Definitely. Being married means living together (in most cases), this means sharing your car with your spouse, and actually, any and all licensed drivers in your household. This will affect your insurance premium significantly. But, of course, there are lots of ways to cover your bases and lessen this effect on your premium.
First of all, when it comes to auto insurance, being married is a positive. Statistics show that married people are less likely to drive dangerously and be involved in any sort of accident. In short, you calculate at a lower risk level if you’ve tied the knot, more so if you have children. See, marriage itself lowers your premium actively.
Furthermore, your accident prone spouse can opt to take safety driving courses which will significantly decrease their risk level. This option, however, is unavailable in some states –though some insurance companies count safety courses even if undertaken in different states. Not only will this lower your insurance premium, but will be the safer choice for your marriage and family.
There’s also the named-driver exclusion policy, wherein the sole driver of the insured automobile is identified to be the one insured along with the vehicle. Not only will this cancel out your spouse’s terrible driving record when looking at your insurance, it will also mean that your spouse is not covered by your insurance policy to operate your car. This means that your spouse will need separate insurance for their own car. This actually is a popular option for married couples with these conditions.
Auto insurance is varied. You can opt to not get the comprehensive or collision coverage when you get insured. This works if the car you’re driving is an old model. Of course, you need to be sure that you yourself and yours are insured even though your expendable old car is not.
Lastly, there’s the low mileage factor. This you can exploit even for yourself and not just your spouse. By frequenting public transportation (buses, trains, taxis, airplanes, etc.), you can lower your personal mileage factor, which, statistically speaking, means lowering your risk factor –in effect, lowering your premium. This is the easiest to do among the options provided above, just don’t take your car everywhere you go. Commute when you can.
While tying the knot makes your insurance premium go up, these strategies, when combined, can significantly lower that premium. Also, ask your insurance representative or broker for options and recommendations on insurance policy, they will most likely be able to help you.
