How To Make Car Insurance Cheaper

Without doubt, Car Insurance is one of the biggest costs any motorist will ever face.

Initial premiums can financially cripple new drivers, and although it tends to drop with age, we all still usually recoil in horror when we see that yearly renewal figure.

This leaves millions of motorists all across the country asking the same question.

Why Is My Car Insurance So High?

There are a wide range of reasons why your car Insurance may be higher than you would think reasonable.

If you’re young or a new driver, then it’s likely due to inexperience – insurance companies think you’re more likely to crash, and therefore demand higher prices.

Meanwhile, more experienced drivers can see premiums rise for a wide range of reasons, including changing car, and general price rises from increased numbers on the road.

Unfortunately, this is only going to get worse too.

A recent Government ruling means that from 20th March 2017, the average insurance premium is set to rise by around £75 for all drivers. This is to cover the increasing amounts paid out to those who are injured in road incidents.

This is expected to hit 36 million UK motorists, with under 22’s facing the worst potential damage, with premium rises of as much as £1,000.

As much as many loathe to pay it, it has to be said though that car insurance is incredibly useful – and also a requirement of UK law, and therefore has to be paid for.

That doesn’t mean that you have to pay through the nose every year, though – there are ways to bring the costs down.

How To Get Car Insurance Cheaper – 6 Simple Tricks That Can Save You over £200

Using our own experiences, and those of others we have spoken to, we have compiled a collection of simple ways that you can significantly reduce the cost of your next insurance premium for your car or 4×4.

Read on to find out more.

1) Use Occupations For Cheap Car Insurance

Car insurance companies ask for so many details – from what car you have to how far you drive it and where you’re going to park it – that you may not realise the importance of some of the “lesser” fields on the form, and occupation is one of these.

The truth is, though, that “Occupation” can impact your premium by up to £100.

A study by Go Compare showed that those who chose “Chef” as their occupation saw their costs soar by £98 compared to those who instead chose “Kitchen Staff”.

The same is true for music teachers, who pay £86 more than regular teachers, and this is consistent throughout a range of different job titles.

Next time you’re browsing car insurance quotes, take your time to look through all of the occupations listed and see if there are multiple that could be applied to what it is that you do. You may be shocked by the variation in prices that you find.

Please note, it classes as fraud if you outright lie about your occupation on an insurance form, so please do not put Builder if you’re a Doctor or anything along those lines.

2) Pay Annually, Not Monthly

Understandably, not everyone can afford to pay for their insurance up front, however, if you can then it is definitely recommended.

By paying the whole amount for the year, rather than breaking it down to monthly payments, you remove the need to pay interest on each instalment.

This could save up to £62 per premium according to a study by Money Supermarket.

3) Haggle

You may think that the idea of haggling with a salesperson from a multi-million-pound company may sound crazy, but it can actually work.

Just because your insurance company has sent you a certain figure in your renewal, this doesn’t mean that this is the price that you have to pay.

Do a little bit of research on price comparison websites, find some cheaper quotes, and give your existing provider a call.

Once they hear that you’ve considering joining a competitor for less, you’ll be surprised at the amount of “Loyalty discounts” they can offer you to match the price.

We’ve all had success with this in the past, but even if it doesn’t work, simply cancel with them and go for the cheaper quote that you have found.

On average, a quick phone call to your provider can save you as much as £113 compared to the automatic renewal price.

4) Secure Your Vehicle

Car insurance is all about protecting yourself from an accident or theft, so if you can provide to insurance companies that you’re a low-risk customer, then you’ll be rewarded with cheaper premiums.

Generally, the more secure you can make things sound the better.

For example, fitting an approved alarm, immobiliser, and tracker to your vehicle will reduce the amount that you have to pay – and also reduce the risk of your vehicle being stolen, win win!

Similarly, parking on driveways at night time and in secure, private car parks in the day will also have a positive effect as opposed to parking on the street or in public spaces.

5) Increase Your Voluntary Excess

The voluntary excess on an insurance policy is the amount you’re willing to personally pay towards damage in the case of an accident. This is usually on top of a mandatory amount that the insurer will specify.

The more that you say that you’re willing to pay towards an accident, the less that the insurer has to pay, and the less risk they face.

Generally, this means that they will reduce your overall premium, as they have less to lose should you end up in a crash.

Of course, though, only raise your voluntary excess to a level that you can afford, and always take into account the value of your vehicle. If your excess is high and your vehicle isn’t worth much, you could end up paying for all of the damage yourself

6) Remove Hidden Extras and Add-Ons

When retrieving car insurance quotes, especially on comparison websites, most people simply focus on just a few aspects of the page.

Insurer, premium, excess.

But there’s much more that you should be taking notice of if you want to get the best deal.

The list of different policies that you get served with will include a range of different extras and add-ons, all of which can affect the price that you pay.

These policy extras include breakdown cover, windscreen cover, contents cover, driving abroad, courtesy car and much more.

These may all sound like great things to have, but consider this, how many of them do you need?

Do you have breakdown cover already? Do you have any contents in your car worth covering? Do you plan on driving abroad within the next year?

Ask yourself how many, if any, of the included extras you need from your policy, and then remove the ones you don’t need. This can go a long way to cutting a significant chunk off of your premium.

Extra Point – Named Driver Insurance Rules

One of the most popular and well-known methods people tend to use to bring down their car insurance premium is to add extra named drivers.

But what exactly are the rules on this? and does it work?

Well, it is a completely acceptable practice to add extra drivers to your policy, so long as you are completely honest about the role of each driver.

Claiming that someone else is the main driver of a car, and then adding the true owner as a named driver is a crime and can get you in real trouble.

As far as saving money goes, this tactic used to work a treat, however, it is questionable whether it still has the same effect.

A member of our team was told over the phone by a customer service adviser at a major insurance provider that this method no longer works, and we have seen occasions ourselves where named drivers have had to be removed from policies they were on to bring the price down.

It may still work for some, but we would definitely recommend checking how it affects things by getting a fresh quote with your named drivers removed – especially if they never drive the vehicle.

So, there are our top 6 simple tips on how to make Car Insurance Cheaper.

We hope that you get some user out of them and can cut a good few hundred quid from your price next time renewal rolls around.

Lets Help Each Other Out

Do you have any tips and methods of your own that you use to bring the insurance down for your car or 4×4? Please share it with us on social media or in the comments below and lets save everyone a bit of money!

The post 6 Simple Tricks To Save Over £200 On Your Car Insurance Premium appeared first on Milner Off Road 4x4 Blog.