save money on your car insurance

Step 1: Ensure you're getting the correct cover 

Insurance premiums (the name of payments made to insurance companies) depend on the insurer, the level of cover and how risky you're perceived to be. Therefore start by defining your cover and ensuring you’re as low a risk as possible.
Things often aren’t as straightforward as you think, for example counter logically fully comprehensive cover can be cheaper than third party policies, so always check. Full info on this, lowering risks and picking an excess level, are in the extra Car Insurance: picking your policy guide.

Beware monthly payment plans

Beware 'pay monthly' options - usually the insurer actually just loans you the annual cost and then charges interest at hideous rates on top. So either pay in full, or if you can't afford it, use a credit card with a lower APR rate (or better still, a 0% credit card for spending ensuring your repayments are big enough to clear it within a year.)

Tweaking your job description to save money

Insurers decide prices depending on historic risk assessments, and your occupation plays an important part in this.

Step 2: Correctly combine comparison sites

Moneysupermarket*

Using Moneysup alone is 55% of the full combined search

Pros: After a recent update there's a few nice features, such as a predictive occupation search, mileage calculator and info on how much your car is estimated to be worth. You can also tweak your quote on the results page (eg change the default £250 excess).

Cons: Untick the boxes in 'getting back to you' to stop follow up calls and emails.

Try it: Moneysupermarket*

Average time taken: 5 mins
Quotes returned: 94 from providers searched
Add feedback/read others: MoneySup Car Ins

Brokers

87

Direct Insurers

30

GoCompare*

Using GoCompare alone is 57% of the full combined search

Pros: GoCompare allows you to compare and customise your quote results to get the best policy for your needs (eg if you want breakdown or a courtesy car included).

Cons: If you don’t want it to contact you afterwards ensure you tick the 'please click here' link on the last page. Plus always check the excess quoted is correct for you.

Try it : GoCompare*

Average time taken: 5 mins
Quotes returned: 98 from providers searched
Add feedback/read others: GoCompare Car Ins

Brokers

89

Direct Insurers

32

The 'Big Two' Comparison Sites Miss

Average time taken 2 mins each

Worth checking separately as not in comparisons

Two competative insurers refuse to be included by any comparison site, and sometimes have special offers, so are worth checking separately. The sites are:

Aviva: Currently offering new customers with 4 or more years' no claims discount 2 months free cover, plus up to 15% off online. Try it: Aviva*

Direct Line: Get an online quote before 30 Sep 2010 and get 15% off. Try it: Direct Line*

 

 

 

Alternative 'quick £25 cashback' route

Average time taken 4 mins each

Warning: For larger cashback see Step 3
Adds 12% more to the search... Total so far 84%

The truly record breaking savings come from following the full four step plan; using the comparison sites above then checking for hidden cashback as explained in step 3 which can be in the £100s.

However for a quick hit, two comparison sites give £25 cashback automatically if you compare then get a policy through them. These sites include less insurers than those above but argue the cashback makes up for it. Both sites do not have an overall marketing opt out so you are likely to get follow up phone calls and emails. The sites are:

Beatthatquote: You'll only get the cashback via special links like this, you won't get it direct, which you need to claim 60 days after buying a policy. Try it: BTQ*

MoneyExpert: This smaller site has set its default excess to £400 and includes some assumptions, so be careful to check the quotes are right for you. Try it: MoneyExpert*.

If you're following the full system, it's worth checking these sites anyway, as they add over twenty providers to the comparisons above and give you a decent benchmark for the cashback available. Though only using these leaves you over fifty short of the two above.

 

Still not found cheap, try more...

Average time taken 5 mins each

Searching further sites to those above adds 35 more providers to the coverage... Total so far 100%

If you still haven’t found a deal you’re happy with or want to push the envelope there are many more options to try.

These other comparison sites between them will add more than thirty providers; QuoteZone*, Confused*, CompareTM*, TescoComp*, Uswitch*. Though there are more standalone insurers

 

 

Once you've found the cheapest

Once you’ve found the cheapest from the screenscrapers; there are two important checks to make:

• Double check the quotes
  Click through to the insurance provider's own website to double check the quotes, as to speed up searches some comparison sites make a few assumptions (see what to check).
• Examine the policy's coverage
  Check whether it's suitable. So if you want "free car hire" if your car is being fixed, is it included? Plus while you’re there it's worth playing with the policy details to see if you can finesse the price down; look at the excess, and whether adding drivers cuts the cost .
  This tool by Find* allows you to check the coverage of two different polices side by side.
  
