With household budgets cut towards the bone, a growing number of individuals are shopping to find the best motor insurance rates available. There is no question a carefully planned insurance strategy, along with a number of quotes from competing insurance firms, can decrease your motor insurance rates by a number of hundred dollars -- or enough to cover one of your monthly car payments! So how will you plan the optimal motor insurance strategy? Here are five tips to get you going: 1. Don't get caught which has a lapsed policy. As soon as your policy expires, you fall into the "uninsured" category of car insurance buyers. This means you could have a harder time getting insurance and are planning to get charged as much as 20% a lot more than an agent who has a stable good insurance policy. So search for car insurance rates thirty days before your policy expires. This also provides you more time to discover and compare the very best automobile insurance rates. 2. Pay your premium fully. If you pay your car insurance premiums by using an installment plan, your premium probably features a finance fee that are part of the charge. Some companies charge $15-20 for that privilege of carrying a number of hundred dollars for 90 days. In that case, you could actually spend less by charging your premium on the plastic card. Also, ask your motor insurance carrier if they give you a "fast payment discount." Some companies actually supply a discount should you pay your full premium within 10 days. 3. Think twice about "first accident" forgiveness. You already know that there's no such thing as being a free lunch -- the same holds true of car insurance. You may sometimes be paying a higher upfront premium for your privilege of avoiding that first accident, but why purchase something that hasn't happened yet? Ask your insurance company what that same policy would cost minus the first accident forgiveness. It?s possible you?re happier without them. 4. Install an alarm or vehicle recovery system. Anything you can do to relieve the danger of theft is going to cut back your auto insurance premium, by up to 10%. Insurance companies know which alarms perform most optimally and they value vehicle recovery systems probably the most. The system and installation could be fairly pricey, but they pay for themselves using the premium discount. Ask your agent regarding the discount after which shop for a good system. Some name brands are LoJack, Vehicle RECOVER, Mobileguardian, or GM?s OnStar. 5. Shop online for multiple motor insurance quotes. It?s a fact of life -- competition breeds lower prices. With so many automobile insurance companies begging for your business, it only makes sense that compares numerous of these as is possible. The old fashioned way ended up being to utilize a phone and yellow note pad, but that can take time and gets confusing. These days, it?s easy to look for the most effective motor insurance rates online, usually by submitting one form at one website. By implementing as numerous of those tips as possible, you?ll be capable of confidently and easily look for the very best auto insurance rates. But remember, time is ticking -- consider getting started before your present policy expires! If it is time to start shopping.