I used to work for a major car insurance company (Admiral) and the best advice anyone can give you is too shop around:
An insurance premium is calculated using many ‘rating factors’, more than most people realize, but this depends on the broker and the company. Any insurance company can decide to specialize in doing business with a certain type of customer, for which they offer the best price to get the business but shun away people that don’t fall within their customer model.
For example:A company like SAGA aim their business at older people so they offer hefty discounts for drivers over a certain age (50+ for example) they would also prefer you to have maximum No Claims Bonus (NCB) etc
A company like Einseigh offer the best rate for students because they offer other student services, they look for younger people with cars usually not worth much in terms of value, they are not so concern about NCB or experience.
Then of course you have insurance brokers for all types of the market, mass, special, performance etc
The kind of criteria that makes up a rating factor can be as follows (but not all companies are the same):
Car Make
Car Model
Car Age (an old cheap subaru impreza is way more expensive to insure than a new one!)
Car Value (obviously it costs more insure a car worth 40k than it does to insure one worth 4k)
Car History (Cat C, D etc)
Annual Mileage
Business Mileage?
Area where car is kept day/night (are there a lot of car thefts in your area etc)
No Claims Bonus (NCB – usually the biggest rating factors for most companies)
Driver age
Driver experience
Driver history (penalty points? Criminal record?)
Driver occupation (a doctor will get a cheaper premium than a Fairground Worker)
Additional drivers (if your wife/husband has 9 points and 2 claims then expect an inflated premium, if your 60 year old father and mother are on the policy then this usually will reduce your premium).
Plus
many many other rating factors that specific companies may look for!
You can reduce your premium but being crafty with your quote but be
accurate and legal, if your insurance is dubious in any way or you are not honest and it is voided you are up the creek without a paddle and
will get punished.
All insurance companies based in the UK
must offer you a quotation; they cannot refuse to quote you under agreement of the General Insurance Services Council (GISC) however they can easily turn your business away by offering you a quote wildly inflated and uncompetitive.
If an insurance company doesn’t have a GISC certificate then they cannot trade as an insurance company, they can however broke for one and will of course take a cut of the premium for finding your business, so why deal with these types of companies? (many still do though).
Tips to reduce your premium quoteIf you drive 7,000 miles a year then tell them, don’t just go with the average 10-12k, you are more of a risk the more you drive.
If you are young driver then it is sometimes worthwhile completing extra driving courses/exams, the past plus is very popular with young drivers, an insurance company will usually look at this as a responsible act and offer a discount if only a small one.
Add additional drivers with a good history to your policy, even though you may have to pay an additional admin charge you might find that your premium actually reduces!
i.e. - When your car is being driven by you then 100% of the time you are the risk on the road, if you have 2 additional drivers (mum and dad for example) then perhaps only 50% of the time the car is on the road you might be driving it, this means that it less of a risk overall because your additional drivers might be ‘better or less risk’ in the eyes of the insurer.
Insure the correct value and choose the right type of cover – the minimum type of cover you must have to drive your car in the UK is Third Party only, this cover would not be appropriate for someone with a 2008 Edition 30 worth around 20k!
If your GTi is only worth £750 (market value) then you might want to consider Third Party Fire and Theft, this will almost always be cheaper than fully comprehensive insurance and still covers you if someone takes a fancy to your lovely GTi.
SHOP AROUND – use all the major companies on the web (confused, money supermarket, compare the market, Tesco etc) then you will have possibly 100 prices to compare: select the cheapest and then start calling the specialists, tell them Company A have quoted you for £XXX and if they are able to beat the price.
If they can bets the price then ask them to save the quote and that you will call them back.
Then take your quote and call back Company A with Company B’s quote, try company C, D and E. Play them all off against each other and
make them work for your business.
Haggle, most people these days don’t even know what this means anymore! Even if you call up for your first company and get a good price you should not stop there, ask them for a discount, particularly if you are a returning or renewing customer. Ask them if they can beat the quote and offer you the best price because you are going to shop around.
All insurance companies are able to offer discounts, the first price they give you is never the last price but if your feel like you are pushing them and they won’t budge anymore then just get more quotes elsewhere.
The bottom line:
Car insurance much like other types of insurance is a legal requirement but a consumer service that is negotiable like any other one.
Car insurance is dead money, you will never get it back and you will never feel the benefit for having paid over the odds, the more you can reduce it, the more you can spend on petrol and actually enjoying your car!!!
Good luck.
