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Choose Safety:
Things to Consider when Buying Cars that Help You Save on Car Insurance
Buying a car? Make sure you put safety first. It could help save your life, and will definitely help you save on your car insurance.
Crash Test Performance
The National Highway Traffic Safety Agency (NHTSA) and many other safety authorities run crash tests every year to determine how well vehicles protect occupants in frontal and side
collisions.
When you're car shopping, ask how well the vehicle you're interested in holds up in frontal and side collision simulations. Good performance in these crash tests is typically a prominent selling feature. If the
seller doesn't know, or if you want to know more, you can research specific models and years on the NHTSA's Web site.
Buckling Up
One of the most important safety devices in a car is the seat belt. On average, seat belts save more than 10,000 lives each year. (Because of this, you’re typically given an auto insurance
discount for certain kinds of automatic seat belts when you buy car insurance.) Be sure to ask about the following features when you examine a car's restraint system.
Recent design improvements have made seat belts much more comfortable, increasing the likelihood that drivers and passengers will use them properly. Adjustable upper seat belts allow positioning of the shoulder strap
to better accommodate individuals of all sizes.
Integrated seat belts, seat belts that are solely fitted to the car seat rather than other parts of a car, also tend to be more comfortable and hold you more securely in the seat.
You should also ask about rear seat lap/shoulder belts, particularly if you have children who frequently ride in the rear center seat. Lap belts are required for such seats, but a lap/shoulder belt improves safety
for passengers riding in the rear center seat.
Air Bags All Around
When used with seat belts, air bags increase safety for most adult passengers.
Watch Your Head!
To protect against head and neck trauma, head injury protection and good head restraints are 2 important features to ask about.
Head injury protection is foam or similar material tucked between the car interior and the car's body. This layer is designed to protect you from injury should your head strike the interior roof of the vehicle. This
is standard protection in some recent model years, along with head air bags.
Head restraints, commonly thought of as headrests for comfort only, actually help prevent neck trauma in an accident. These should be fully adjustable. When you take a car on a test drive, adjust the head restraint
to your needs. See how comfortable it is, and assess whether it would support your head and neck in a crash.
Tough Traction
There are a lot of safety features that help you better control your vehicle, such as anti-lock brake systems, traction control, and all-wheel drive. See if the car that interests you has any
of these features. (Many of these features result in lower car insurance rates and/or auto insurance discounts.)
Four-wheel anti-lock brakes help prevent your wheels from locking up when you brake too rapidly, allowing you to maintain steering control as your car slows down. Anti-lock brakes do not mean that your car is
crash-proof, however. Anti-lock brakes can still lock at high speeds or during drastic steering. If you decide to buy a car with anti-lock brakes, make sure that you take time to learn to use them properly. They may
function differently than the brakes you’re used to.
Only found in vehicles with four-wheel anti-lock brakes, traction control systems can also help you maintain road position. These systems can help stop drive wheels from slipping when you apply too much power to
decelerate or accelerate.
All-wheel drive also improves traction by applying power to both front and rear wheels. However, if your car doesn't have traction control, all-wheel drive will not control wheel slippage if you use too much power to
accelerate.
It's All in the Lighting
Lighting issues are important in ensuring that other drivers see you and that you’re able to see them.
Even in sunny, clear weather, daytime running lights help other drivers see you during daylight hours.
Automatic-dimming rearview mirrors perform the function we all used to do manually: flipping the day/night lever on the rearview mirror to reduce headlight glare. The automatic-dimming rearview mirror dims gradually
as glare increases. Some cars also have external mirrors that function similarly.
Better Car Insurance Prices Help Offset Car Purchase Costs
Car insurance premiums aside, the safety of you and your passengers should always be paramount. Spending a few hundred dollars more on side air
bags may seem like a bargain if you can walk away unharmed after a serious crash.
A higher purchase price due to safety features is often offset by lower car insurance rates. Many of the car safety features listed above result in a lower car insurance premium and/or auto insurance discounts.
Driving a car that has performed well in crash tests can also result in a lower car insurance premium.
If you'd like to find out what the premium might be for a car you're interested in, Call our office or fill out our online quote page and someone will get back to you Remember you can get as many car insurance quotes
for as many different cars as you like, allowing you to factor the cost of auto insurance into your car buying decision.
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