Insurance payments are one of the largest expenses Americans pay every month. When it comes to vehicle insurance, the burden can become especially high and frustrating. Thankfully, there are also many unique, creative ways to lower your insurance premiums, especially if you are flexible when it comes to how often you drive. If you’ve been looking for a new way to save money on your monthly car insurance rates, we’ve got you covered with these six surefire ways to lower your monthly vehicle insurance payments: 

1. Take a Defensive Driver’s Course 

When you spend a lot of time on the road, accidents (big or small) become much more likely to occur. Thankfully, if you’re knowledgeable about defensive driving techniques, you can easily prevent accidents from finding you. With fewer accidents under your belt, you’ll unlock lower insurance premiums, and feel much more comfortable each time that you get on the road. Not only this, but many insurance agencies will offer you discounts on your monthly insurance premiums if you take the proactive step of taking a qualified defensive driving course. If you’re lucky, the insurer may even pay for you to enroll in the defensive driving course in the first place. 

2. Package Multiple Vehicles Together 

If you have a family, you’ll understand how absurdly fast your vehicle and insurance payments can add up after your young ones start hitting the road. Thankfully, as your fleet of family vehicles increases, so does your ability to save on your monthly insurance costs. With more money coming out of your bank account for the insurers every month, it’s the least they owe you. By packaging multiple vehicles under a single policy, you’ll drastically lower your monthly costs. Given how often teens find themselves in small accidents that increase their (or more accurately, your) premiums, you’ll want to be proactive in lowering your costs as much as humanly possible ahead of time. 

3. Install a Performance Tracking App

If your insurance agency understands that you’re a solid, safe, and consistently skilled driver, they will lower your monthly premiums. However, demonstrating this to them can be difficult. To solve this issue, many insurers now allow their drivers to install tracking apps that keep a record of their driving performance, how often they are driving while distracted, and much more. If you’re driving in a stellar fashion, the app will update your insurer, and help you score useful savings on your monthly premiums. Many insurers will give you an ahead-of-time discount on your premiums just for downloading and using the app, so you have nothing to lose by trying this money-saving strategy out if your insurer provides you with the option! 

4. Work on Your Credit Score 

Having a solid credit score unlocks infinite savings possibilities in your life. One of those is drastically reduced insurance premiums, whether it be for your vehicle or otherwise. Insurers understand that those that are responsible enough to have an awesome credit score are much less likely to get into accidents, and even less likely to miss out on payments that will cause a frustrating month-to-month scenario for the insurance agency. While you’re working on your credit score, the newfound responsibility will improve your life in ways that reach far beyond the weight of your bank account. 

5. Adjust Your Current Coverage Package 

Sometimes lowering your insurance rates is as simple as adjusting your current plan. When you look over your current plan, you may find yourself realizing that you have coverage that you never, ever plan on using. If you can slowly chip away at unneeded or excessive parts of your insurance package, you may end up saving way more than you ever thought was possible. After all, even small savings add up over time. Just make sure you know what to avoid saying when talking to your insurance agent. 

6. Drive Less, and Less Often 

If you find yourself in a position where you know that you’ll be driving much less frequently, you should let your insurer know immediately. They can offer you smaller, more affordable insurance packages and rates once you do so. Additionally, you can potentially find out about even more benefits being offered to you by simply getting behind the wheel less often. While you’re on the phone with your insurance agent, you can check into the other money-saving strategies on this list as well. 

Drastically Lower Your Insurance Rates Now

With these six strategies under your belt, you can almost certainly save at least some money on your monthly insurance rates. If you find that more than a few of these money-saving strategies apply to you, you could even save hundreds of dollars a month by the time you’re done implementing them all.