Lowering the Cost of Your Car Insurance
The cost of car insurance is rising. In 2009, just when we needed a financial break from increasing bills and debt repayments, the car insurance industry, on average, hiked car insurance premiums by a massive 12%. According to the CEO of Admiral, this rate increase is likely to continue in 2010 as insurers are coming under increasing pressure to deal with fraud and rising claim sizes.
To make matters worse, petrol duty is increasing every year until 2013 by 1p per litre plus inflation, which continues to edge up (another increase of 0.76p in due in the New Year).
We are told our cars are bad for the environment, but some journeys would be pretty unbearable or damn near impossible if we had to rely on the British public transport system. We can cut out car usage for short journeys. This is when cars are at their most inefficient and therefore use more fuel per mile. But what about long journeys? Emergency journeys? Group trips? We still need to drive. So here are some ways you can lower your insurance premiums and keep on driving.
Insurance is based on risk. If you can prove to your insurer that you are a low risk you will be offered lower premiums. But what do insurers view as low risk? There are of course certain things that you can’t control such as your age, gender, where you live and your driving history. Your speeding points may expire from your license after three years but beware as insurance companies usually look back five years or sometimes even more.
You do however have control over where you park your car. Locking your car away in a garage or even on your gated driveway means your car is less of a target to theft and vandals which puts a smile on your insurers face and yours too as you can cut your insurance costs by 3% to 7%.
Security is obviously a big issue which insurers take very seriously. If you fit a security device such as an alarm or better still an immobilizer your bills will go south pretty sharply.
If you modify your car in anyway such as adding a sat–nav or stereo system, inform your insurer straight away. If you &lsquoi;forget’ to do so, worried your premium will go up, your policy could be invalid and you won’t get a penny if you need to make a claim.
Shop around. New customers tend to get better deals than existing ones. It’s a sad fact of society that we entice people in will good deals then let them plod along once we’ve got them. But if you are generally happy with your current insurer, but think that as a new customer you will get a better quote, apply as a new customer and compare.
Look for insurers that offer good no claims discounts and bonuses pertinent to your needs. Santander now offers a range of competitive car insurance policies. These include 70% no–claims discount and named drivers earn their own no–claims bonus.
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This page was last updated
Sunday, 12-Jun-2011
Lowering the Cost of Your Car Insurance
