Insurance is one of those necessary expenses, so you can’t cut it out of your budget entirely. Fortunately, all major insurance companies offer a multitude of discounts you may already be eligible for.

1. Drive Safe
Almost every major auto insurance company offers safe driver discounts. AllState (Stock Quote: ALL) offers three levels of discounts for safe drivers: Premier for drivers with a three-year clean record, Premier Plus for drivers with a five-year clean record; and a Defensive Driver discount for those who’ve taken an approved defensive driving class. State Farm has a special safe driver program for drivers younger than 25 who have completed a specific program designed by the company.
2. Insure Your Home and Car Together
At Allied Insurance, a branch of Nationwide, insuring your home and car together will not only reduce your rates, but also provide an array of extra benefits. Allied only requires a single deductible when your car and home are affected by the same event. It also includes emergency lockout coverage for your home and car, airbag replacement and a $10,000 accidental death benefit that covers driving fatalities.

3. Occupational Discounts
Many insurance companies, like esurance.com, provide discounts to those currently employed as engineers, educators or scientists. These occupational discounts can knock 10 to 30% off your auto insurance rate depending upon your company and state of residence. This discount is also available if your spouse works in one of these three fields.

4. Drive Less
In 2007, GMAC Insurance became the first company to offer a low-mileage discount program, where people who drive less, as proven by his or her OnStar subscription, pay less for their car insurance. Drivers can save up to 54% off their payment for driving less than 15,000 miles annually. Under the program, drivers receive an automatic 11% discount as well as the OnStar subscriber discount, with the eligibility for increased savings as the GPS system proves the fulfillment of their low mileage promise.

5. Install a Home Security System
Most companies will offer homeowners discounted insurance for installing some type of security system. At Nationwide, homeowners can save up to 15% off their premiums for installing smoke detectors, fire alarms, burglary alarms or other qualifying devices. Travelers Insurance (Stock Quote: TRV) provides similar discounts for homes with dead bolts and fire extinguishers.

6. Improve Your Roof
State Farm offers reduced rates for customers with premium quality roofs in 38 states. The use of qualifying impact-resistant roofing products can mean significant savings, but these savings vary depending on the state and type of material. These reductions are not available for roofs that have been overlaid onto existing roofs. Interested customers should contact their State Farm agent before making any decisions on replacing their existing roof to find out exactly how much it could save them.

7. Celebrate your 55th Birthday
According to insurancetraders.com, many companies offer discounts of 10 to 25% off homeowners or renters insurance for those 55 or older and retired. These discounts vary depending on state, your age and the type of home. This is also true of auto insurance companies, but again varies wildly between states and companies.

8. Maintain a Good Credit Record
As with all things financial, having a strong credit record will save you money. Most national auto, home and health insurance companies base part of your rate on your credit score. Talk to your insurance agent about how heavily this factors into your rate. Take advantage of the government mandated free annual credit report to ensure that there are no false items on your record preventing you from getting a lower rate.