4 Ways to reduce your insurance rates after an accident

Talk to Your Insurance Broker or Agent
While some drivers may think a crash was so small that they don’t need to talk to their insurance company, it is always best to talk to your agent. Your insurance is there to protect you against lawsuits, property damage, and other issues that may arise. While no one may have gotten hurt and little damage resulted after the crash, talking to an insurance agent is still the best way you can protect yourself. Your insurance rate may not even go up because your agent may be able to find ways to protect you further depending on your policy.

Ask for Accident Forgiveness
Some car insurance policies will offer accident forgiveness, which lowers your rates after certain amounts of time if you have not been involved in a car accident. Again, the best way to decrease your rate is to always communicate with your insurance company to find out how they can help you. While insurance companies may have bad reputations, at the end of the day, they exist to protect you and should be on your side no matter what the cause of the accident.

Increase Your Deductible
Take this advice with a grain of salt because while increasing your deductible might lower premiums, if you are involved in another accident, you may have to cover much more of the damage costs. Raising your deductible up to $500 could reduce your policy rate by 15 or 30 percent depending on your insurance company. However, you should then consider whether or not you have the extra $500 in the case you have to pay for it if you are involved in a car accident.

Shop Around for a New Policy
You may want to talk to your insurance agent and let them know that you are looking for a better rate, and then talk to other companies that may be able to meet your financial needs. Just knowing that you are shopping around may be incentive for your current insurance company to lower your policy rate.

No matter what happened during your accident, of someone was hurt, you should talk to a personal injury lawyer. Car accident attorneys may be able to get compensation and benefits to help you recover from your crash. Call a personal injury lawyer today.