What if the best day of your life suddenly got very scary?
For pregnant women of any age, there is nothing quite like the joy of bringing a new life into this world. But it’s also natural to start worrying more about your future. Especially when it comes to the baby affecting your family’s finances!
New parents, for example, often worry about their health insurance policy and other types of coverage, such as auto insurance. This leads to a pretty natural question: is it possible to decrease the cost of your auto coverage during pregnancy or after having a baby?
Keep reading to discover all the information you need to know!
Can I Get a Discount On Car Insurance After Having a Baby?
Unfortunately, you cannot get a special discount on your car insurance just for having kids. However, even though new parents may be struggling with things like medical costs, newborn insurance, health plans and hospital paperwork, you may be able to lower the cost of insurance in other ways. This information can help to offset the increasing costs of your health care coverage.
What other ways can you save? After you complete your hospital stay, you’ll find that having a newborn child means major changes to your lifestyle, including additional costs related to maternity care. These changes can be intimidating for a married couple and especially for a single parent. Fortunately, these lifestyle changes may make you eligible for certain discounts on your auto policy that help you save some serious money after this major life event.
Ways New Parents Can Save Money On Car Insurance
Car insurance companies don’t offer explicit savings for having kids. But you may be able to save more via your current insurance provider by pursuing other parent-friendly strategies and plans that help to lower auto insurance rates on your current insurance plan.
· Getting a Low-Mileage Discount
After the birth of a child, you may not be driving as much as you once did. This may help you qualify for a low-mileage discount. Alternatively, updating your insurance carrier with information like marital status and having less free time to drive may mean they can manually lower your premium. When you’re on the road less, you aren’t at a very high risk of getting into an accident, and this is a very important factor to your carrier when setting your premium.
Just make sure you get the details related to this discount. In some cases, your insurer may need to install a device in your car to help verify how far you drive each month.
· Buying a New Family Car
Having a baby may lead to other major life changes, including the need to buy a larger, family-friendly vehicle. And while the idea of paying a new monthly car bill may be intimidating, a new car may give you a chance to save on your monthly insurance premium.
How can you save? Basically, some cars are more expensive to insure than others (which is one of the reasons sports cars are always so expensive when it comes to insurance coverage). Simply selling your old car and buying a new family vehicle may help you save because your carrier charges less to cover the new car. Search out information that can help you decide. Additionally, new families often focus on buying vehicles with many safety features. Because safer cars also cost less to insure, this may give you another way to save while helping you drive safer with your kids.
· Bundling Your Insurance
Having a baby often means getting a bigger home as your household size grows along with your family. If you end up buying your home or if you and your partner already have a place of your own, you may be able to save by bundling your auto insurance coverage and home insurance coverage together, helping your household stretch its budget further each month.
This is a very effective strategy for new parents because, quite frankly, you will be paying for both insurance policies anyway. It’s a good idea to bundle them together, so you can save on each policy and effectively make your coverage more affordable now that you have a new addition to the family. Also, if you move to a different part of town with a new zip code, your car insurance after having a baby may be less expensive.
When In Doubt, Compare Quotes
So far, we have focused on strategies that help you save money with your existing carrier. However, one of the most effective ways to save money is to shop around. Whenever you’re worried about whether you’re getting a good deal or not, it’s a good idea to compare quotes for different insurance plans from several different carriers.
Because this information and these quotes are free and you can change carriers at any time, you have nothing to lose. Once you compare quotes, you’ll either verify that you have an affordable policy or find leads that point to a new carrier that makes sense for you and your family.
Other Ways New Parents Can Save After Having a New Baby
Looking for more savings? While you’re making major changes, this may be time to determine if you want to take out a life insurance policy now or save up your money for the time being. You may also want to adjust your health insurance plans now that you have a baby in your life.
Looking for Cheaper Health Coverage Options
Your medical care and your doctor bills can seem very intimidating. There are some steps you can take prior to welcoming your new bundle of joy to ease the burden of medical care. For example, switching private health plans to something via the Affordable Care Act can help to make other expenses (including your own policy for auto coverage) more affordable. It’s definitely worth looking into the ACA’s federal marketplace if you don’t have employer coverage from your current company or a private health plan.
If you miss Open Enrollment for the ACA, having a baby qualifies you for a Special Enrollment period that extends the rest of the year. Keep in mind that Medicaid is also an opportunity to have your medical care and doctor visits be cheaper.
While this may seem like a lot of steps and too much information, it’s important to make your savings and insurance plans sooner rather than later. Armed with this knowledge, you can save on your monthly premium and possibly ease your financial situation.
Figuring out the best way to handle your insurance can be intimidating, and you might not always know who to trust. Talking to family members, friends and other drivers who have recently had children can be a big help (especially with those booster seats), as can working with a professional insurance agent. An agent will help you find the best policy for you, make sure you’re getting a good deal, and they’ll be able to answer any questions you have.
· Medicaid
Medicaid is a program paid for by the federal government and your state of residence. Your state will administer it on the local level. In a nutshell, however, pregnant women are eligible for special Medicaid programs that aren’t available to anyone else. Once the baby is born, Medicaid also has programs to make sure the newborn receives the proper medical care and has the right doctor. Health coverage is vital for prenatal and afterbirth care.
Save Money On Your Auto Insurance Today!
Worried about saving money on your auto coverage? Here at Freeway, we can help new parents get the best insurance plans (even if you don’t have a clean driving record).
Get covered by an auto insurance company that can keep you covered no matter what changes life throws your way. No need to worry about eligibility requirements or a confusing application. All you have to do is get a free car insurance quote from Freeway Insurance online or over the phone at (800) 777-5620.
