I remember my first car — a 1963 Corvair Monza 4-door sedan. I loved my Corvair (regardless of what Ralph Nader says). It was fuel efficient and, with its engine in the rear, plowed through the snowdrifts of Chicago winters almost as high as the car itself. One thing it wasn’t was a speedster. The only ticket I ever got with that car was a parking ticket.  I never got a ticket for speeding.

Honestly officer, I wasn’t speeding.

Fast forward a couple of years and I was driving a bright red Mercury Comet convertible with a big white racing stripe down the side and chrome air cleaner and valve covers.  It was fast and a real head-turner — especially with the traffic police. The car looked like it was speeding even when it was standing still. Did I get speeding tickets with that car? You bet I did — and a couple of small fender benders to boot.

Was it the car or the driver that made the difference? Definitely the driver. A car is an inanimate object — like a gun — that is only benign or dangerous when a human is operating it. I’m not a psychologist, but I do know that cars have an effect on a person’s disposition and common sense, although I couldn’t tell you why. I think it’s all about  power and control that otherwise one might not have in his/her life. It does, however, depend on the type of car one drives. Have you ever noticed most people that drive mini-vans are cautious, traffic-law-abiding drivers while those that drive Corvettes are always going faster than the posted speed limit? And I’ll wager that the mini-van drivers have clean driving records and some of the lowest car insurance premiums available while the Corvette drivers have a couple of moving violations to their name and some of the highest insurance premiums.

The cost of speeding tickets is relatively minor — although they, too, can be onerous depending on how fast you were driving — compared to the cost of insurance for a bad driver. I was fortunate enough to have learned a vary valuable lesson at an early age and many years ago when insurance companies were still operated by real people. With two speeding tickets and a minor accident on my record, my insurance carrier was ready to cancel my policy. My agent was able to convince the underwriter to give me a second chance, and I proceeded to clean up my record and become a “safer” driver.

Today, computers manage a persons insurance policy. A machine makes the decision whether to keep you or not. Three tickets and you’re out; two accidents and you’re out. There’s no intervention by your agent. For three years — and that’s only if you maintain a clean driving record — you’ll be paying insurance premiums that would make the price of a 60″ plasma TV look cheap.

There are many factors that affect the cost of auto insurance. Some of them you have control over:

1. The type of car you drive.
2. The way you drive that car.
3. How well you maintain your credit.

Yes, even a bad credit report can affect the cost of your insurance. Other factors, like an insurance company’s underwriting guidelines, are out of your control. But the ones you do have control over are the very ones that  affect tha cost of your insurance.

Is it worth the effort to change your driving habits? Absolutely!! Paying more for car insurance than you have to is money down the drain — lots of money — money that you could put to much better use. The only thing standing between you and potentially many thousands of dollars is your attitude towards your automobile. Treat it as something that takes you from Point A to Point B and not as your alter ego — Superman, Wonder Woman or Bruce Willis — and you will be money ahead — lots of money.

By Candee Lynn Wilson
The Saving Lady