After the age of 70, one thing is certain - your car insurance is going to become more expensive. Due to the statistically higher risk of accidents for people in this age group, car insurance for the elderly is simply more expensive than it is for younger drivers. The physical limitations of many older people lead to a higher risk of accidents and therefore, higher premiums. However, this is a group who are usually on fixed incomes; which creates some difficulties.
Some of these age related limitations include reduced vision, mobility and in some cases, a reduced mental acuity. The older you get, the slower your reaction time; this is part of the reason for the higher premiums charged for car insurance for the elderly.
People above the age of 70 have a wide range of physical and mental capabilities. This however is not accounted for by actuarial tables. You could have a perfect driving record, the physical health and mental clarity of a person 30 years your junior and you can still be shocked by your insurance bill. It's not you specifically being targeted; it's just your age. However, there are ways to get cheaper car insurance for the elderly.
You need to start shopping for insurance even before you get your bill, so you have adequate time to change carriers if it's necessary. You need to be very specific if you get online car insurance quotes. The coverage on your deck page of the policy (The sheet that shows how much coverage you have.) is the same coverage that you need to have quoted.
By looking online for car insurance quotes, you can save a lot of time; not to mention a lot of money. By just filling out a few forms, you can get many different insurance quotes all at once. While you could just go with the cheapest quote, you should be sure to check out the reputation of any insurance company you are thinking of switching to - there are hundreds of companies out there; check into any company you do not recognize; you can Google them and check online with the BBB to see if they have had a lot of complaints filed against them.
You need to look carefully at the coverage that is offered with the quotes. For liability coverage, there is single coverage and split coverage. These are equally good; in single coverage, for example, there may be a limit of $100,000 which covers all costs. Split coverage will be listed as something like 50/100/15 - this means that the insurer will pay up to $50,000 per person per incident, up to a ceiling of $100,000 for bodily injury and up to $15,000 for property damage.
Check the deductible on the coverage for your car. The higher the deductible the lower the price becomes. If the quote shows a higher deductible and lower price, you may not be getting bargain, just reduced coverage.
Additional coverage should be taken into account. If you have supplementary coverage like towing coverage, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage or the like, be sure that the quotes you are looking at cover these. This will help you to make a better comparison. Finally, you should know how any insurer you are considering handles claims when looking at car insurance for the elderly. You need to know whether they use local adjusters, a specific adjuster or instead handle claims using repair quotes gathered locally by phone. If you find a company which meets your coverage needs at a lower rate, then go ahead and switch; you will have just proved that there is cheaper car insurance for the elderly out there.