How to get cheaper car insurance

Looking for really cheap car insurance? Bargain policies do exist. However which insurer can offer the cheapest policy varies from one motorist to another.

Which insurance company is the cheapest?

No company offers the lowest priced policies to everyone. They all have their own motorist category that they prefer to deal with. Different companies offer the best quotations for young drivers; experienced motorists with a great deal of experience; convicted drivers; sports cars; even female motorists, despite the efforts of the EU to prevent this.

Is third-party car insurance the cheapest?

It is no longer automatically the most economical option for drivers looking for the lowest possible quotations. The problem has been that third-party insured motorists have, on average, a higher number of accidents than those who buy comprehensive policies. This means that for many drivers it is actually cheaper to buy a fully comprehensive package, even though it offers far greater benefits.

A benefit of a 3rd-party policy is that there is often no excess to pay in the event of an accident. This however can attract even more customers who actually expect to have accidents because of their driving style, or the poor quality of the car that they drive; and this means that insurers have to charge even more to everyone else to cover this.

Which are the cheapest price comparison sites?

They are all different. every comparison site gets a commission from the insurance companies or brokers that they work with when a policy is purchased. Naturally, the ones who pay for that are the motorists! They all have different agreements with different companies however . This is why you can sometimes get a completely different quotation from a websites like moneysupermarket.com, prudentplus.com or confused.com for identical policies from the same insurers!

To get the very lowest prices, therefore, you really need to check more than one of these comparison companies.

What if I'm refused car insurance?

Thousands of people have their applications denied for one reason or another. This is mainly because insurers prefer to use automated systems to calculate premiums and decide whether or not they wish to accept particular motorists. If someone has a high accident record, convictions, a high-powered car, a job which involves alcohol, or any other factors which make insurers nervous, it is cheaper for them to just decline to quote, rather than discuss any problems with the applicant. This is not necessarily a problem since there are plenty of brokers, who specialise in helping motorists in this predicament to find cheap quotes, even when the applicant has already been turned down for black box car insurance by other companies.

Should I buy a black box policy?

If you are a young driver or one with a poor claims record you may have no choice. A growing number of insurance companies are insisting on these for the applicants that they feel may be statistically more likely to make a claim. Do bear in mind however that there are drawbacks. You would have to have a tracking device installed in your car, and these are not cheap, and neither is the fee for the person who fits it. You would then have to drive very carefully and perhaps even accept a curfew at nights or even weekends. If you were to exceed the speed limit, corner very quickly, brake harshly or accelerate too sharply this would be reported straight back to your insurer, who might increase your premium or even cancel it.

If your policy was indeed cancelled, you would have very great difficulty in buying even expensive insurance in the future!

You would also have to be very careful about lending your car to someone else, since if this person drove badly it would almost certainly be blamed on you.

Finally you would be tying yourself to that one insurer to a large degree. If you found a better quotation online at renewal time you would face the expense of having the old tracking device removed, and a new one fitted.

Having said which, black boxes have helped to reduce accidents, since drivers who have had them fitted are aware that any bad driving habits will be found out straightaway.

So which is the cheapest car insurance?

If you are an experienced driver with a reasonable claims record then you should get quotations easily from a price comparison site. Just remember to use more than one. It is also a good idea to start your search for a new policy a month before you actually need it. Insurers prefer to deal with well organised people, and statistics tell them that those who buy insurance at the very last minute are more likely to be involved in claims than those who are well prepared and get their finances in place in good time. We have seen very considerable savings for those who book their policies a month beforehand.