Wednesday 25 April 2012

Cheap Car Insurance

We have all started to pay extra care with our expenses lately, and we all know that owning a car attracts high costs, besides the daily petrol used, such as insurance or taxes, so, finding cheap car insurance is what we are always after when buying a car.

There is a wide range of cheap car insurance providers, many of them with special offers for women, for young drivers or for special cars. Take the time to consult their online offers and get quotes for your car. There are also many websites that will do that for you, namely they will compare prices and give you the cheapest car insurance policy.

When searching for the car insurance, you need to consider a few things to make sure you can save some money and benefit from cheap car insurance and these can be divided into three groups: policy type, car type/usage and insurance provider.


Policy Types

There are three types of car policies: Third Party, Fire & Theft and Fully Comprehensive. The first one is the basic insurance policy, therefore also the cheapest, and it covers for injuries or damages to another person’s property, being the minimum requirement for driving in UK. The others cover a whole lot more, so, their prices will be higher. 

In other words, if you are young, for example, and you own a car that didn’t cost that much, a third party insurance policy would be the most sensible choice. But if you are exposed to higher risks, due to the nature of your driving (long trips, dangerous areas), you might consider a different type of policy, with a larger coverage, because, after all, it’s better to be safe than sorry!

There are many companies that offer discounts based on different criteria, such as fidelity (if you have already been their customer for some time), number of cars (if you own more than one car and you want to insure the other/others with the same insurance company) or lack of claims (if you haven’t had any claims for a certain period of time, you might be eligible for considerable discounts).

But, in order to get there, it’s important to be aware and pay attention to some basic things connected to car type and usage.


Choose Your Car Wisely

If you intend to buy a car, make sure you check its rating as given by the insurance groups. And yes, it might be tempting to “Pimp your ride” but be careful, because the slightest change such as a fancy wheel trim or a different spoiler can add a lot to the cost of your insurance.


Limited Mileage, Less Money

When choosing your cheap car insurance provider, make sure he/she knows your driving habits in details: most common areas of driving, frequency of driving, etc. You can even give an average of miles driven per year, but you must make sure the figure is correct because, once you have exceeded it, you might invalidate your policy. Try to avoid long distance trips by car or busy motorways, and you will definitely benefit from cheap car insurance.


Drive with Caution

Every point on your license affects your premium, so make sure you are law abiding, because it will save you a lot of money. In case of serious offences in traffic, it might even become impossible for you to ever benefit from cheap car insurance.


More Care, Less Claims

If you drive carefully, you will obviously reduce the risks for claims. And the less claims you have, the less you pay, because, as we have mentioned before there are considerable discounts for claimless drivers, and these are called NCD (no claim discounts). Usually, they can be of 50% off your insurance if you have 5 consecutive years of “clean” driving history. Even if you do happen to have minor accidents, after you make some calculations, you may realize it is be cheaper to repair it yourself and protect your NDC, rather than claim it and pay more.


Buy an Efficient Alarm System

If your car is expensive or if the area where you live or drive in is not so safe, you may come across insurers who insist on your buying an advanced alarm system or even a tracking device. A safe and less exposed car means cheap car insurance for you.


Be Careful Where You Park

The ideal situation is to have a secure garage to park your car when you do not drive it (at night or if you are away for several days). Do not park it in dark or isolated places because it is more exposed to vandalism and/or thefts. Do your best to park it as openly as possible.


A Better Driver Means a Cheap Car Insurance

You may have heard about the defensive driving courses that many big companies pay for their car users. Did you know that completing such courses can save up to 35% of your premium? Newly qualified drivers can now attend special courses of driving skills improvement that are not free, of course, but the investment is really worth on a long term.


Cheap Car Insurance Providers

To make sure you choose the best and cheapest car insurance you should make sure the car provider has the staff you need. We all expect to talk to friendly people, especially in case of claims. At such times, we also need people who can solve problems immediately and who know what to do without adding to the stress that such a situation carries.

Also, if you choose to apply online, many providers will award you with a discount, because it is much easier for them to process your application.

In conclusion, no matter what provider you choose, the first and most important thing, when looking for cheap car insurance, is to take your time and consult as many websites as possible and the second most important thing is to take care of your car!