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With rising car accident rates, auto insurance rates keep increasing. It isn’t easy to find good auto insurance at an affordable price. While this can frustrate any average driver, make sure this frustration does not affect your driving. Why? Because road rage can make your insurance rates even worse.
Car insurance rates are affected by multiple factors. Anything can affect your car insurance prices, from your insurance claims to your credit score. But no other factor affects it more than your driving record. One ding on your driving record and insurance rates will shoot for the moon.
But how does road rage impact your car insurance? How can getting in a verbal or physical confrontation with another driver affect your insurance rates? This article will describe everything you need to know about this topic. Let’s get started.
What is Road Rage?
No other word could be so simple yet so complex as road rage. The term “road rage” explains it all. It is something that results in raging on the road. But there are so many things that come under road rage.
Road rage ranges from something mildly annoying to something serious. From aggressively honking at someone, shouting at them to driving aggressively, tailgating someone, or even hitting someone’s car, everything comes under road rage. Whatever the road rage be, they have the potential to affect your insurance rates.
Insurance Rates
Your driving record is very crucial when it comes to getting affordable and low car insurance rates. Insurance companies look at your driving record, and if they find it littered with accidents, tickets, speeding charges, etc., they put you under “high-risk” drivers.
Being a high-risk driver means you are more likely to get in a car accident and make an insurance claim. To offset this risk, car insurance companies will charge you more for the same policies that good drivers get at much lower rates.
A driving record is one of the few factors you have complete control over. This is why auto insurers put a lot of weight on it. So how do road rage, insurance rates, and your driving record interact?
Road Rage and Insurance Rates
Road rage affects your driving record, and your driving record affects your car insurance rates. So, road rage indirectly affects your car insurance rates. This is an oversimplification, but the essence of it is valid here.
Let’s say that you are driving calmly, and someone cuts you off abruptly. The risks of getting in an accident are high here, and your anger is understandable. But the actions due to this anger can be detrimental to you, both financially and legally.
So if you get cut off by someone and decide to chase the driver, cross the speed limit, drive rashly, and get in a car accident, the other driver won’t be in trouble. But you will be in a big pool of issues.
Car accidents that result due to rash driving, speeding, etc., are some of the worst things your driving record could have. The impact of these accidents could last for more than five years in some cases. Once on your driving record, a car insurance company can only offer affordable rates.
This is not even the worst-case scenario. The worst case scenario is when you get in a serious car accident that results in severe bodily damage and damage to your car. There are some cases when insurance companies have rejected claims in similar situations because the accident was “intentional.”
Car insurance companies will pay for the accident only if the accident was, let’s say, “accidental.” Deliberately driving over the speed limit, breaking traffic rules, and driving recklessly can be the reason your claim gets rejected because the accident was intentional.
So, in summary, do not let road rage change your driving etiquette. Make sure that you do not drive recklessly or over the speed limit, and avoid getting into any confrontation. It is always better to have a dashcam to record everything, which can be used later if things escalate.
Saving Money After an Accident
If your driving record is not too excellent and you are paying a lot for car insurance, perhaps it’s time to change your car insurer and find some other, better, and more affordable option.
Here’s the thing; not all car companies view accidents the same way. This means that if one car insurance company is charging you 30% more for, say, speeding, another auto insurance company might charge you just 10%, which is preferable.
While you’ll have to pay inflated rates, why not select the company that charges the least? So start your comparison journey. Make sure you compare all the insurance companies in your state and select the most affordable one.
For example, if you live in Nevada, all you need to do is search for Nevada cheap car insurance, get quotes from all the car insurance companies available, and choose the one that offers the best coverage at the lowest prices.
It is essential to focus on the coverage more than the price because what good is a cheap car insurance policy if it fails when you need it the most? Ensure that the policy you are choosing has all the necessary coverages and that the coverage limit is over the state’s minimum coverage limit.
Conclusion
Road rage will not affect your insurance directly, but the actions caused by road rage will. Anything that you do on the road which is out of order or that could result in a car accident will be used against you. It will also be used by your insurance company to charge you more.
So the best thing to do when you get angry is to take a few deep breaths, calm down, and follow the traffic rules. To help you calm down, imagine paying $200-$300 more for car insurance if you lose control.
