Millions are missing out on cheaper car insurance
Make sure this isn’t you with our top tips for making savings on your car insurance
A recent investigation by Compare the Market has revealed that more than six million people across the UK forget to change their car insurance providers when their policy comes to an end. According to the research this means that these motorists are missing out on £675 million worth of savings, not a small amount.
With so many comparison sites available and the world of insurance so competitive, there are always savings to be made. Here, we give our top tips for ensuring your latest insurance premium is as low as possible.
- Shop around and then price-match
The key thing to remember with car insurance is to never let it simply renew. Be sure to shop around using comparison websites but don’t just use one, try a couple and remember to also get quotes from those not represented on comparison sites such as Direct Line and The AA. Once you have a quote, if it’s from an insurer different to the one you’re currently with but you like your current provider, it’s definitely worth going back to them armed with the new quotes to see if they can price-match. Using the competitive insurance landscape to your advantage could not only save you money but hassle too if you can stay with your current insurer, for less. - Protect your no claims bonus
This may seem counter-productive, paying extra to protect your no-claims bonus. However, a long running no-claims bonus is the absolute best way of reducing your insurance quote. Savings can be up to 90% in some cases, so definitely worth the extra few pounds initially. - Increase your excess
Again, this tip may seem a bit strange but if you are prepared to raise the amount your willing to pay in voluntary excess, even slightly, this will help to reduce your premium. If the accident isn’t your fault, any excess you pay may be recoverable from the guilty party so you won’t lose out. Be careful not to raise it past what is realistic and affordable for you however, particularly if you have a lower value car. - Pay annually not monthly
Another way to save money is to pay your insurance in one go on an annual basis rather than monthly by direct debit. If you can afford to do this, you could save hundreds. - Go fully comp
Insurers often put riskier drivers on lower levels of car insurance which means prices for this type of cover rise. Therefore, opting for fully comprehensive cover could end up being cheaper and you don’t have to pay for extras, such as personal injury cover, meaning you (almost) save twice. - Multi car savings
Additionally, it’s worth looking into multi-car discounts if you have more than one car ready to be insured at the same address. Some insurers offer up to a 10% discount for every car added to a policy so there’s plenty of savings to be made, for the whole family potentially. - Add your partner
Another way to make saving is to add a sensible named driver, such as your partner, to your own policy. This has been known to save hundreds too! - Prove yourself!
Many insurers are doing more to reward safe drivers by reducing premiums for those that can prove they drive sensibly. With this in mind, it’s perhaps worth considering telematics and/or dash-cams to protect yourself both when taking a policy out, and should an accident occur if you need to prove liability and protect your no-claims bonus, for example. Our 4Sight Dash Cam app comes with the back-up of a staffed call centre that is immediately notified should you have an accident, meaning you have support post-accident and you receive help from the emergency services, should you need it. Regardless of the system you opt for, if you’re confident in your driving ability and you know you’re not going to be on the roads during ‘riskier’ time’s, such as at night, the savings from using monitoring equipment are definitely worth investigating. - Choose the optimum time to renew
According to the clever people at Money Saving Expert (MSE), purchasing your new policy three weeks ahead of your renewal date could save you hundreds over the year, cutting quotes in half in some instances. According to the extensive research carried out – some 18 million quotes were investigated – the cheapest time to buy your policy is 21 days before the start date, an average of £589 – £531 cheaper compared to buying it 30 days in advance, the earliest you can usually get a quote on comparison sites. Get it on the day it’s due to start and it’s an eye-watering £1,156 – £567 more expensive on average than at the optimum time.You can see the full article here: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2018/07/revealed-the-best-day-to-buy-car-insurance-to-slash-costs-by-100s/
Bonus (untested): Go incognito
This is perhaps for the more tech-savvy amongst us but nevertheless, if it could save you money it’s worth a try. It is well know that hiding your browsing data from flight comparison sites can save you money on holidays, so its not out the realms of possibility that insurance comparison websites are up to the same tricks. We’re yet to try this ourselves but we think that using something such as A VPN or an anonymising browser like TOR might help. We will be testing this over the Christmas period and look to get a follow up article out on this in the new year. If you have tried this we’d love to hear if it helped with your quote, let us know if so!
