Cheaper Car Insurance

Note: Cheaper car insurance is something that everyone can achieve, provided they know what to do. And the biggest advantage is that most of these money saving techniques can be implemented without great sacrifice on your behalf.

Increase your excess

The more you agree to pay towards the cost of your own misfortune, the lower your insurance premium should be. But every insurance company has its own unique scale of discounts for those who are prepared to accept a higher excess, so once again it really does pay to shop around.

The excess on many policies can be $100, $150, $250, perhaps even as high as $500 or $1000. Push your excess up to a level that is as high as you could afford if you had to make a claim. This should greatly reduce your premium and will hopefully make you take even more care when out on the roads.

You could even save the money that this technique reduces your premium by, just in case you need to pay your new enlarged excess when making a claim. Use it as a safeguard that will give you the confidence to push your excess even higher, which will reduce your premium even further.

Once the money in this savings fund mounts up to more than your excess any further additions can be used for other purposes. Brilliant!

Gain extra driving experience

Take an advanced driving course/test. These are intended for people who want to increase their driving skills and become the best drivers on the road. Many insurers will give substantial discounts for people who have an advanced driving qualification. So this option can save you money on your insurance year in year out.

In addition to saving you money on your car insurance, an advanced driving qualification will allow you to save in three other ways. Your new, improved driving style will improve your fuel consumption, saving on trips to refuel. Lower levels of wear and tear on your car will save on trips to the repair shop. Finally, it will also enable you to appreciate the finer aspects of driving, allowing you to save your sanity when out on the roads of the 21st century!

Don’t pay for cover that you don’t need

These extra elements, such as cover to drive other cars, legal expenses insurance, protected no claims bonus and breakdown cover, are not ‘free’. They will push up the cost of your premium one way or another! But do you really need them? Be aware that you can deactivate these options if you want to save money.

Insurance companies don’t generally tell you this (they just let you assume that they’re either ‘free’ or mandatory parts of the policy), because these extras are a nice little earner for them. Get them to tell you what the quoted premium includes and then ask them for another quote that excludes the benefits that you don’t want.

Restrict the amount of miles that you’re insured to drive. When calculating the cost of premiums, most insurance companies base the risk upon each car covering an assumed mileage of 15000 miles each year. This is much more than average and pushes up the cost of premiums. Obviously if you only cover 7000 miles in one year rather than 15000 miles your chances of having to make a claim on your insurance are greatly reduced. In that case consider limiting your insured mileage to perhaps 8000 miles. This little known tactic can shave as much as 10% from insurance premiums.

Limit the number of named drivers who are allowed to drive your car. Only insure drivers who actually drive your car. Many people pay extra for a spouse/partner who never uses their car. Premiums are normally based on the most ‘risky’ driver named on the policy, even if they’re not the main driver. A single driver policy could easily save you 20%+.

Remember, the factors that determine the overall cost of your car insurance are:

1) Your car – Its value, its power and its desirability (to steal!).

2) Your age – Younger drivers (under 25) and older drivers (over 70) are deemed to be more of a risk on the roads.

3) Your sex – Women are deemed to be safer drivers than men, especially in the younger age groups. Statistically, women have smaller (therefore less expensive) accidents than men, so they represent less of a risk, right! Let’s call it a ‘testosterone discount’. So it follows that they should in general pay less for their car insurance.

4) Your driving record – If you’re always claiming on your insurance, or other people are always claiming because of you, the insurance companies are going to make you pay.

5) Your mileage – The more miles you do, the more likely you are to come a cropper.

6) Your address – The more people and thieves that live in your area, the more likely you are to have a bump or have your car stolen.

7) Your occupation – The type of attention that you attract and the type of people that you’re likely to be carrying as passengers both affect your car insurance quote. Accountants will normally pay next to nothing while rock stars will generally pay sky high premiums, need I say more!

8) Your security devices – The harder your car is to steal, the lower your premium.

9) Your modifications – You might think that these body skirts, flared wheel arches, extra large air intake scoop on the bonnet, booming sound system and shiny new alloys make your car look ‘cool’, but the more of a thief-magnet your car is, the more insurance you’ll pay.

10) Your nocturnal parking place – Again, this relates to the likelihood of your car being stolen or damaged. A garage can save you money on your insurance.

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