In Maryland there are three different types of automobile insurance that you are required to have before you can drive any motorized vehicle on any public Maryland road: you must have liability insurance, uninsured motorist (UM) insurance and you must have personal injury protection (PIP) insurance.

As you can imagine, paying for even these three basic forms of automobile insurance in Maryland can be fairly costly, but if your vehicle is being financed then your financing company will require that you also carry collision insurance plus comprehensive insurance. And depending on how new your vehicle is and its value, you may be required to carry more insurance than the state’s minimum requirements.

All of this can drive the cost of insuring your automobile out of reach for many people. Fortunately, there are a few steps you can take to reduce the cost of automobile insurance.

Start by keeping your driving record clean. Basically, this means that every time you get behind the wheel of your vehicle you drive in a safe and legal manner. If you are caught speeding and get a ticket your automobile insurance rates are going to go sky-high.

Similarly, if you are convicted of drunken or impaired driving your rates will skyrocket and stay high for years to come.

Multiple accidents will also cause your rates to rise.

If you’re young, under 25, then you already know that your automobile insurance rates are high. If you’re in school stay in school and study hard. Students who can maintain a ‘B’ grade point average or better can qualify for a Good Student Discount on their car insurance. This usually translates into a savings of about 5% per month.

Older drivers, those 55 or older may have noticed that their automobile insurance rates have begun creeping up. Ask your insurance agent if your insurance company offers a driver’s refresher course. Many companies will lower your premiums by up to 10% if you successfully pass such a course.

If your vehicle is older or in beat-up shape and has little or no Kelly Blue Book value then there’s no point in paying for comprehensive and collision coverage since your insurance company will pay little or nothing for these coverages even if you do carry them.

Probably the area where you have the most control over your automobile insurance costs is your deductible. Your deductible is the amount of money you promise to pay out of your own pocket any time you make a claim. The more you are willing to pay — in other words, the higher your deductible — and the less your insurance company has to pay, then the lower your monthly premiums will be.

Now that you’ve set up a policy with all the necessary parameters for low premiums, it’s time for you to jump online and start comparing policies and prices from a variety of different automobile insurance companies at a few of the many sites especially set-up for making comparisons.

Since no one site compares all the automobile insurance companies in Maryland it is an excellent idea to fill out all the information on at least two and preferably three different comparison sites. In this way, you will be virtually certain of getting the cheapest automobile insurance that you can possibly find online in the state of Maryland.

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