How Owning a Garage Can Affect Your Insurance

It's simple, but hard to believe that a little thing like owning a garage can make a difference in the price of car insurance. If you stop to think about it, though, it definitely makes sense. After all, if your car is in the garage, and both your car and the garage are locked, it is less likely to be stolen.

How many car thieves would actually break into someone's garage to steal a car? Better yet, if your car were in the garage, how would they even know that it's there? Certainly if your friend knows it's there and knows how to get in, it's a possibility, but the normal assumption is that when your car is locked into your garage, thieves cannot get into to steal it.

Preventing the Unexpected

You also prevent the possibility of a collision caused by a runaway car when you keep your car locked up in a garage. Of course, if you have off-street parking without a garage, you don't worry as much about this kind of thing. Nevertheless, there are freak accidents that can happen such as someone leaving the road and crashing into your house and car or your neighbor's car sliding down the driveway and landing in yours, but these are rare and unusual cases.

Avoiding Theft

When you think about other factors with your car in the garage, it's easy to see why insurance companies would charge less if you have one. Even if someone does try to break into your garage, if it's attached to your house, you are more likely to hear commotion than if your car is parked in the driveway or on the street.

Not only do you avoid theft of your vehicle, you avoid vandalism, collisions, and someone breaking into your car to steal items such as a stereo system. You will also sleep better because you won't experience people walking by and attempting to trigger your car alarm, though that in itself has nothing to do with obtaining lower rates.

Making Assumptions

Even if you have a garage, how does the insurance company know that you are using it? In reality, they don't, but the assumption is, right or wrong, that if you have a garage you are parking your car there rather than on the street. Most people who have a garage do not park their car on the street or in the driveway, at least not overnight. The majority of hit and run accidents, vandalism, and car thefts occur while the residents are sleeping—or art least after dark where they are least likely of being caught.

Everyone is looking for ways to save money on car insurance, so if you have the opportunity to purchase or rent a home that has a garage, by all means, take advantage. The extra payment you pay compared to a house without a garage will not come anywhere near the savings in car insurance. Besides, you will have peace of mind know that when you awaken, your car will be in the same condition in which you left it.