Drivers should take advantage of all discounts that many providers offer, that can significantly reduce the cost of car insurance. Understanding discounts and how they can affect auto insurance premiums can help smart shoppers make better decisions about their coverage and possibly save themselves some money in the process.

Read below to identify possible discounts that could help you save on auto insurance this year. Other than discounts, there may be some other ways for you to save on your insurance premiums. We will go over several discounts that can help with your current situation.

First, there are discounts for Auto Safety features. Certain states will give you discounts for anti-lock breaks. Make sure you know if it is two or four wheel anti-lock break vehicle. Automatic seatbelts and airbags are frequently discounted on your insurance premiums. In most states, a defensive driver class discount may apply. If the principal driver usually 55 years old or older has completed an approved defensive driving class a discount could apply. Keep in mind that most states will only approve this class if it is voluntary meaning that it was not the result of a violation or infraction.

Some insurers will give you a discount for having multiple vehicles. In some cases, this will only apply if you have two or more drivers. If you have a clean driving record, meaning you do not have any tickets, accidents or suspensions in the last three years (some companies require five years) then you could be eligible for a safe driver’s discount.

Many companies will reward you with staying with the same insurance company for many years without any accidents reported. They will offer you a renewal discount. It makes sense, you have carried insurance with a company for several years, and have not had an accident, your insurance company likes you and wants to reward and keep your business. Some companies honor you with a discount if you had prior limits on your previous policy. They discount you because they understand you are a better risk.

Conversely, if you do decided to change insurers a proof of prior insurance discount may apply. Most insurers request at least 6 months of consecutive insurance from the previous insurer. If you are a full-time student who meets certain grade requirements and are unmarried and usually under 25 years of age (some states the age is 21) you could be eligible for a good student discount. If you own a home, including condominium, town home, or mobile home, which is used as a principal residence, a discount could apply. Military personnel either currently active or retired from any branch of the US military a discount could apply. If your vehicle is equipped with an anti-theft device, a discount could apply.

You could lower the cost of your insurance in other ways.
For people who own older cars, it may not be necessary or cost-effective to protect them with collision and comprehensive coverage. By comparing the book value of your vehicle and the premium that the insurer has offered, you may find that it cost as much for the insurance as it does for the vehicle. If the car is worth less than $2,000, you will probably spend more insuring it than it is worth. The whole idea of driving an older car is to save money, so why not get what is coming to you.

In addition, keep in mind that the type of vehicle you buy could greatly affect your premium. A flashy red sports car is usually going to cost more to insure than a mid sized sedan. This is also true of vehicles that are on the list of most stolen. There are many ways that policyholders can save on their insurance. Knowing more about auto policies and premiums can help consumers take advantage of less obvious discounts while ensuring that they have the appropriate protection for their vehicles. The last way to save is to assume more risk. If you chose higher deductible on your Personal Injury Protection or Comprehensive and collision coverage will lower your premium as well. The deductible is the amount of money you have to pay before your insurance company begins paying the rest.

Understanding how discounts affect your insurance rates is important to save you money.

Director of financial services of Help the Aged subsidiary intune group, Mark Gettinby stated that a number of people were using the products to pay back mortgages and debts due to credit cards.

He further issued a warning that people who were interested in equity release should seek counsel and guidance before going in for a plan. As he believes that people are quite unaware of the workings of equity release.

He encouraged the public to take advice from a specialist before taking any further steps, as equity release was not to be taken lightly.

Dean Mirfin, business development director of Key Retirement Solutions voiced Mr. Gettinby’s thoughts and said that retired homeowners should seek advice in order to make sure that they don’t land up paying too much for these equity release plans.

Since providers looking for sales were highly unlikely to urge retirees in the right direction towards the best deals.

38 percent of the people, who want to buy a house, want to do it this year and nearly 34 percent are planning to buy one in 2009. This is per a survey that was conducted by fool.co.uk

Fool.co.uk’s, head od personal finance, David Kuo stated that given the current situation in the market, many people will realize their dream of buying a house. What these people should be asking is, how much can I afford to repay as against asking, how much can I borrow?

The report states that, the next five years or so will see more sellers than buyers, which means there will be five sellers for every four people who want to buy a house.

Fool.co.uk is an organisation that aims to redefine the people’s perception of finance.

People tended to overlook the council tax in the second half of the last year and nearly 2.3 million did not pay this tax or made a late payment. This was revealed in a research that was undertaken by

YouGov for MoneyExpert.com. Also 1.3 million people found it extremely tough to pay up their energy bills as the due date.

