for their coverage. These are also the drivers who are most-likely to qualify for discounts.
When a client qualifies for a discount, you can reduce their premium by a certain percentage. The client will continue to qualify for this price reduction as long as they meet certain qualifications. If the insured person no longer meets these requirements, then the discount will expire, likely the next time they try to renew their policies. Some insurers also allow drivers to qualify for savings after the have been customers for a longer time period.
There are numerous types of discounts out there. Some relate to an insured person's driving qualities. Others relate to their ability to maintain good coverage. Still more relate to demographics.
Payment Discounts
Often, insurers reward those who are the best customers. These are the drivers who are most likely to be long-term customers, and to be reliable when it comes to maintaining their coverage.
- Automatic renewal discounts apply to those who sign up to let their policies renew year over year. This will allow the insurer to renew a policy without the client's intervention every year. Therefore, there is no chance of a coverage lapse.
- Auto-pay discounts are similar in that they allow insurers to automatically deduct a clients' regular premium from their bank accounts. Therefore, they won't have to worry about waiting for clients to pay for coverage, and possibly miss payments.
- Some insurers also offer up-front payment discounts. If the insured agrees to pay their annual premium in-full at the start of their policy term, they won't have to pay again until their policy is set to renew.
Other long-term customer discounts will apply if drivers continue to buy coverage from their insurer for a number of years.
Driving Discounts
There are multiple discounts that relate to a driver's ability to take responsibility for being a good driver. Insurers will often award accident-free discounts to drivers who go a certain number of years without having wrecks. Other driving discounts might apply if they install a vehicle safety monitoring device on their car. This allows insurers to collect certain information about the insured person's driving habits and compare it to those of other drivers. They can offer a discount for using this device.
Additionally, other drivers might qualify for discounts because of other demographics. For example, memberships in certain professional and civic organizations can help a driver qualify for savings. Some drivers — including students and senior citizens — might qualify for discounts as long as they remain in school or remain accident-free.
Whenever your insurance customers need an affordable car insurance policy, don't hesitate to apply appropriate coverage discounts as they qualify for them. Encourage them to review their coverage annually and see if they can get new discounts.
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