Can the Latest Tech Lower Your Car Insurance Rates?

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With the rise of safe driving technology, one question on everyone’s mind is how will this affect insurance rates? Many are hopeful that better collision prevention will, in turn, reduce premiums. While others are concerned that the increase in tech costs will outweigh the potential benefits.

These days, people have high expectations for what technology can do for them. People also expect it to help them save money – and there are precedents to back this assumption up. Better technology has allowed for energy (and thus cost) saving alternatives, among other options. 

According to a study run by PwC, up to forty-one percent of consumers would walk away from an insurance company that failed to offer high-quality digital capabilities. In other words, if their insurance isn’t going to work with their tech, they’re not interested.

Making Drivers Safer

People today have access to technology that makes them safer. Motion and range sensors combine to create collision prevention technology, while cameras help drivers watch their blindspots.

It’s easy to assume that the tech designed to make us safer actually works. Studies have shown that while some technology has worked hard to make us safer – other forms provide too much distraction. In other words – the technology is only effective when those behind the wheel are also trying to be safe.

Additional Expenses

Unfortunately, there is no simple answer to this question. Yes, driver safety tech can help keep people safe – and thus, theoretically should reduce car insurance premiums. However, upon closer inspection, there’s one glaring problem with this premise.

The technology used to make drivers safer does not come cheaply, which means that when accidents do happen, the overall repair and replacement costs are higher. This means that most drivers are not likely to see a significant drop in their premiums.

Reducing Costs

Thankfully, there are a few alternatives for reducing insurance rates. For example, drivers can opt into customized insurance plans. In other words, a driver grants permission to have all of their driving data compiled and turned into one concise plan – no need to pay or unneeded insurance.

A study from the University of British Columbia found that people are not only willing to have insurance companies monitor their driving for customized plans – but they’re safer drivers because of it. It turns out that knowing somebody is watching your every move is all it takes to make a driver just a little bit more cautious. 

High Deductible or Low Deductible?

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When it’s time to shop for insurance, you may be tempted to pick a plan based on deductibles without knowing the full consequences of what your choice means to your future. Understanding how deductibles work will help you calculate your risk and how to optimize your insurance plan to save you money while properly covering you.

At its most basic, a deductible is the threshold amount an insured person has to pay for a service (accident repairs, an emergency room visit, etc.) before an insurance policy will step in to cover the rest. A premium, conversely, is the amount of money you pay into your insurance on a schedule (yearly, quarterly, etc.). Usually, your premium and your deductible are inversely proportional; that is, the higher your premium is, the lower your deductible is, and vice versa. A plan with low deductibles offers higher coverage, and a plan with high deductibles costs less monthly but demands more out-of-pocket money in the event of an accident.

Note that the deductible is not, in fact, the copayment, or proportion of the cost you’re responsible for. Deductibles exist to deter small claims that an individual could likely pay totally on their own in order to save the insurance company money on petty costs.

When it comes time to decide how much you want to spend on  your premium versus your deductible, there are some important factors to consider regarding your own situation, your budget, and your emergency fund.

Insurance exists to ensure that you’ll be financially stable in the event of an accident or similar tragedy, so picking an premium/deductible package based solely on saving money in the present may not be the wisest solution. Suppose someone chose an insurance plan that demanded a low monthly payment of $100, but a deductible of $3000, for example, confident that nothing bad will happen to them and they can use the extra cash that they won’t be spending monthly on insurance. Such an individual may feel good about spending so little money on a monthly basis to “be covered,” but in the event of an accident, may not have $3000 sitting around to cover costs, so the insurance policy proves completely useless to the person in peril.

Cutting premiums to save money only really works if your emergency fund is well-stocked. That is, if you can easily afford to pay a $3000 deductible in the event of a crisis, then a low premium may be just fine. Without any accidents, the math may look “better” with a low premium, but accidents are just that — unforeseen, unplanned emergencies.

The simple answer to the “high or low deductible” question lies in your ability to pay said deductible in a moment’s notice. Choosing a high deductible for the sake of cutting costs may turn around and bite you if something bad were to happen. Do your math carefully and think about your emergency readiness before you start skimping on insurance premiums.