The financial advice website further warned that with increasing gas and electricity prices in addition to the ongoing credit crisis, people may find it still harder to pay their bills on time. As a result of this many would have to face serious consequences.

Chief executive of MoneyExpert.com, Sean Gardner stated that while paying a bill late is not something quite serious, however if this becomes a habit then action would be taken.

He further adds that missing bill payments could have serious repurcussions, it could mean that you could lose that service or might even land up in court.

YouGov statistics provided by moneysupermarket.com revealed that about 3 million people in the UK did not make their credit card payments on time and thus had to shell out 35 million in fees.

The Consumer Credit Counselling Service (CCCS) stated that planning ahead was always useful for people with a couple of outgoings such as annual car insurance, quarterly bills etc.

Spokesperson for CCCS, Frances Walker stated that people should sit down and plan a budget. It’s always advisable to create an annual budget and dividing it by 12 so that you properly account for things. Moreover at this time people should also think about income maximisation.

Ms. Walker said that those who paid over 20 percent of their income towards monthly repayments, were stretching limits. A single monthly payment with the help of debt consolidation was the key to reducing monthly outgoings as well as handling these situations in a better manner.

As per Credit Action statistics, the total UK debt currently sits at 1,400 billion pounds.

The Abbey commissioned a survey of more than 1,000 people which found that the equivalent of 3 million British credit card users have plans to transfer their credit card balances.

2,666 pounds is expected to be the average balance transfer in the first quarter of 2008, with nearly 8 percent men and seven percent women stating that they would take advantage of credit card balance transfer deals.

It was seen that men were more likely to transfer bigger balances in comparison to women, with men moving 3,395 pounds and women just 1,820.

Moreover those from Midlands and south-east of England said that they intended to transfer around 3,021 and 2,900 pounds, much more than the amound of 2,501 pounds of Northern England and the amount of  2,154 pounds of Scotland and Wales or the amount of 2,022 pounds of south-west.

Managing Director of  Abbey Credit Cards, Roger Lovering stated that it was good to see that many people were already taking action towards their financial situation. He further said that generally the credit cards bills in January catch many people off guard so it was advisable that people check their card expenses over the festive season.

The financial researcher states that rate of interest is higher on loans that fall on the lower tier.  Furthermore, people may land up paying more for a lower amount of money, more so when loan providers have 2 tiers in the range of 1,000 to 5,000 pounds.

David Black, Defaqto’s principal consultant of banking commented on the research stating that borrowers should be careful when they choose their loan amount. They would be able to save quite a large sum of money, just by putting in a little time and effort towards researching the interest rates that are charged on different tier levels.

If one takes a bigger loan, it could mean that the duration of paying that loan is much longer, however the savings could be as large as 1,000 pounds.

Keeping this in mind, Defaqto have encouraged consumers to be careful when it comes to taking loans. They further said that a large tier need not mean uncompetitive rates.

Moreover Defaqto research indicated that customers often get a better deal when they switch credit cards rather than remaining with their original one, as this would allow them to claim, credit cards reward disloyalty.

DWP further stated that mainly due to insufficient planning for the season and other such big events, leave people in a financial lurch, and they struggle to repay their bills.

A DWP research reported that more than 50 percent of Brits tend to overspend at Christmas, with many areas facing severe financial problems.

Jobcentre Plus’s Susan Clark stated that many people find themselves stressed out and struggling to repay the high bills that are accumulated over Christmas.

One way of dealing with this stress is to keep control over one’s finances. A good way of doing this is going in for a loan consolidation.

In addition, the DWP announced that it had plans to create a new unit in order to deal with child poverty in the UK. DWP statistics revealed that nearly 600, 000 children were lifted out of povery over the last ten years due to government policies and measures.

In all probability, this new certificate would raise issues such as insulation and the benefits of a good level of energy efficiency, says the trade association for homebuilders.

HBF’s Director of external affairs, John Slaughter says that be believes that the EPC would have some impact on how people would feel about purchases. He further says that if there’s talk about an increase in energy prices then people would be more concerned about the climate while taking those things in consideration. 

The main advantage of the EPC would be that it would increase the awareness of the benefits of good levels of energy efficiency and insulation. People would not merely be concerned with the costs of comfort for running the home.

Through the ‘Building a Greener Future’ policy, the government aims to encourage greener homes. Carbon-neutral homes are exempt from stamp duty due to this policy.