1. Any accidents?   Moving violations?  No?  Good for you—you just saved yourself a bundle.  The better your driving record is, the better your rates.  You knew that anyway, didn’t you?
2. Moving?  Consider the crime rate in the neighborhood you plan to move to.  Insurance companies do!  They base rates on your zip code, and how crime-free the area where you live has been in the past.  Insurers, after all, are in the business of risk—and low-risk zips mean savings for you.
3. Credit score good?  That means—so are your rates.  That’s right, that credit score even affects your car insurance!
4. Here’s something that may make you happier about getting older—the more age, the better and cheaper the insurance.  Young drivers (under 25) pay the highest rates around for their car insurance.  Don’t you feel better about middle age, now?
5. Should you marry that devoted girlfriend or boyfriend?  Your heart says yes, so go for it.  Married couples pay less on car insurance than singles.  If you were living together and got married, tell your agent, so he can consolidate policies.  You’ll save big money!  (Didn’t you want to use that for the honeymoon anyway?)
6. There’s still a lot of gender inequality in this country, but there’s one area where it balances the other way.  Women are awarded lower car insurance rates!  First, they are better drivers than men.  No brag, just statistics.  Second, they are definitely in better shape health-wise, lasting 5 years longer than a man will.  They are simply a lower risk.  Sorry, gentlemen.
7. Job in town, family in town, girlfriend or boyfriend in town?  Good for you!  The fewer miles you travel, the more you save on car insurance.  You’re at less risk for accidents, and that translates into dollars back in your wallet.

Chances are you found some good news in this list.  So—smile!  Happy motoring!

If you have ever rented a car for a short period of time, whether during a vacation, a business trip, or while your own automobile was being repaired, you have probably faced the question of whether to take out insurance at the rental agency desk when you rent the car. Paying your rental company for insurance on your rental car is necessary sometimes, but not always. In fact, much of the time rental car insurance ends up adding some fairly steep fees onto your rental even though the coverage you’re paying for may be completely redundant.

To know whether you need to write a check for the hefty chunk of change that many automobile rental companies collect for insurance coverage, all you need to do is spend a bit of time finding out exactly what kind of coverage you already have. In many cases, your regular auto insurance policy is more than sufficient to protect you financially if you do damage a rental car (if you have full coverage). Anyone who owns an automobile of their own has an insurance policy that gives them some level of coverage in case of damage to the car from an accident, theft, vandalism, or other mishap. It varies a bit from policy to policy, but most of the time this same coverage will apply to a car rented in the policy owner’s name. This means that if your car is fully insured, any rental car that you drive will probably be just as well covered as your personal automobile.

Of course, before you turn down added rental insurance at a rental car agency, make sure you have spoken to your personal insurance agent or a representative from the company that holds your policy to make absolutely sure your policy covers rental cars. If your auto insurance doesn’t cover your rental, you could be left holding a bill for tens of thousands of dollars. This kind of costly mistake can be easily avoided just by making one phone call in advance. Even if you are not planning to rent a car in the near future, it is not a bad idea to find out today whether your policy covers rental cars. That way, all the necessary information will be there for you when you need it.

Even if your regular insurance plan doesn’t adequately cover rental cars, you don’t necessarily need to pay the high insurance fees that a rental agency will probably charge. There are plenty of options to make sure your temporary wheels are covered in case of a collision or other cause of damage to the car. In fact, you can get a much better rate than a rental agent is likely to offer you even if you don’t own a car of your own. There are specific policies that insurance companies offer for customers who rent cars frequently. A non-owner auto liability insurance policy provides affordable and usually quite comprehensive protection for rental drivers who do not own cars. If you don’t have personal automobile insurance that already covers rentals, one of these can offer you the security of knowing you are fully covered without the steep prices of rental agents’ insurance packages.

Just remember that rental insurance is a major source of profit for rental agencies so they’re certainly going to make it sound like you absolutely need it even if you don’t.

Whether you find out that you need to take out a non-owner auto liability insurance policy, or whether you discover that you don’t need to pay anything above what you already do for insurance, a bit of forethought and planning can save you a lot of money at the rental desk. Your rental car may be temporary, but the savings will be permanent.