The cost of your insurance depends on many factors, including whether or not you are a ‘high risk’ candidate. If you are any of the following, expect to pay more for your insurance:
§ 18-25 year olds
§ Young Males (18-25) – Although, this is set to change in 2012 because of the new gender equality EU law.
§ If you live in a city.
§ Your car is not stored in a garage or secure storage facility over night.
Other factors are included in your assessment for your insurance policy, including what kind of car you have because this could mean expensive replacement parts or repairs, whether you live in the country or the city, because this could mean higher crime rates, and even your profession could affect your policy, if you are a sports professional, actor/actress, entertainer, barman/barmaid, chef or a builder. You may be able to avoid having to pay higher premiums by shopping around, in fact, some insurance companies actually specialise in high-risk drivers and can offer a reasonable deal.
If you want to reduce your insurance policy there are a few things you can do. The obvious one is to shop around, use Internet price comparison websites to find alternatives that offer the best deal for you and your circumstances. If it is possible for you to do so, try and store your car in a secure facility or garage overnight. Make sure the cost of insurance outweighs the cost of storage fees though, otherwise this would defeat the purpose. Another fairly obvious point to make is to try and avoid any car traffic accidents and drive safely, this will help you to get your no-claims bonus which will reduce the cost of your annual premium amount.
Generally speaking, driving a smaller car with a smaller engine (less power) will significantly reduce the cost of your insurance. It is also possible to make your insurance cheaper by increasing the 'excess' amount on the policy. This is the amount of money that you will have to pay towards repairs before the insurer pays out. The higher the excess the cheaper the premium.
The best time to look around for car insurance is when you are due to renew your current policy. Cancelling a contract before the agreement renewal date is likely to incur a penalty charge, which can sometimes be the remainder of the time left of your policy. However, it still can be worth switching insurer if the savings are greater than the penalty. The last option is a payment plan to pay your car insurance premiums. This is basically like a loan that you have with your insurance company which can be paid back in monthly instalments. Make sure you don't get punished by the interest rates and only consider this option if there is a 0% interest basis, you could also investigate the possibility of using a 0% credit card with regular repayments to cover the costs. Otherwise it is best to pay for insurance all at once up front.
Keep an eye out for any current deals that insurance companies are offering as these normally only last a short period of time, but could significantly benefit you. You can find and compare car insurance quotes using websites such as: moneysupermarket, gocompare, comparethemarket, confused.com and there are those that are not on quote comparison sites but are equally competitive rivals in the car insurance industry; Direct Line and Norwich Union.
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