If you shop around now, you might save hundreds of dollars a year on your auto insurance - even more if you are a good driver, have retired, or no longer have children in your household who drive. According to the Insurance Information Institute, auto insurance rates fell by 2.8 percent in 1998 and were expected to fall an additional 4.5 percent last year once all the figures are in.
Safer vehicles are one reason that auto insurance rates are dropping.
Other reasons include declining average price of new cars, an aging baby boomer population, fewer teenage drivers, anti-fraud efforts, diminished tolerance for drunk drivers, and competition among insurers. Whatever the reasons, checking around can save you hundreds of dollars - maybe thousands.