So, people are driving less — we have established that fact. And that is, believe it or not, the very reason that the cost of gas is causing insurance rates to go down.

People are driving less largely because gas is so expensive. When people drive less, they are not as at risk for having an accident and having to file an insurance claim, or for getting a traffic violation and getting points on their driving record.

Insurance companies like it when your risks goes down. It means they are less likely to have to pay for injuries or car repairs.

That is a big one — being at less risk for an injury derived in a car accident. The less you drive, the less at risk you are. Your car insurance company loves that, and you can see a dip in your rates because of it.

There have been some very interested studies recently, launched by the government. In short, they show that people tend to drive less these days, and that they drive fewer miles when they do drive. This in turn leads to far less accidents and thus less injuries as well.

People are driving less because of the cost of gas, of course. Many of them are even turning to hybrid vehicles. Others are relying on methods of public transportation to get around. People are carpooling, they are starting to combine their trips — all of this leads to people spending a lot less time on the road.

You are probably still wondering how this creates a link between the high cost of gas and the low cost of premiums. Do not worry, we will be illuminating that link in the very next post.

The cost of gas still presents a veritable nightmare for a lot of drivers, and understandably so.  It seems like when gas prices stabilize, we are only able to enjoy it on a superficial level, because we know darn well that sooner or later — sooner rather than later, more often than not — they will go up yet again.  We know that during spring when all the schools go on break, the cost of gas will spike.  We know that during summer, prices will absolutely sky rocket.  We know that in November and December, during the holidays, they will go up all over again.

In other words, we know that there really, realistically seems to be no end in sight.

But I bet a lot of us do not know that these high gas prices can lead to low car insurance rates.  How?  Well, we will be discussing that in the coming posts for this series.