While buying car insurance does not seem the most glamorous thing to do, it can provide you the most protection should you find yourself in an unfortunately timed accident. But as with other things you must buy in life, there are many do’s and don’ts when buying car insurance.  Also, with many things in life your past performance is an indication of your future performance, at least as viewed by the insurance companies. This past performance is best indicated by your driving record. It is available from your local department of motor vehicles (DMV).  It is important you get a copy of your driving history and assure it is correct.  Things in your past history are “triggers” for insurance rates. The more you get cited for things such as speeding, running red lights or accidents the higher you will pay for your automobile insurance. The cost of your insurance will come to you as a quote. This quote is a pretty firm but generalized idea of what you might expect to pay for a given policy. Things such as your age, the type of vehicle you drive, how far you are to work etc. and coupled with your past driving record will all facto into how high your quote or your cost of insurance will be.  Payment plans with the insurance companies can be paid monthly / every three months etc. . . . Also included with cost of your insurance will be what type of coverage you will have. Most states require a basic insurance to cover the cost of repair to anyone or anything you might hit. Your insurance will pay to repair the vehicle or anyone that might get hurt as a result of your negligence. You can get more coverage (higher amounts of coverage’s) but it will result in higher monthly premiums to the insurance companies. Optional items such as additional drivers, broken windshield or even towing insurance are available – all at additional costs. With the advent of computers in recent years the most often used tool for obtaining and comparing rates is by using the computer search engines such as Google to search on insurance companies. Many companies are now offering software that compares different companies for the same type of coverage. You might input your age, past driving history, type of vehicle, year of vehicle etc. As we discussed earlier all of these types of factors influence how much you will paying for insurance.  Mate sure to get as many quotes as possible. Insurance companies do or don’t cover individuals in adjacent states. For example some insurance carriers are able to offer great rates but they do not insure drivers in the state of California. This is because California has some of the most accident prone drivers in the country and an insurance company can save millions by concentrating their efforts in other less risky states. So when you are ready to purchase insurance or compare rates, make sure you use all the tools at your disposal and most importantly – drive safely…