Money Saving Tips for Car Insurance
Unfortunately, getting car insurance is rarely an inexpensive affair, with large numbers of uninsured drivers pushing premiums higher than they should ideally be. However, there are a number of money saving tricks and tips available to the canny driver to keep your insurance costs to a minimum.
Choose the Right Policy
It doesn’t matter how good an insurance quote is if it’s the wrong kind of policy for you. Take some time to carefully consider which policy will suit your circumstances best.
Third Party: Traditionally, this was the cheapest kind of car insurance policy as it only covers you for any damages caused to another party’s vehicle and to any passengers travelling in your car. Any damages to your own car you will have to take care of yourself.
Third party cover is suitable for drivers who are under 25, have a car worth less than £1,000 or live in a high risk area.
Third Party, Fire and Theft: As you might expect, this type of cover is the same as the previous type but with the insurance provider will cover you if your car is set on fire or stolen.
Fully comprehensive: As the name implies, fully comprehensive car insurance offers you the greatest level of cover. Not only will you be covered for all damages to all vehicles involved in an accident, regardless of fault, it also covers things like accidental damage and vandalism. So if someone prangs your car while it’s parked on the street then drives away you’ll still be covered.
You would assume that this type of insurance would be the most expensive but oddly enough it can often work out cheaper than a third party policy. This is because the insurance provider assumes that you care more about your car if you go for fully comprehensive cover and are therefore less likely to have an accident as you drive more carefully.
“I could have saved a lot of money on my car insurance”. This guy is realizing he could have saved a lot of money on his car insurance. by Uffdah!!!, on Flickr. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.
Drive Within the Speed Limit
Every car insurance quote will depend on a wide range of factors; from the type of car you drive to the area you live in. Some factors are out of your hands but there are a number of things you can do to keep the price down.
Driving carefully might seem like an obvious tactic but it really is the most effective way of reducing insurance costs. A single speeding conviction can bump your quote up by approximately 5%, whereas multiple offenses can increase it by a whopping 20%. So by merely obeying the speed limit you can avoid an unpleasant hike in insurance costs.
Stay Off the Mobile
The safety implications should be enough to discourage anyone from using a mobile phone while driving anyway but here’s an added incentive for you: if you’re caught doing it, some providers will double your insurance quote.
Park Protectively
Where you park your car is another important consideration when trying to get cheap car insurance quotes. If you leave your car in a driveway or garage it serves as a major plus point that shows insurance providers that it is less likely to suffer damage or be stolen, often reducing their quote by between 3-7%.
If you don’t have a garage or driveway, at least try to pick a regular parking spot that is in a well-lit area.
Avoid Modifications
Any boy racer with serious modifications to their car will tell you that the more modifications on your car, the greater the insurance costs. It’s imperative that you tell your insurance provider about any modifications done to the vehicle, regardless of whether you or a previous owner did them, otherwise they might invalidate your policy.
Fit Security Devices
The exception to the modifications rule is security devices which for obvious reasons will reduce our insurance quote. If you can afford the initial outlay then an immobilizer or GPS tracking device will pay dividends in the long term.
