Q: Can I get auto insurance with bad credit?

A: Sure. But it’ll cost you. Since companies started checking it several years ago, getting auto insurance with bad credit has made the deadly insurance maze even more of a hassle for many people. Companies rate your policy based on many traits, and included in that is your insurance risk score, which is kind of like a credit score but is come upon slightly differently based on your credit report–emphasizing more on whether or not you make regular monthly payments on debts than on the fact that they exist. Some call this discriminatory, as it affects low income and minority drivers more often, but so far it looks like it ain’t going nowhere.

The best thing for you to do is just suck it up if you have to get auto insurance with bad credit, and meanwhile work on improving your credit. Order a copy of your credit report–you can get a free one every year from each of the three credit reporting agencies. Look it over and request that anything innacurate be removed, and as for the rest, hunker down and start paying. Start with the debts which have the highest interest rates first, although it probably won’t hurt you to pay off a couple of tiny debts along the way.