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| Improving the Score |
 If you're denied insurance coverage because of your credit history, the federal Fair Credit Reporting Act lets you order a free copy of your credit report from the bureau used by the auto insurance company who denied you. If you think the information given to the credit bureau is wrong, you can dispute it.
If you've been refused for insurance, this may feel like too little, too late. But if your credit history is influencing your ability to get auto insurance (or the premiums you're charged for it), here are a few advice you can use:
• Clean up your credit instantly. Every month try to pay your bills on time, get rid of the high interest credit cards, and don’t spend beyond your means.
• If you don't have any credit, get some. Your lack of history is not good; you're an unknown quantity to the insurance companies. Although you don't want to run up excessive debt, you do want to demonstrate that you can use credit wisely. Use your credit regularly, and always make your monthly payments in a timely fashion.
• Receive copies of your credit report from all three major credit bureaus once a year. (The information contained in one report may not be reflected by the others.) Be sure the information on them all is right. Dispute any errors with both the creditors and the credit bureaus involved.
• Shop around for insurance. Prices for the same coverage can range essentially depending on the insurer.
• Pay attention to higher deductibles to save money. Higher deductibles can lower your premium costs for auto insurance. Just be sure you can cover the deductible should you be faced with a claim.
For now, the use of credit reports is an industry standard. Have your credit working for you by watching it closely. In most cases, you may be rewarded with lower premiums if you do so.
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