5 Steps to Filing Your Auto Insurance Claim

1. Evaluate whether or not you should file a claim: Did you know that just when you call your insurance company with a question about possibly filing a claim it is often recorded on your insurance record? It is important to keep your insurance record clean and one way is deciding whether or not you should file a claim. It doesn’t matter if the accident is your fault or not, you should ask yourself first if you can pay for the damage. Simply put, if you can pay for it yourself without financial hardship, don’t file the claim.

2. Fill out your What to do After an Auto Accident Worksheet: This worksheet, which when you click on the title is provided for print-out, will help you keep track of the information you will need to file your auto insurance claim. It is important to get every detail of the accident documented and to try to find witnesses that would be willing to talk to your insurance company to back-up your story.

3. File the claim ASAP: You will want to file the claim as soon as possible with your insurance company. Even if it is not your fault, your insurance company will handle the claim process as your advocate.

4. Prepare for a possible call from the other insurance company: If there is a dispute between the two parties in the accident, you may get a call from the other driver’s insurance company asking for your version of what happened at the accident scene. If this happens make sure you document everything you say and the name of the customer service agent you talked too.

5. Finally, getting your car fixed: If you had body damage to your vehicle this is when you will finally get it fixed. After your claim is approved, you will likely get a call from your insurance company about sending an insurance adjuster out to assess the damage or asking you to send your car to a pre-approved shop to get it fixed.

8 Teen Auto Insurance Mistakes

Do you have a teenager who drives, or one who will soon? Then you'll probably find out that adding a teen to your car insurance policy is sort of like balancing a valuable vase on a tiger's head: it'll probably end in an accident, and it'll probably be expensive. (Lesson number one: don't balance vases on tigers.)

The bad news: you have a teenager eager to get behind the wheel – and recent RateWatch data shows that adding a teen driver to your auto insurance policy costs over $2,000 a year on average.

The good news: auto insurance rates are coming down, so this is the perfect time to shop for policy savings. It can cost even less if you manage to…

Avoid some of these common mistakes

1. Let your kid get bad grades.
Were you aware that a "good student" discount could take as much as 10–15% off the price of your car insurance policy? You are now. Some parents pay their children to maintain a B average or better; this discount will have your children paying you instead.

2. Buy a new car for your child.
All of those safety features will get you auto insurance discounts, right? They might, but it costs more to insure a new car – for you and your teen. Find a safe, used car and save on car payments and insurance.

3. Skip in-car driver training with your kid.
Let the driving school do it. Right parents? I mean, that's why you pay them the money! Not so. No matter what your state legally requires, the more time you spend in the car teaching your teenager to drive, the better.

4. Don't set a curfew.
Part of raising a child is letting them take responsibility, so there's no reason to impose limits. Well, not exactly. Even if your city doesn't have a curfew for teen drivers, you should consider it. Statistics show that teenage driving deaths rise dramatically from 9 pm to 6 am. And if you remember your own youth, you'll agree that there's no good reason for teens to plan trips past 9–10 pm.

5. Don't worry about packing the car with friends and distractions.
The most common cause of teen accidents is driver distraction – either from a car full of friends or a cell phone that's blowing up. It gets even worse with loud music, texting and taking pictures with a cell phone.

6. Speed, drink and don't wear your seatbelt.
It amounts to telling your teen the law is optional. If your child gets a ticket, restrict access to the car. If it's something serious – like a DUI – take away their driving privileges.

7. Lower your deductibles or keep them the same.
A low deductible means your auto insurance company will pay more if there's an accident. Raise it, and you could knock a lot off your premium. Dropping collision coverage on your teen's car can also save money. Just remember that you'll have to pay more for repairs in both cases, so calculate your savings before making the switch.

8. Make one of the other seven mistakes.
(Just kidding.)

8. Let your teenager drive a small, old car.
If you saw mistake number two and thought you could avoid it by getting your teen an older compact car, you're probably wrong. If it's not a safe car, you won't qualify for safety discounts.

9. You said there were only eight mistakes!
Well, I lied. That's right; I said it: I lied. I'll let you in on a little secret: there are probably way more than nine, or even ten! But do you know the biggest one of all? (Drum roll, please.) Not shopping around to compare rates! Insurance.com data shows the average difference between the highest quote for adding a teen and the lowest quote is over $2,000 a year. Failing to compare auto insurance rates can be a very expensive mistake.

Car Insurance Rates Are Dropping

According to a new survey by Insurance.com, 44% of shoppers believed they were overpaying for car insurance. In addition, 22% said that they were shopping because their rates had recently increased with the renewal bill from their current auto insurance company.

Are you getting a good deal? March RateWatch data shows that drivers who pay too much for car insurance now have a great chance to save. "Consumers who shopped for car insurance recently saw rates that were $100 lower on average than rates quoted last fall," said Sam Belden, Vice President at Insurance.com. "Most policies renew every six months, so this decline in average quotes comes as good news for consumers whose policies were affected by rising prices in late 2008."

Insurance.com's survey also found that 32% of drivers were driving less compared to six months ago. Driving fewer miles presents another savings opportunity, because it could earn drivers a 5–15% Low Mileage discount on their auto insurance policy with most insurance companies.

Consumers are making tough decisions about how much coverage they buy, while still trying to maintain their policies. 25% of car insurance shoppers surveyed bought less auto insurance coverage than they had on a prior policy, and 26% dropped comprehensive and collision coverage. While less coverage always beats no insurance, we'd like to remind you that auto insurance provides important protection. Consider these tips:

Protect yourself with Uninsured/Under-insured Motorists coverage. The number of uninsured drivers on the road continues to rise. You can protect your family from these drivers with low-cost UM/UIM coverage.

Don't slash your policy's limits. Don't risk your assets – now and in the future – by cutting your liability limits to state minimums.

Insure your car against damage, even if you increase the deductibles. Try to keep comprehensive and collision coverage for your car, unless you can afford to pay cash to replace it. Even if your car has a low "market value," in this economy it's probably priceless to you!