16 Ways To Lower Your Car Insurance
Posted on: 12/08/2014
1. Pass Plus and Advanced Driver Licence
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Sort out a recognised advanced driving course and it can have a significant impact on your annual premiums, insurers recognising that you have taken the time to study further. Statistically, those that have done so have fewer accidents, hence reap the rewards.
2. Shop Around
There are surprising discrepancies in the opening bids that insurance companies will offer you, once all of the information has been chewed up and spat out of their computer. It definitely pays to shop around... and by that, we mean by you shopping around, rather than merely using a middleman website that professes to do all the shopping around for you.
3. Introductory Offers
These days, competition being what it is, many insurers are keen to get you on their books and offer incentives only available to new subscribers. Be sure to check these out.
4. Online Offers
Purchasing your insurance online can offer really big savings, so be sure to let your fingers do the walking before you decide on your provider.
5. Insurance Packaging
There may also be discounts to be had through combining your Contents or Building Insurance into a package, certainly with the larger firms that do cover all three.
6. Ride You Drive
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Buying foreign, buying new, buying performance, or simply a larger engine are all going to be factors in the price you’ll pay to get it covered. Your pre-loved Ford Ka is obviously going to be a different prospect to a spanking Nissan GTR Nismo… so start off small, get a couple of years no-claims bonus under your belt and then go Evo.
7. Parking
8. Enhanced Security
Recognised immobilisers, steering wheel locks, car alarms and the like will all lower the price you pay for your insurance. They like this sort of thing.
9. Car Mods
Keeping car modifications to a minimum is basically the message here, apart from disability modifications. However, swapping your rims for some nice new alloys needn’t boost the premiums at all in the eyes of most insurers.
10. Reduce Coverage
If you downgrade your cover from ‘Fully Comp’ to ‘Third Party, Fire and Theft’, for instance, it can have a significant impact on cost. Though perhaps not ideal it’s certainly enough to consider seriously, if you are a licence newbie.
11. Pay Annually
By paying your insurance premium in instalments, either monthly, or in two lumps, you may be increasing the amount you pay by as much as 10%. See if you can’t find a way do it all in one go.
12. Increasing Excess
If you are prepared to increase the amount you pay towards any accident, theft or damage, you can dramatically reduce your initial outlay. Just an extra £100 Excess will have a considerable impact on your annual fee. Look into it.
13. Adding Experienced Named Drivers
Adding experienced name drivers, like one of your parents, for instance, can really help lower the amount you pay, though not always. And so long as they’re not a liability, with a rash of convictions against their names, that is…
14. Family Cars
Statistically, women have fewer severe accidents than men and therefore command better rates than male drivers, generally speaking. Making the woman of the household the Main Insured can have an impact on how much the family might pay for their car insurance, simply by making the male a named driver.
15. Reduce Mileage
Most insurers look positively upon those that drive fewer miles, so if you drop below the average 12-15,000 miles annually, you can expect to lower the premium paid, accordingly.
16. Get Older
If you stay out of trouble, it just gets cheaper. But be wise about it and get your insurance after a birthday has just passed rather than before, especially if you are young.