Money-saving car insurance tips
October 9, 2024If you intend to drive a car – or any other motor vehicle for that matter – you must have motor insurance. It is the law. You have no choice.
Where you do have a choice, however, is where you buy your car insurance, the type of insurance you buy, and how much you pay for that essential cover. The variations in price can be significant – so here are some money-saving car insurance tips.
Shop around
A Parliamentary paper published on the 13th of August 2024, explained some of the reasons for a substantial increase in car insurance premiums. The average price has risen by 82% since May 2021 – and the principal reason for the apparent surge in prices is because they fell sharply during the pandemic (when fewer journeys were made, and fewer accidents happened).
Despite the increases, however, not all car insurance providers are equal – the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive otherwise comparable policies remains very wide.
To find value for money and save on your expenses, therefore, it’s as important as ever to shop around. Or use a broker – such as us here at Alan Blunden – to do the legwork for you!
Avoid automatic renewals
Don’t deny yourself the opportunity to shop around by simply agreeing to your current insurer’s offer to auto-renew your existing cover each year.
Your insurance needs may have changed, and other insurers may have more attractive and favourable deals to offer.
The car you drive
The Money Saving Expert identifies the common factors determining your car insurance quote. Some of them – like your age, address, or profession – you cannot avoid.
But if you want to save money, carefully consider the type of car you choose – whether it’s more powerful than average, its mileage, and whether it’s especially valuable and therefore attractive to car thieves.
Your driving history
If you want to save money on the cost of your car insurance, you’ll need to keep your driving record as clean as possible – the fewer claims and the fewer motoring convictions you have, the cheaper your insurance is likely to be.
Another’s favourable driving experience can also count in your favour. So, if you choose wisely and add an experienced driver to you list of named drivers, this can help to lower your insurance premiums and save you money.
The type of insurance
If you have previously bought motor insurance, you’ll know that it can cover the following risks:
- third-party only;
- third-party, fire, and theft; or
- comprehensive cover.
Although you might be attracted by the lower premiums you’ll pay for third-party cover only, you might want to think twice about what can often prove a false economy. Only if your car is especially low value and old is third-party cover likely to be value for money.
Avoid paying in instalments
If you find car insurance an expensive outlay – because you are on a low income, for instance – you might be tempted to pay the annual premium in instalments.
But the full annual premium still falls due at the beginning of the annual cover. If you elect to pay by monthly instalments, that is in effect a credit agreement between you and the insurer.
The cost of that credit arrangement varies from one insurer to another, but you will almost certainly pay a significant additional price – and if you want to save money on your car insurance, pay for it upfront as it falls due.
It’s not just the excess
You might argue that by accepting a higher excess you will have saved yourself money. While there may be an immediate cost saving, you’ll end up paying a greater proportion of the costs if you later need to make a claim.
As we’ve seen, there are still some ways of saving money on your car insurance.
Finally, if you are about to renew your car insurance, why not give us a call today? We can check to see if there may be more suitable and cost-effective motor insurance options out there for you.