There are a few insurance facts, tips, and hints that will help you save a little on your car insurance premiums; however, for the most part, here is one that we tend to forget to check into…
When people shop for a Canadian car insurance quote, they remember to discuss with their agent the prominent factors that can reduce their car insurance premiums like driver training, dropping collision from older cars, not using your car to drive to work, however when getting a Canada car insurance quote many forget to mention anti-theft devices they may have to protect their vehicle. By not mentioning anti-theft devices when you shop for a Canada car insurance quote, you could be leaving behind some additional discounts.
Auto theft costs are enormous; they cost Canadians approximately 1.2 billion a year when you add up legal bills and insurance costs, not to mention health care costs for those thefts that involve injuries. It is in our best interest and the interest of the Canadian insurance companies to take the steps in providing anti-theft devices that will help reduce these costs and let’s face it, any car insurance discount means money kept in your pocket!
There are three general categories for anti-theft devices; understanding these will help you when you are shopping for a Canada car insurance quote:
- mechanical – these are devices that prevent the steering wheel from moving – i.e., locking bars
- Alarms – these cause horns and lights to go off when someone tries to break into the car
- electronic – immobilizers that cut the power to the ignition so the car can’t be started,
The three mentioned are very familiar to us; the most familiar now is the electronic immobilizers because recently, the Government has just made them mandatory in Canada. These three categories of anti-theft devices can be broken down again into two categories:
Active devices – devices that require you to turn them on to activate them (mechanical and alarms)
Passive devices – devices that are activated when you turn the engine off (electronic)
It’s the passive devices that Canadian car insurance companies are the better of the two because they don’t rely on us to remember to turn them on; they come on on their own.
Before you start shopping for a Canada car insurance quote:
- Take advantage of all the insurance facts, tips, and hints.
- In this case, take a couple of minutes and write down the anti-theft devices your car already has.
- Write down if you have an engine immobilizer, wheel locks, car etching, anything and everything your car has, and ASK about each of them and see what sort of discounts the insurance company will offer.
DON’T ASSUME that just because engine immobilizers are mandatory, a discount has been applied; make a point of asking.
