With an increasing number of people in the UK struggling to meet their household bills wouldn’t it be great news if you were able to reduce your car insurance premiums.
Car insurance premiums continue to rise
It has to be said that, for many women, that will be a difficult thing to achieve following the introduction of the European Union gender directive that came into force on the 21 December 2012 resulting in some hefty premium increases at renewal.
That said, below are a few suggestions that may result in you being able to obtain a lower quote for your car insurance when renewal time arrives: –
Shop Around
Many people merely open the envelope containing their car insurance renewal documents when it arrives through their door, look at the premium, work out that it has gone up by £8 per month and then just file it. That level of increase is almost £100 per annum – no small sum. So why don’t you shop around to see if you can save some money.
Nowadays, with the Internet, it only takes a few minutes to get a number of car insurance quotes either by going directly on a few car insurance companies’ websites or going onto a price comparison website and looking at dozens of different quotes. You can even apply and pay for the cover online. If you are doing this make sure that you are comparing like for like.
Levels of Cover
You are probably aware that there are three levels of cover-third party (cheapest), third party fire and theft (the next cheapest) and fully comprehensive (most expensive). An increasing number of people are keeping their cars for longer meaning that, for most, they are depreciating in value. If your car is only worth a few hundred pounds you may find that you are paying more than the value of the car to insure it if you have fully comprehensive car insurance. Therefore, you may wish to consider changing the level of cover to one of the other two levels accepting that if your car were damaged in an accident due to your fault you would get nothing for your car so how would you replace it- from savings?
Drivers
Who is permitted to drive your car but who actually drives your car?
You may be insured to allow certain named drivers such as your son and daughter who left home ten years ago, drive their own cars and haven’t driven your car since they left home. So, why have them named on your car insurance policy as it may be costing you more than you need to pay for the insurance.
Overnight Parking
Not many people put their cars in the garage overnight usually because it is full of “junk” but if you were at least able to park it on your drive rather than leave it in the street outside your home your car insurance premiums may reduce.
Alarm
A car fitted with an alarm, immobilizer and tracking device is less likely to be stolen so are usually cheaper to insure. Investigate this option.
Excess
The more you are prepared to pay towards the cost of a claim the lower your premium is likely to be so if you have a reasonable level of savings you may wish to consider this option.
Miles Driven
The more miles you drive each year the greater the risk of having an accident and the higher the premium. Be realistic when stating the number of miles you do each year on the car insurance proposal from. If you only do 5,000 miles each year there is no point in covering yourself for 25,000 miles per annum.
Hopefully, the above will give you food for thought in considering some possible ways of reducing your car insurance premium.
