Reducing your Car Insurance costs
Your Insurance premium depends on many things, such as where you live, job, what kind of vehicle you drive, and so on, which are usually things you can’t really change for the sake of a cheaper quote. However, there are a few things you can do, and whilst there is no guarantee for you as an individual, the following applies to most drivers.
If your spouse has a driving record cleaner than yours, have them named on your policy as well. This is seen as a lower risk by insurance companies. Most of the time, they’ll add them for free, but sometimes they actually discount your rate. This also works for newly qualified motorists. If a parent is named as a second driver on a policy, the price will go down, but you should be aware: Insuring a teenager’s car in a parent’s name, is something insurers are catching on to, and in the event of a claim, it’s usually quite obvious if the car is mostly driven by the younger driver, i.e. the parent owns a nearly new BMW and apparently a small engined hatchback with a naff bodykit and an enormous, aftermarket stereo. Who do you think the main driver of each car is??
If you have none, or relatively little no claims discount or “bonus” as it is sometimes called, ask for an introductory bonus. Depending on your circumstances, some insurers will give you an introductory bonus equivalent to almost 3 years no claims discount.
If you used to have company car insurance, certain insurers will accept a company car letter. This means asking your old company for a letter confirming you drove claim free under their fleet insurance, and it will be treated as proof of entitlement to no claims discount. This works for with HGV insurance as well, in fact, as you have to go through further training to drive a heavy goods vehicle, this also counts in your favour.
Car insurance is very competitive these days, and policies often have add ons available such as legal cover for a small additional fee. Asking for the removal of these can often knock a bit off premiums. Also, as the commission rates are higher on these products than the main car insurance itself, it is sometimes more profitable for a broker to take the price of the add on, off the main policy, but leave the add on in place. They can actually make slightly more commission this way!
There are currently several motoring organisations that offer driver training courses such as RoSPA (Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents) and the IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists). Making your insurers aware of this can gain you discount too.
Many people recommend increasing your excess for a lower quote, and while this works it is not always good value to do so. For example, I raised my excess on my last renewal by £100, and my renewal price dropped by £42. However, I was unfortunate enough to bash my car (after 10 claim free years!!), and I was paid £100 less than I would have been, so altogether I actually lost out by £58.
If none of this works, you can straight out ask for a discount, and many insurance brokers will give you one if you tell them you’ll take the policy, there and then.
And lastly, don’t forget - pretty much any car under 10 years old, will have a decent alarm and immobiliser as standard, so when you are asked the question, does your car have any security, don’t tell them “none”. In fact many modern systems are also thatcham approved as well, but you’ll need to check your car’s handbook to find this out.
About your No Claims Discount
Most people are aware that they get money off their car insurance for every year they are claim free. Some companies will apparently give you up to 9 years no claims "discount", although it's very unlikely you'll get any further discount off your yearly insurance premium after 5 years, even if your schedule says more.
If you have to make a claim, you will lose some of your no claims discount. It isn't as bad as it seems though - if you have a large no claims discount you won't lose all of it in one go. For the average claim, you should only lose two or three years off your total discount. You can buy protection your no claims discount with some companies, but you pay extra for the privilege, so you need to weigh this up against the extra you might have to pay next year if you lost your unprotected bonus.
It is important to note: if you make a claim off your own insurance company, even if it is not your fault, you will lose some no claims discount. The discount is awarded for not claiming, and has nothing to do with who was at fault.
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