20 Tips To Cheaper Car Insurance.
by: Kev HiggnisCar insurance premiums rise year after year. Although your car insurance premium largely depends on your Car, Age and other discounts, there are a few steps you can take to help stop the rise or even reduce your premium.
- Buy from the internet. Most companies offer a discount for online applications as
this is automated process and costs them a lot less to process your application, you can
usually see discounts of 5%-10%. Click here to
get a instant online insurance quote.
- Shop around. All insurance companies use different formulas to calculate your
insurance premium by adding or detracting money after each question the ask you. By
shopping around you could find big savings on your insurance premium.
- Buy extra products. Most insurance companies also do other insurance products, i.e.
"Building's and content's insurance". Most insurance companies will give extra discounts
for purchasing more than one product. By doing this you could save a fair amount on all
your insurance premiums.
- Pay your insurance premium in one go. By paying your insurance premium in full you
can avoid paying costly interest charges that would be added if you paid your insurance
premium by installments. Some insurance companies may charge as much as 15% APR on
installments. You may even receive a discount for paying in full. If you can not afford
to pay in full check out what rate a small loan would be you may still save some money.
Fill out a
online loan application.
- Increase your voluntary excess. Your excess is the amount paid by you in the event of
a claim. By increasing this, your insurance company should reduce your premium.
- Lower your annual mileage. Lowering your annual mileage can reduce your premium. Most
insurance companies will quote you for around 12,000 miles a year. Try and work out how
many mile's you will actually drive. If it's likely to be less, you may get a discount.
Be honest about this as your insurance company may ask to see old MOT'S and service
history to verify your mileage in the event of a accident.
- Have a Alarm, Immobiliser or Tracker fitted. Theft of and from your vehicle play a
major role in the calculation of your insurance premium. Having a alarm or immobiliser
fitted will give you a small discount to your premium and having a tracker fitted could
make you quite a saving.
- Take the advanced driving test. Passing your advanced driving test will show your
insurance company that you have extra skill when driving and are less likely to be
involved in a accident.
- Don't inflate the value of your car. Adding extra value to your car when you apply
for your insurance quote will do nothing for you apart from increase you premium. In the
event your car is stolen or written off you will only be paid the market value of your
car at the time of your accident.
- Look after your credit rating. Insurance companies are now looking at your credit
score as part of the calculation for your insurance premium. Maintaining a good credit
rating could avoid unnecessary additions to your premium.
- Insure your car Third Party Only. Third party only is the minimum cover you are
required to have by law and it's also the cheapest. If your vehicle is of a low value
then you could consider this type of cover. You need to remember that with this type of
cover if you were to have a accident that any damage to your vehicle would not be covered
for repair.
- Keep a clean licence. Insurance companies take driving convictions very seriously
and can dramatically increase your car insurance premium. By maintaining a clean
licence, you prove to the insurance you are a safe and careful driver.
- Remove any unnecessary drivers. If you have a young driver on your insurance policy
that no longer uses the vehicle you should remove them as this will reduce your
premium.
- Young drivers should add a older driver. Some insurance companies will reduce young
drivers premiums if they have a older named driver on the insurance.
- Build up your no-claims discount. One of the biggest factors affecting your car
insurance premium is the number of years no-claims discount. You could receive up to 75%
discount for around 5 years of no claims. The more years you can stay claim free, the
safer driver your insurance company will see you as.
- Protect your no-claims discount. Although this will increase your insurance premium,
if you have a lot of years of no-claims you may want to protect this as a small claim may
increase your premium by up to 75%.
- Buy a lower insurance group car. A very important factor to your insurance premium is
what car you drive. Most insurance companies adopt the Association Of British Insurance
Group Rating. This rates vehicle's from 1 - 20 (generally speaking, the higher the group
the higher the premium.) By buying a car with a lower group rating you can lower your
premium, especially for young or inexperienced drivers.
- Join a car club. If your vehicle is a classic or specialist consider joining a club
related to your car. Most clubs offer insurance schemes which have very good premium
rates.
- Put your spouse as a named driver. Some insurance companies offer discounts when you
add a spouse as a named driver. As opposed to unmarried couples, they see marriage as a
sign of stability and associate stability with safe driving and therefor give you a
discount.
- Take pass plus. If you are a new driver consider taking your pass plus. Some insurance companies could give you as much as a 25% discount, and when you have just passed your test and have no no-claims this could make a considerable saving.
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About The Author Kev Higgnis Article by www.thevirtualgarage.co.uk The free autotrader uk alternative |