Car insurance companies are notorious for poking around your background before they give you an insurance policy. They do this for a more accurate quote to give you. How? It's simple. You apply for an insurance company, you pay them a monthly premium, and they pay for the expenses needed in case of an accident. Simply put, when you are a high risk driver or if you have a high risk car, they pay the price. At any rate, there are three "historical" background checks that most companies do.
Driving History
Every car owner and operator knows that to get cheap insurance, he or she should make the first step. Being a good driver means you have driven for a long time without being in a single accident. Insurance companies will see you as a "safe investment" and will be happy to give you discounts since you will not be costing them money for repairs. Companies typically look back three to five years into your driving history, so try to clean up your driving record if you have any commitments.
Claim History
Car insurance companies learn lessons as we all do. There are people who jump from insurance company to insurance company. There are also people who tend to file too many claims. If you are one of those people, these companies will see you as an irresponsible driver, unable to take care of your car. This means they will be shelling out too much cash to catch up with your frequent car repair bills. Because of this, they will charge you more for auto insurance.
Credit History
People who have less than perfect credit are given more costly policies. This is, again, due to car insurance's view of responsibility. They see people with less than perfect credit scores as people who can not take responsibility of their expenses. This may seem unfair, since not all who have bad credit score are bad drivers. The good news is that not all car insurance companies look at credit scores. You can always ask the insurance companies if they look at your credit history if it bothers you too much.
These are just three of the things that car insurance providers look at during the process of determining your risk level. Notice that all these factors can be remedied. Sure, some would take a long time to iron out, but they can be ironed out nonetheeless.
