Auto Insurance Discounts: The 15 Discounts Most People Never Claim

The agent was going through the discount checklist when she paused. You have 4 of our 15 available discounts. Most customers have 2 or 3. You are missing half the discounts you qualify for. If we applied all the discounts you are eligible for, your premium would drop by 38%. I had been paying too much for 4 years because I did not know what discounts existed.

The Discount Discovery

Auto insurance companies offer a wide variety of discounts that most customers never claim because they do not know to ask. These discounts are not advertised prominently — insurance companies have found that customers who do not know about discounts tend to accept the higher premium without questioning it.

The standard list of auto insurance discounts includes:

1. Multi-policy discount (bundled with home or renters)

2. Multi-vehicle discount (2+ vehicles on same policy)

3. Good driver discount (no accidents or violations for 3+ years)

4. Defensive driving course discount (completed state-approved course)

5. Teen driver discount (good student, driver training)

6. Low mileage discount (under 7,500 miles/year)

7. Anti-theft device discount (car alarm, GPS tracking)

8. New car discount (under 3 years old)

9. Safety features discount (airbags, ABS, backup camera)

10. Paperless discount (electronic documents)

11. Paid-in-full discount (annual instead of monthly)

12. Occupation discount (certain professions)

13. Alumni discount (university or professional association)

14. Military discount (active or veteran)

15. Senior discount (55+ with defensive driving course)

How to Find All Discounts You Qualify For

Ask your agent for a complete list of discounts the company offers and which ones you currently have. Request a discount review every 2-3 years or whenever your life circumstances change.

When you get quotes from other companies, ask specifically about each discount on the list. Some companies offer discounts others do not — the only way to find out is to ask.

After my agent is discount review, I discovered I qualified for 9 of the 15 discounts. I had been missing: low mileage (I work from home), anti-theft device (I installed a tracker after a previous theft), paperless, and occupation discount (I am a certified financial planner, which qualifies). Adding these four discounts reduced my premium by $780 per year.

The Importance of Annual Reviews

Discount qualification changes over time. You may have qualified for a discount when you first bought your policy but no longer qualify (your teen turns 26 and ages off, you move to a higher-risk area). Or you may have newly qualified for discounts you did not qualify for when you first bought the policy (you installed anti-theft device, you switched to paperless, you completed a defensive driving course).

The only way to ensure you are getting all the discounts you qualify for is to review your coverage annually and ask specifically about each possible discount. Most customers leave hundreds of dollars on the table every year simply because they do not know what discounts exist.