That could be a costly mistake. Taking a few minutes to review and adjust your auto insurance policy could save you hundreds of dollars per year.

Saving on your car insurance is easier than you might imagine. Here are three ways to reduce your costs, as well as an estimate of potential savings based on the national median rate of about $1,400 per year reported by InsuranceRates.com. If you pay more than the median rate, you could save even more.

1) Take a hard look at your deductible. According to the Insurance Information Institute (III), raising your deductible from $250 to $1,000 could reduce your collision and comprehensive coverage costs by up to 40 percent. You’ll incur higher costs should you need to file a claim, but the amount you’ll save on your premiums may be well worth it.

Estimated Savings: $170 per year

2) Combine your auto insurance policy and either home or renters insurance policy with a single insurer. According to the III, converting to a multiline policy could save you as much as 15 percent on your auto premium. Plus, you’ll have one fewer bill to pay each month.

Estimated Savings: $210 per year

3) If you can afford to, pay your auto insurance premium in one lump sum. Many insurers charge a fee to break up your premium into monthly payments, and even a few dollars a month could amount to a hefty surcharge.

Estimated Savings: $60 per year

In addition, make sure you shop around and speak with agents from several different companies. Insurance providers often specialize in different types of drivers, and depending on your personal circumstances, it’s probably worth your while to compare quotes.

To learn more ways to save and to compare rates online, visit www.InsuranceRates.com.

Local law enforcers have been employing new technologies to protect car owners from vehicle thieves. Sheriffs in some counties plant GPS tracking devices on farm tractors or four-wheeler trucks left out to trick machinery thieves.

Cops in Metropolitan Denver drive vehicles equipped with computerized license plate readers that can detect stolen vehicles in one whole grocery parking lot within seconds.

Vehicle owners are also doing their part in fighting the crime, buying glass-etching paste to permanently burn their vehicle identification number (VIN) permanently onto each window. Car manufacturers refuse to be left behind, equipping new models with enhanced anti-theft devices. Manufacturing innovations like computer-coded car keys were also very helpful in stalling vehicle thieves.

Additionally, the state has enacted a law which collects $1 from car insurers for every vehicle availing their policy. That means law enforcers have $3.5 million more in their funds to keep Denver vehicles safe from thieves.

And statistics show that combined efforts from automakers, police, and car owners are working very well, decreasing annual car theft rates by 20 to 30 percent.

In Colorado, the number of vehicles stolen in 2008 dropped by 22 percent. That means 3,614 fewer car owners filing for auto insurance claims because of theft, saving insurers $24.4 million in replacement value.

In Denver, rate dropped by 30 percent in 2008. That means there were only 3,591 stole cars in the state’s capital last year, down from 5,104 cars the preceding year. The City of Pueblo reported an even more stunning improvement, with the number of car owners filing for vehicle theft claims going down by 67 percent last year.

In the whole United States, the rate of stolen vehicles has gone down by more than a half from 1991 to 2008. During the 19-year period, only 315 cars were stolen from every population of 100,000 compared to 659 in the preceding years. That totals to 700,000 less car owners filing for a theft claim.

Auto insurance companies say the crackdown against vehicle thieves should eventually trim down premium rates for policyholders, but they cannot exactly determine yet how much it would help in reducing costs.
Insurance underwriters note that protection against theft usually make up 25 percent of the cost of a comprehensive coverage.

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Currently, the law provides insurance providers the prerogative to give their policyholders a discount for having a continued auto insurance coverage from their company. This is otherwise known as the loyalty discount. However, as the name implies, this discount will not be applicable once the customer decides to switch from one provider to another.

The modification gives rise to the Continuous Coverage Auto Insurance Discount Act, which will guarantee drivers a fixed discount on their automobile insurance, even if they do not decide to maintain under a certain company and transfer their coverage to another insurance provider. The question here are the beneficiaries. Definitely, it will be the consumers. Statistics show that about eighty-two percent of drivers from California have auto insurance that is required by the law. The people here come from a variety of groups like single parents, elderly, working families, and young drivers.

If allowed to offer the same kind of discounts to all policyholders, the insurance companies can make the nature of the auto insurance market more competitive. To keep the flow of new policyholders going, the different insurance providers would have to lower the prices of their premiums. In addition, this will also have to include a better plan and coverage with added improvements in customer service.

In fact, California is lagging behind in terms of this law. Several other states actually allow different insurance companies to offer this kind of discount to those prospective policyholders or those already with the company beforehand. Included in the areas that support this kind of law are New York, Texas, Oregon, Florida, Washington, and several other more.

Insurance companies will also be required to maintain the main basis by which insurance rates are determined. These are the safety record of the driver, annual mileage, and experience. In addition, the older discounts such as the student discounts and good driver discounts will continue to be in effect.

Several organizations are rallying this change. Such organizations like Consumers Coalition of California, California Alliance for Consumer Protection, and California Black Chamber of Commerce to name a few are supporting it. Ultimately, it will result to lower prices for everyone.

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A recent survey reveals that in general, people are driving less which normally means fewer car accidents and injuries. With skyrocketing prices of gasoline, people are continually finding ways to save on gas like the invention of hybrid cars. People are now using public transportation systems or combining trips and car pooling instead of driving. All of these mean lesser cars, lesser mileage, lesser accidents and lesser insurance premiums. When people drive less, they will be in a lesser number of accidents which means lesser injuries and lesser injury payments. This is one of the reasons why more insurance providers give lower premiums for less mileage. So drive less, for more insurance premium discounts!

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If you keep your car locked in a garage during the night, you can save from 7% (in the country) and 35% (in the city) on your car insurance.

According to AA Personal Loans, most parked cars are vandalized on the residential streets.

Research shows that car parks, especially multi-level car parks, are often considered as dangerous places to park. Nevertheless drivers are twice as likely to have their car vandalized on a residential street as in a supermarket car park and more than three times more likely than if their car was in a multi-level car park.

If you cannot afford locked garage, you should look for doctor’s surgery or hospital car park, outside a school, in an airport car park or outside a restaurant, each of these has only 3% of car vandalism.

AA Personal Loans advise deciding for well-lit car parks rather with good security like CCTV. Common precautions like folding in the side mirrors can cut back the risk of them being knocked off.

Mark Huggins of AA Personal Loans said a car is a serious investment and finding it devastated is horrible, frustrating and definitely expensive. If you pay for your car with a personal loan, the last thing you want is getting your car vandalized and paying for repairs, so it’s worth thinking about where you park.

Researchers from FancyACar said that having an engine immobilizer or alarm fitted in your car means better security and a lesser possibility that your car will be stolen.

What is more, your job can have an impact on your car insurance bonus. A desk job for instance means a low-risk type but a job that requires using your car, can pose a higher risk to insurance companies, according to FancyACar.