How many times would you say your parents told you to mind your manners when you were little? A hundred? A thousand? Too many to count? The more things change, the more they stay the same when you become an adult. Blind obedience can get you into trouble (unless you decide to join the military), but you still need to mind your manners. The difference is, this time you’re minding your manners behind the wheel of a car, and it’s going to have a direct and immediate impact on your car insurance.
Yes, that’s right ladies and gentlemen. Minding your manners is, in fact, the real secret to learning how to save on your car insurance. Have you ever sat in a mall parking lot at Christmas time? If you sit there long enough, just staring at the cars around you, there’s an excellent chance you’re going to find yourself staring at the carnage left behind by dozens of fender benders. When people are in a hurry to get where they’re going they’re not paying attention to anything else, and the results can be devastating.
Believe it or not, local authorities actually issued a warning to drivers last year to mind their manners and watch out for other drivers when they were out running their holiday errands. Here are a few other tips from the driving masters regarding roadside etiquette and how dotting your “I”s and minding your “P”s can save you a fortune when it’s time to pay your car insurance bill.
1) Use your turn signal. Visitors to the Washington D.C./Northern VA area constantly complain about the fact that no one seems to know how to use their turn signal. They just go flying into the lane in front of you, cutting across four lanes of traffic to get to their exit and forcing you to ram into them. Clearly signal your intent, and not only will you be able to get where you’re going that much faster (you won’t have to wait for all the red tape that goes will calling the authorities) you’ll also be able to save someone else a couple of bucks from NOT watching their insurance go up!
2) Check your rearview and side mirrors when you’re pulling out of a parking space, and creep out slowly. You never know who’s going to be flying through the lot without paying a lick of attention to what’s going on around them.
3) Yield the right of way to cars pulling into your lane, even if you’re in the right. It’s not going to hurt you to add a couple of seconds onto your trip, and you could be single-handedly stopping the ten car pileup that follows when they decide they’re tired of waiting.
You’ll find that minding your manners out on the road doesn’t cost you a thing, but tossing them aside can cost you thousands in repairs and car insurance deductibles (not to mention premiums) before it’s all said and done. It’s up to you.