Working from home? Your car insurance rate could go down
When it comes to the coronavirus pandemic and millions finding themselves now working from home, it could lead to cutting the rate on your car insurance.
While many insurance companies announced refunds and credits to customers premiums for March and April due to stay-at-home orders and lower accident rates, it got Geico customer Maria Lopez wondering if she could find even more savings.
Lopez is a sixth grade teacher now working from home. Her husband is a police officer and while they have two cars, he is the only one still going out to work daily.
Lopez decided to ask her car insurance company if there was an additional discount available to her due to the fact she is now working from home.
The agent informed her they could change her car use to pleasure rather than for work and it lowered her six month premium even more.
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"We got the 15 percent discount, so that really knocked it down," Lopez said. "Because I'm up for renewal, it was like close to 800 dollars, so that knocked it down to 700 dollars." Once the agent applied the next change in car use from work to pleasure, it took off an additional 100 dollars from Lopez's premium.
Car insurance companies sending refund checks to drivers and crediting bills, but is it enough?
"So, now, I'm at like 600 dollars. So, it was big. It was a big discount. It was almost 200 dollars in discounts which I was really appreciative of," Lopez said.
Cary based David Schawel who is the Chief Information Officer for Family Management Corp said these discounts could be something many drivers could take advantage of if their work status and car use has changed in the pandemic.
"If you used it for work and are no longer using it for work or had extra coverage for vacations or explain as much as you can as far as situations changed, they can probably help you to save money going forward," Schawel said.
"Companies are looking to keep their clients long term," he said. One thing Schawel warns about is canceling your car insurance all together.
"Some people may say, 'Well I'm not driving my car, I can cancel my coverage.' Do not do that," Schawel warned. "Because number one, if you have a car loan, you're not allowed to do that. And two, if you have a lapse in coverage and you go to reinstitute car insurance usually it's between 10 and 15 percent higher rates. So, the one thing you don't want to do is cancel your coverage in the interim."
