Getting Started: Tips For Finding The Best Insurance Quote

Owning a car involves a variety of expenses, from taxes and fuel to regular maintenance. For that reason, it's important to try and limit the cost of your car insurance. Given the complex nature of insurance, it can often be difficult to find the time and information to make an informed decision. However, by utilising the vast amount of resources available online, you can cull through a large amount of data and do so at the click of a mouse.

Risk Factors

No matter the type of insurance, your costs are based on your level of risk. The riskier you are to insure, the higher the quotes will be for your cover. For example, younger drivers will incur higher premiums than older, more experienced drivers due to the high accident rate of their peers. In 2010, of the over six thousand people who were killed or seriously injured on Britain's road, over a quarter of them were in their teens or early twenties.

Other factors may not be as obvious as one's age. Before the ECJ ruling in 2012, gender was used to calculate premiums, with data showing men more likely to make an expensive claim than women, despite making fewer claims overall. While gender is no longer assessed, occupations and postcodes are still taken into account, as well as the car you drive. Other risk factors include:

• Age
• Driver History
• Make and Model
• Security
• Postcode
• Excess Amount

Discounts

There are plenty of ways to earn discounts to help lower your premiums. Some insurers have safe driver schemes that reward individuals who go five or more years without a claim. These no-claims discounts typically apply even if you were with a different insurer. Some companies even offer a one-time waiver for making a claim during that period, provided you pay a little more.

Policy Excess

All insurance policies have a compulsory excess and a voluntary excess. A typical compulsory excess might be £200, so if you make a claim for £500, the insurer would pay the remaining £300. However, you can voluntarily raise the excess to a higher amount such as £500 or £1000. As a result, you will get much lower premiums, but may end up paying the full amount for a collision repair.

Types of Cover

The type of cover can also affect how cheap your insurance is. Generally there are three levels of cover available:

Third Party Cover

The minimum legal requirement, this cover pays for any damage sustained by a third party if you are at fault. It will not pay for any repairs to your vehicle, and is the cheapest available insurance for that reason.

Third Party Fire and Theft

The same as third party cover, with additional protection for damage by fire or theft of your vehicle.

Comprehensive Cover

This will cover all damages even if you are at fault.

While generally third party cover is going to be cheaper than comprehensive plans, it's smart to check all available offerings, as the difference may not be substantial enough to warrant not having full protection.

More Tips for Getting Cheaper Insurance

In addition to less coverage and a higher excess, there are some alternative ways to lowering your premium. For instance, some insurers offer black box insurance, which involves placing a monitoring device on your car to track your usage. As you can imagine, these devices are designed to reward careful drivers. They may also give you incentive to drive safer, knowing your habits are being tracked.

Another option is to put an older, more experienced named driver on the insurance. However, if you list this person as the primary driver it may constitute insurance fraud if that is not actually the case. Lastly, if you have purchased some form of theft protection, adding an immobiliser or parking your car in the garage can decrease your risk exposure and your overall insurance costs.