We all know that young adults struggle with saving money. It must be the curse of young adults to be attracted new cars, fancy gadgets, and trending clothes. Either that or just plain inexperience. In all seriousness, it’s a combination of all these things. Everyone has their weak points when it comes to splurging, but it also has to do with inexperience. It’s hard to know what you don’t know.

One of the things that young adults don’t realize is that they can save lots of money on their car insurance. When people ask me how they can save lots of money without a huge time commitment, I immediately talk about car insurance. Not only can you save hundreds of dollars in the minutes it takes to get new quotes, but you can also do a number of things to lower your monthly (or semi-annual) payments.

car insurance

Why Young Adults Pay Higher Car Insurance Bills

The world isn’t fair. We should know this by now. Proof of this fact is that young adults typically pay more for car insurance than any other age group. I have been driving for 10 years now and despite my perfect record (no accidents, no moving violations), I still pay more than some of my older friends. The world isn’t fair. While I would like to believe that I am being discriminated against, the reality is that young adults pay more in car insurance because they have yet to prove how reliable they are. Despite my good record, I also imagine that young adults are statistically one of the worse groups when it comes to driving because of the inexperience factor. Whether we like it or not, we have to prove that we can be trusted. This applies to both car insurance as well as other things (for example, getting a good-paying job often requires years of experience).

Ways to Lower Your Car Insurance Premium

Lowering the cost of your car insurance premium isn’t something that can be accomplished by reading a book of spells. In other words, it’s not magic. What it does require, however, is a lot of discipline and specific efforts. Here are several ways to save money on car insurance.

Increase Your Deductibles

One of the first things that everyone will tell you is to increase your deductibles. When you are doing this, make sure to consider the pros and cons. I looked into raising my deductibles, but when I calculated the savings, it would mean that I would need to go 5 years without a claim to make it worth it. While I’ve only had one claim in the past 3 years, I’d rather pay a little extra each month than have to pay a lot unexpectedly. If you are trying to save a few bucks though, this may be a great way to pad your wallet. Just don’t put yourself in a risky position by cutting back too much or lowering your protection.

Shop Around

Another great tip that goes against conventional wisdom is to shop around every year or two. The reason is that car insurance providers offer the best rates not to the loyal customers, but to new customers. While I hate to see this happen, I know this is the case because people are too lazy to shop around. If more people compared car insurance prices on a regular basis, I imagine we’d start to see lower prices for long-term customers.

Drive Safely

Another thing you can do to slowly lower your cost is to drive safely. This means avoiding talking or texting when you are driving, even though it may be very tempting. It also means anticipating the  unsafe drivers before they can put you at danger. It may seem like an inconvenience to drive a few miles per hour slower, but if it keeps you from getting in an accident, it is worth it.

When you look at the premiums that young adults are paying for car insurance, you may think that the world is against us. Yet, it doesn’t mean that we can’t do anything to change it. If you are looking for a little extra cash, try implementing these steps to reduce your premiums and ultimately free up more money for the stuff that you want to buy.