Premiums
How Your Credit Score Quietly Shapes Your Premium
In most states a credit-based insurance score moves your rate more than a speeding ticket does. Here is how the math actually works.
Independent · Reader-funded
How car insurance actually works
We read the policy language, run the numbers, and talk to the people who settle the claims — so you can tell the difference between a real saving and a smaller number.
- 13%
- of US drivers carry no insurance at all
- 3 yrs
- a single speeding surcharge typically persists
- 60-100%
- premium spread between credit tiers
Latest reporting
20 articles
Savings
Deductibles Explained With Actual Numbers
Raising a deductible from $500 to $1,000 is a bet. Here is how to work out whether it is a good one for you.
Savings
Seven Discounts Most Drivers Never Ask For
Carriers apply some discounts automatically. These are the ones that generally require you to bring them up.
Buying
What Happens If You Let Your Coverage Lapse
A gap of even one day reclassifies you at most carriers. The effects outlast the gap by years.
Coverage
Rental Car Coverage: What You Already Have
The counter upsell is usually redundant. Usually is doing real work in that sentence.
Premiums
Teen Drivers and the Premium Cliff
Adding a 16-year-old can double a household premium. Four structural choices change the size of the jump.
Coverage
Gap Insurance: Who Actually Needs It
It solves one specific problem. If you do not have that problem, it is pure cost.
Coverage
Uninsured Motorist Coverage Is Not Optional in Practice
Roughly one driver in eight carries no insurance at all. This is the coverage that decides what happens when one of them hits you.
Claims
How Your Claims History Follows You Between Insurers
Switching carriers does not reset your record. A shared database makes sure of it.
Premiums
Why Insuring an EV Costs More
Fewer moving parts, lower running costs, and a higher premium. The battery explains most of it.
Claims
The Garaging Address Mistake That Can Void a Claim
Where the car sleeps is a rating variable. Getting it wrong is called rate evasion.
Coverage
"Full Coverage" Is a Marketing Term
No policy is called full coverage. Knowing what the phrase omits is the point.
Buying
Reading a Declarations Page Line by Line
The two-page summary at the front of your policy is the only part most people need to understand.
Savings
When to Drop Collision on an Older Car
There is a defensible rule, and it is not the one most people use.
Claims
How At-Fault Determination Actually Works
The police report is evidence, not a verdict. Adjusters decide fault, and they use different rules.
Buying
Shopping Your Policy: A 30-Minute Checklist
Most people overpay because comparing quotes properly is tedious. It is thirty minutes, once a year.