7 Underrated Car Insurance Discounts You Should Ask About

The average auto insurance premium has increased by around 20% since 2020. While the year-over-year increase has slowed, the new, higher rates can still hit the average checking account hard.

One way to roll those rates back a bit is by taking advantage of every potential auto insurance discount. We're not talking about the "biggies" here, like safe driver or policy bundling. We're talking about the underrated and often overlooked discounts that can easily be stacked for extra savings.

1. Auto-pay

Like any business, car insurance companies appreciate knowing they're going to be paid on time. By automating your payments, you give the insurer permission to withdraw enough money from your bank account to cover your premium. That way, you never have to worry about making a late payment, and the insurer doesn't have to wonder if it will get paid.

As a reward for setting up automatic payments, many insurers offer a discount of up to 5%.

2. Paid in full

If you can swing paying for your entire annual or six-month policy upfront, it's possible to receive a premium discount of up to 9%. A secondary advantage of paying upfront is that you don't have to worry about making a monthly or quarterly payment.

3. Paperless

It wasn't so long ago that we all received correspondence from insurers via the U.S. Postal Service. Today, we have the option of receiving those notifications via email.

Not only are we helping save trees, but most insurance companies offer a discount to customers who agree to go paperless. The discount may be a modest 1%, but any discount leaves you with more money to tuck away in a high-yield savings account.

4. Good student

If you have teen drivers in your household, you know just how expensive their insurance coverage can be. If your teen also happens to be a good student, their hard work may be rewarded by a premium discount. According to a CarInsurance.com rate analysis, the average good student discount for auto insurance is 14%.

5. Loyalty

Insurers are all about their loyal customers, the people who stick with them even when rates get wonky. Customer loyalty discounts can be as high as 20%, depending on the insurance company.

6. Mature driver

There are definitely benefits associated with growing older. You know who you are, have a greater sense of confidence, and have banked some pretty sweet memories. In addition, you don't have to pay as much for movie tickets, you're offered discounts at some restaurants, and you can score a discount on your auto insurance.

While the size of the discount varies by insurance company, you could receive somewhere between 5% and 15% for your extra years of driving experience.

7. Alumni

If you went to college, you could have access to an alumni discount. Again, rates vary by insurer, but you could save 5% to 10% just for working toward your diploma. What's interesting about alumni discounts is that different insurers offer them to graduates of different schools, so ask about which schools your insurer discounts.

Finally, be sure to ask your current auto insurance agent for a list of additional discounts offered. If the company's discounts are nothing to write home about, there's no rule saying you need to stick with that insurer. Switching insurance companies is not only easy, but it can save you hundreds of dollars a year (or more).