5 ways to cut your car insurance costs

Insuring a vehicle can be an expensive business indeed. Due to the fact that you cannot legally drive an uninsured vehicle, there is no way of avoiding this cost altogether, but there are several things that you can do to keep your insurance premium down.

Avoid big, expensive, fast cars. Insurance companies use a ratings scale that goes from one to twenty to assess the relative risk of insuring different types of cars. A small, cheap, slow car is less likely to be involved in an accident and will cost less to repair or replace than a bigger, faster, more valuable car, and this is reflected in their insurance rating. For example, a one litre Nissan Micra would be given the insurance rating of one, whereas a Ferrari F40 would be given the insurance rating of twenty.

1. Listing several drivers on your insurance policy can end up costing you a fortune, but if anyone else is going to be using your car, then you will have to have them covered by your insurance.

2. Rather than listing all the possible drivers of your vehicle on your main policy, it might be a lot cheaper to add them for a limited time period as and when they need to use the vehicle.

3. Increase your excess amount. When you claim on an insurance policy, it is typical that you will have to pay a proportion of the claim yourself, an amount known in insurance speak as the excess. By increasing the amount of excess that you are willing to pay in the event of a claim, you can bring down the cost of your insurance policy, although you should make sure that you can afford to do so, or your insurance may be invalidated.

4. When you claim on your insurance policy, you tend to lose your no claims bonus, unless it is protected under the terms of your policy. Due to the fact that no claims bonuses can add up to a substantial amount of money, especially over a few years, it is generally a good idea to avoid making claims that you can afford to pay for out of your own pocket, as this will save you money over the longer term.

5. There are hundreds of insurance companies around that are after your business, and you should take advantage of this by shopping around. You should, however, always get insurance from an accredited firm with a solid track record for obvious reasons.

By far the best way to get the cheapest deal on your car insurance is to hunt around online for the best deals, as not only can you get instant quotes from a number of different companies this way, but you may also be entitled to special discounts for buying online.

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There are many different approaches to buying a second hand car, such as buying from an independent dealership or attending an auction.