Car insurance is a large portion of family budgets, even going into hundreds or thousands of pounds annually. However, there are many steps you can take to bring down the cost of automobile insurance. The following are our seven best ideas on how to save your family a great deal of money on car insurance.
It’s a common practice to remain with the same insurance firm and renew one’s coverage every year. Unfortunately, that habit is very often a harmful decision. It is one that can cost the average customer dearly. This is because automobile insurers do not compensate customers for their loyalty. In reality, automobile insurers only offer their finest bargains to new customers. So customers those who stay with the same insurance firm will more than likely have to continually watch their premium increase.
However, you can avoid this problem by shopping around for automobile insurance and giving the insurers the appearance of a ‘new’ customer so that they are more willing to give you an improved price. Sysive is an excellent choice for car insurance shopping and choosing that site will allow you to easily and quickly compare car insurance prices.
Better security is also another step you can take to lower the cost of your automobile insurance. The benefits of preventing theft are two-fold. One, the likelihood of your filing a claim decreases. Two, you may receive a discount from your insurer. Vehicles built after 1998 will have a standard factory-fitted immobiliser but you can reduce your premium by putting on an alarm or a tracking device. Go for devices approved by Thatcham and always have a professional attach them to your vehicle.
In addition to attaching an alarm or a tracking device to your vehicle, there is a simple step that will help you lower your car insurance costs. Your parking location can affect your premium. If parking on a driveway or a garage, in an ideal situation, is possible, you should do so rather than parking on the street. This will likely reduce your premium.
This is not always possible, but if you misinform your insurer about where you park your vehicle, you may encounter difficulties when you file a claim for theft or vandalism.
A fourth step to lower the cost of your automobile insurance is to limit the miles you drive. It is simply true that your risk of an accident is higher the more that you drive. Your premium increases proportionally with your annual mileage, though this is not the only factor. While significantly reducing one’s mileage might not be entirely plausible, it is crucial to write a sensible number on the insurance proposal form.
You should not put an unrealistically low number on the form just to save some money. If the insurer discovers this, they might squabble with you about claim payment.
Increasing your voluntary excess is the fifth step you can step to minimize the cost of your automobile insurance. Every car insurance policy has an ‘excess’, which is the amount you pay toward any claim you file. A mandatory and voluntary portion forms the excess. Increasing the voluntary portion is an option. Increasing the voluntary portion will lower your premium and decreasing it will increase your premium.
The sixth recommended step to minimize the cost of your automobile insurance is adding someone else to your policy, which will likely decrease your premium. You should ensure that the person who drives the most is the ‘main’ driver. Attempting to manipulate this by incorrectly stating that an older, more experienced driver than you are the main driver is a path to unnecessary conflict if your insurer finds out the truth.
The seventh and final step to lower the cost of your automobile insurance is paying upfront. It is often challenging to gather the necessary funds for an expensive insurance premium in a single try, so insurers typically allow you to pay by installments. However, the insurers charge interest in addition to the premium itself. This means that a 500-pound annual premium might run you more than 600 pounds after it’s separated out over the whole year. If paying upfront is not a viable financial option for you currently, you might consider getting a credit card that declines to charge interest for at least a year.
Pay down your credit card by the end of the year. If you do not do so, you might find yourself paying the current year’s premium and last year’s premium all at once.