  
  

  Young, low use drivers or provisional licence holders

  As a first port of call young drivers should always follow the same system, using the comparison services and trying to get cashback. However, if that hasn't cut costs there are further options which may help.
  

  • Pay-As-You Go insurance
    There are a couple of policies that use GPS or tracking devices that look at when and where you drive. If you're a low use driver these can cut costs.
    Coverbox's* Pay As You Drive cover varies the price per mile according to the time of the day or night you drive. It is currently offering some drivers under 30 a £50 cashback and price match* deal (details will be on your quote if your qualify). A free GPS tracking device is fitted to your car so it can be tracked if stolen and you can monitor when and where you drive on a secure internet site
    New site Insurethebox gives the first 6,000 miles for a fixed price and then sells top up miles if you go over. You can also earn 100 bonus miles a month for safe driving (which you can monitor online).
    More Than's Drive Time, Tel 0800 294 8911, (for 18-25 year olds who don't often drive between 11pm and 6am) and i-kube (for 17-25 year olds who don't often drive between 11pm and 5am) base their price on when you drive. There's an extra fee for driving outside the set hours making the cost prohibative if you do so.
    
  • Specific Young Driver Policies
    Swinton's Young Driver is worth checking out as it's a bespoke policy, yet just because it's specialist doesn't mean it will automatically be cheaper.
    As a more radical alternative YoungMarmalade* is worth a look. Here you get the insurance policy alongside low risk new or nearly new cars on a 2 to 5 year hire purchase or personal contract plan. This can bring the insurance cost down dramatically but obviously you're buying a car at the same time, do the numbers very carefully with this.
    
  • Provisional licence insurance
    If you're a learner, it often means being added to parents or friends car insurance as an additional driver which can up the cost, and put no claims bonuses at risk.
    However it is possible to get specific policies just for the provisional driver which protect this, such as ProvisionalMarmalade*. Endsleigh can also quote for learner drivers.
    
  • Don’t ‘front’ on your insurance it’s illegal
    Young car owners who list parents as the main driver to cut insurance costs are doing what’s called ‘fronting’ and it’s ILLEGAL. It invalidates insurance and can lead to prosecution so don't do it.
    However one easy trick to cut costs is to add a good SECOND driver to your policy, even if they’re not going to use the car. It doesn’t always work, so it's a case of trial and error on quotes.
    
    
    If you've two or more vehicles between friends or family members in your household
    
    (Vans can be included in this but Bikes usually aren't), some providers offer discounts if you insure them all together.
    Comparison sites don’t have the technology to do these searches, so you need to compare manually.
    

    • First use comparisons for each car separately
      The discounts are usually around 10%, so often it's likely just finding the cheapest standalone insurer will win anway, so always do a comparison first, then try the deals below to compare.
      
    • Get all cars on one policy
      Cover two cars and Admiral* will give a 10% discount, cover four or five and you could get a 23% discount. All cars will then be covered on one policy so the renewal date will be aligned to end at the same time.
      
    • Separate policies but still get the discount
      Other insurers allow cars to have separate policies but give a discount as long as the vehicles are in the same household. Privilege* give 10% off, Direct Line* 10% off and Aviva* 5% off.
      While they say they give reductions, neither Tesco* or Churchill* (who also cover named drivers on another Churchill policy) say how much the discount will be, so check before you buy.
      

 

 

Other tricks to cut the cost

If you aren't a young driver, but still want to look for an even better deal, try some of the following...

• Prices change at different times of the month
  There's a technique to see if you can get cheaper cover at different times of the month; but it's a little time consuming...
  Run your quotes a month before renewal and click through to the cheapest three insurers' sites making sure you save the quotes. Some, although not all, hold their prices for up to 28 days. Then, nearer your renewal date go back to check the price and buy if it's cheaper, or revert back to the saved quote if it's not.
  
• Guarantee to beat your renewal by 10%
  If the comparison services above haven’t found a policy cheaper than your existing quote, First Direct says it will beat new customer's renewal quote from their previous insurer by at least 10%, providing your annual premium is over £200 for comprehensive or £120 for non-comprehensive.
  
• Temporary Car Insurance
  It's possible to get temporary insurance for 1 to 28 days, such as to to drive a friends car protecting their policy and no claims. Budget's Temporary Insurance, Insure Daily, TempCover.com* and RAC are amongst some of the available policies.