Chances are when you are looking to move, whether it is because you're planning on buying a new home or moving to a new apartment, the last thing you think about is how it will affect your car insurance premiums. And, who can blame you? But the fact is that when you move, your premiums will likely change; for the lucky, it might mean paying less, for others, it might mean paying more. Whichever it is, don't assume that this is the best car insurance rate you can get.

 

Too often, when it comes to moving, people figure they'll just tell their insurer of their change in address who will then adjust their rate, and whatever the rate ends up being, is what it is. After all, presumably they'll still give you the best rate out of all the insurers out there, just like they did last time you shopped around, right? This isn't always the case.

 

To illustrate, using kanetix.ca's car insurance shopping service, online quotes were obtained in September, 2008 for a 35-year old Honda Civic driver in Toronto using 8 different postal codes. These postal codes were randomly selected from a map; with the only criteria being that an attempt was made to distribute the selections somewhat evenly across the map.

 

Here's what the snapshot found:

 

• In each of the 8 areas, more than 10 car insurance quotes were provided.
• In looking at each of the 8 sets of quotes, the difference between the best and highest quote varied considerably. In one area the range in quotes was $705; in another it was $1,529; and the average was almost $1,140
• In looking at how the companies ranked within each of the 8 sets of quotes, not one insurer ranked in the same spot all of the time (keep in mind that at kanetix.ca quotes are ranked based on price - lowest to the highest.) Sometimes the best quote provided by Company A in one area, was 10^th best in another; and, Company B that ranked 11^th in one locale, ranked first somewhere else.

 

What's it all mean?

 

The company who currently insures you may not provide you the best car insurance rate for the area where you are moving and not shopping around can be costly.  After you've settled in to your new residence, make sure you're still getting the best rate out there.

 

After you've moved, the best advice is to compare car insurance quotes from competing insurers to what you're paying with your current insurer. It's the only way to know you're getting the best rate possible.

 

Compare car insurance quotes today.