How To Get a Car Insurance Discount
Reader question:
I’ve only been driving for a couple of years, and I’m trying to figure out ways to get a good car insurance discount. Any ideas?
Rhonda
Sure, plenty, Rhonda.
Any young person who wants to get a car insurance policy must at first be completely daunted by the high price. For drivers under twenty five, the typical car insurance premium is twice as much as that for older drivers, and even higher if you’re male. Lucky for you, you don’t have that last hurdle, so it will be even easier to get your insurance premium lowered to an amount that you can stomach.
I expect that you only took your driver’s education course a few years ago. You might not have, as most states allow drivers to get their license without taking a class if they are eighteen or older. That’s what I did, and many people do it every year. If you fall into this category, then you should check out taking that driver’s education course anyway. You might have read the handbook that describes traffic laws in order to study for your driving test, but that isn’t quite the same. If you take a driver’s education course, even if you already know everything they are teaching, then you can save a few bucks on your car insurance premium.
There’s another course that you can take that would get you some savings on your insurance premium, and that is a defensive driving course. Most car insurance companies will offer you a five to fifteen percent discount for taking this kind of course, and you can learn a lot from it as well. These courses teach you plenty of necessary information on the rules of the road and avoiding accidents.
And you don’t have to be young to take a defensive driving class, either. Seniors can score even bigger savings on their insurance premium if they choose to take one of these courses in order to refresh their driving memory. In fact, Hartford AARP offers defensive driving classes for a cheap price, but you can get them in many other places.
It helps for more things than just a discount on your car insurance, too. Most young people get some kind of ticket for a moving violation before they turn twenty five, and usually if you take a defensive driving course then they will take the ticket off your record. If that happens, then you won’t see a raise in your insurance premium, and again, you’re saving money.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Can I Use an International Drivers License in California
I have an international license. Do I need to have a driver license in the US to be able to drive in Los Angeles, CA and if yes, how do I do that?
Cecille
Thank you for asking Cecille.
The California Department of Motor Vehicle states that if you are a visitor in California over 18 years of age and has a valid driver’s license from your country, you may be able to drive in the state of California as long as you maintain your drivers license valid.
But on the other hand, if you get a job or become a resident in the state of California, you will be required to get a California driver license within 10 days. Residency is established by:
1. voting in the California election
2. paying resident tuition
3. filing for the homeowners property tax exemption
4. getting other privileges not extended to nonresidents
If you also have a license from another country, you may be required to take a driving test.
The state of California recognizes a valid driver license that is issued by a foreign jurisdiction of which the license holder is a resident. The International Driving Permit (IDP) is not recognized in California. It is only a transaction of the driver’s information contained in your foreign driver license. Therefore, this cannot be used to drive in the state of California.
If you get caught driving without the California drivers license and only using the IDP, citation may be issued and will be place in the database of Department of Motor Vehicles.
You may check with the DMV to make sure if the license that you have is permitted to drive around the state of California legally. If they tell you that you will need to get a California license, you can also get an information with them on how to obtain it.
Goodluck!
MariCAR
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