If you have a car in the UK, you legally need car insurance to protect you and others financially should an accident occur. Whether you’re a new, work, or multi-car driver searching for third-party or comprehensive insurance, it’s vital to get the best possible deal.
Although there isn’t a “secret” way to save £1000’s on your policy, below we’ve listed how to save money when choosing a car insurance policy.
1. Third-party insurance might not be the cheapest
As mentioned, to be a legal road user within the United Kingdom, you’ll need either third-party or comprehensive car insurance. Third-party insurance is the minimal legal requirement of cover that is mandatory to drive a car. This type of insurance covers someone else’s car, property, and any costs that may come with injuries, but it won’t cover you or your vehicle.
When scouring for the cheapest insurance policies, many people say that third-party insurance is always the most inexpensive. However, this isn’t the case with all cars, regions, and job roles.
Insurance companies work from statistics and depending on a variety of different factors. If they believe third-party insurers that suit your category cause more accidents, it’ll be more expensive. Therefore, opting-in for comprehensive insurance may be cheaper as fewer individuals with this coverage are making claims.
2. Consider paying annually
If you’ve started searching for car insurance quotes, you may have seen that paying yearly costs less than monthly. This is because the company is effectively lending you the money, therefore put an incredibly high-interest rate on the end figure.
We understand paying for insurance annually can be expensive, however, there’s a way around this. Most credit card companies offer an introductory deal that grants you interest-free usage for twelve months. As a rule of thumb, car insurance companies put an extra 19.99% on top of the total yearly value when you pay monthly. By eliminating having to pay monthly through an insurance provider, consider an interest-free credit card.
3. Carry out the research
Something many people fail to do, and that’s research the market. Your first offer may not be the best one, especially for renewal quotes. Instead, take your time to shop around and compile meaningful research about insurers. Research is especially important when trying to find the best time to renew your car insurance policy.
Once you know what you’re expected to pay, gather some quotes and call the insurance companies to see if they can provide a better deal. Most of the time, insurers will happily give you some money off just by contacting them. If you are renewing a policy and haven’t claimed, be sure to ask for a no claims discount.
Remember, a cheap policy doesn’t mean it’s the best. Make sure you have the right level of cover to suit your needs.
4. Think about car location
For an accurate quotation, you need to fill in many fields so the insurer can understand more about you. One thing they’ll ask is where you typically keep your car at night. If you’re able to leave your car in a garage, it’ll be cheaper because it’s much less likely to be stolen or vandalised.
If you don’t have access to a garage, you can always add more security features to your car, such as tracking devices, immobilisers, etc. Remember, giving untruthful information to your insurance provider will void your coverage if anything was to happen.
5. Telematics is always an option
Telematics, also known as black box insurance, is a device that’s fitted onto your car that monitors your driving habits. Typically, it’ll screen your speed, braking, turning velocity, and much more. If you want to reduce your car insurance as a new driver dramatically, this is the most recommended option to lower overall costs.
The only downside to fitting a telematics box to your vehicle is that insurance can increase if your driving performance is poor. You can find out more about telematics here.
6. Add named drivers
The oldest trick in the book has to be adding a more experienced driver to your policy.
For example, suppose you’re a teenager purchasing your first year of car insurance. In that case, it’ll be beneficial to add your parents to the insurance policy if they have a good driving record. This decreases overall costs as it shows the insurance company that the responsibilities of driving will be shared between each named driver.
However, make sure the person listed as the “actual” driver is using the vehicle the most, or this could void your coverage.
What Insurance Company Offers the Best Policy?
Still unsure of where to look for insurance? That’s understandable because there are many providers and comparison websites online. However, we’ve broken down the best car insurance providers based on three essential factors.
Best Policy: Price
After quickly checking both Money Supermarket and GoCompare for the cheapest quotation on a group 1 car, it was clear that Admiral was the most affordable. Remember, this can massively change depending on various circumstances such as your age, location, car, job role, and much more.
Best Policy: Customer Service
If you’re looking for an insurance policy that is guaranteed to provide you with excellent customer service, then you’ll want to choose Direct Line. They were awarded a Silver Ribbon by Fairer Finance for their superior complaints performance.
Best Policy: Multi-car insurance
Now, if you have more than one car to insure, you’ll want to consider multi-car insurance. The best provider for this will be LV. LV claims they can offer you up to 20% off multi-car insurance compared to single policies. This is great for large families, as under one coverage, you can have up to six vehicles and twelve drivers.
The above are just recommendations of which insurance companies offer the best policy. However, each individual will want different coverage and features from their policies. Take the above information as a reference but continue to conduct valuable research before finalising your decision.
Great comparison websites that you can use are GoCompare, Confused.com and Money Supermarket.
James Banerjee is an Account Director who graduated from the University of Kent in 2014. He works in SEO on clients such as HSBC UK and Nestle and he has a keen interest in personal finances and money-saving advice.
