Archive for May, 2010

Xmas has been expensive, you’ve spent a lot on presents, you may have dined out on Xmas Day, you remember using your credit card too many times recently, thoughts are now in your head about saving money and cutting down on expenditure. When it comes to car insurance there are several ways to reduce your annual costs. The first major item to remember is that when filling in your insurance request form, the questions asked are there for a reason and every reply you give is an assessment of your risk to the insurance company. While at this early point have a think, have you any other type of insurance cover you could request a free quote for?  Have you decided how you are to go about getting your free quotes? Are you approaching a new insurance broker/agent or staying with someone you’ve dealt with for years?There are advantages in using the internet to search where you can certainly get very advantageous discounts, but if you are thinking of combining your search for cheapest car insurance with cheapest home insurance and, possibly cheapest travel insurance then actually talking to a new broker/agent  could result in those free quotes being lowered further still as the broker could be offering further discounts for signing up new customers. Returning to your search for the cheapest car insurance the basic rules still apply, such as:- No Claims Discount, this still remains the biggest single reducer of premiums – the safer you drive and without accident the cheaper your premiums will be. Consider how much “Voluntary Excess” you wish to offer to pay, this is the amount you as the policy holder agree to pay towards the eventual settlement of any insurance claim you make. What is an acceptable amount of excess? Take in to account two things, the value of your car and the rates you would pay for work done at a garage. For example if you have a 1 year old Mondeo valued at, say, £17K you could propose an excess of approx £200 – £250, such a sum allows you to consider paying in full for the repair, providing it’s a low cost repair, out of your own pocket and not making an insurance claim thus saving your no claims bonus. At The Car Hub we recently reported on insurance companies operating a “three claims in three years and you’re out” policy, even some of the big boys of the insurance world have already moved to a “2 claims in 3 years” and in isolated cases dropping you as a customer after only one claim. If you find that your insurance company is refusing to renew your premiums you could be in big trouble. All insurance request forms include the question “have you ever been refused insurance”, if you do not answer correctly, in order to get your insurance cover, and a claim arises in the future, if you’re found out your insurance cover could be cancelled and you personally then have to settle the claim in full from your own pocket. A final item for consideration is the value of your vehicle, it may be your pride and joy, all clean, polished-up and on your driveway, but to the insurance company it only has a value on the day of an accident; it is that value that will be the settlement figure of a claim and not a penny more. Be realistic about the value of your vehicle, check out the value of your motor in several car magazines, take an average and insure for that amount, make a note of when your renewal is next due and then revise the value again. To get the best, cheapest car insurance quote may take a bit of time and effort but you will find it does give you satisfaction in more than one way. Bill Williams