When you think about the things you have to do before you can go shopping for online auto insurance quotes, what comes to mind? Identifying the safety features on your car? Clearing up any tickets in your own history? Taking a Driver's Education class? And more. What you probably aren't going to think of is cleaning up your credit score, yet that small three digit number could be exactly what's dragging you away from the superb online auto insurance quotes you deserve! Yes.
Why Your Insurer Cares About Your Credit Score
I would love to be able to say that all your insurer cares about is your driving history. I really would. That would make it so much easier to steer you down the path to great rewards on your auto insurance. The unfortunate truth, however, is that in today's society we're basically numbers on a balance sheet in the eyes of our insurers and of those numbers, nothing generates more attention and controversy than our credit score.
States are fighting to make it illegal for companies to use credit scores as a foundation for their online auto insurance quotes, claiming that you can't judge someone's driving skill by the way they spend their money. Maybe they're right. That doesn't stop insurers from pointing out that drivers with a good credit score are often more responsible behind the wheel and, therefore, are less likely to be in an accident than their careless counterparts. In case you missed the memo, insurers love saving money, and they save thousands by insuring drivers that don't have accidents.
Clean Up Your Credit Score
If you haven't been in an accident in the past 5 years, are driving a safe, "low risk" car (just ask the Highway Data Loss Institute), haven't decided to set up house in the heart of New York City, park in your garage every night and you're still paying too much, you might want to take a look at your credit before you start pointing the finger at your online auto insurance quotes.
The good news is, cleaning up your credit isn't hard. All you really have to do is cut up all but one of your credit cards, pay off your debt and keep up on your bills and you're gold. The bad news is, if your credit score has taken some hits in recent years it could take a while to get it back to normal. The average "blip" will stay on your credit score for at least 7 years, sometimes more.
The good news is, if you can ride out those 7 years with a good credit score you'll be sitting behind the wheel of your very own hot auto insurance quotes in no time.
Clifford F. Berman is the CEO of QuoteScout, where they specialize in helping drivers find the hottest auto insurance quote.
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