These are the Top Ten ways to Save Money on your Car Insurance providing you with free unbiased advice and a surprise bonus at the bottom keep reading!

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1. Add an additional driver to save money on your car insurance.

Yes really by adding ONE additional driver you are almost certainly going to save money. Just by adding an additional driver (though id suggest aged between 30 – 60 and preferably female } See why lady drivers get cheaper insurance for explanation most insurers will reduce the premium of course im assuming they have no adverse driving history such as convictions or claims history. The reason is Insurers have statistic to prove if there’s an additional driver using the car it’s less likely to be involved in a claim.

2. Get internet quotes Usually most insurers offer a good discount for online quotes around 10% is the norm though in my experience I have seen much higher than check here Tesco's  for up to 15% online discount so you will save yourself a good deal of money if you get a quote online and it also saves time and waiting on those phone lines!

3. Combine several compare sites try all of these top performers one by one

TescoCompare

Confused 

Moneysupermarket

Uswitch    .    These are great examples of compare sites. What they do is search through lots of different insurance companies and brokers then come up with the best price based on the information you have given them. It also saves a lot of time getting separate quotes it does all the work for you.

4. Reduce or review your estimated mileage or round up to 99999 instead of 10000. A lot of customers will always over estimate their mileage and in doing so are paying more for their insurance than they need to. For up to 30% savings on those doing less than 6000 miles a year try   Norwich Union pay-as-you-drive  who also give you a free  Global Positioning System (GPS) is fitted to your car for free. The GPS allows them to work out how you use you car, so you can enjoy a fairer premium. 

Now I am not advocating you lie to your insurers as this can invalidate your insurance. What I am saying is people just don’t realise the mileage their doing and over estimate it.  Break it down into a week what do you think you will do then times it by 52 to give your yearly average. Or better still dig out your mot certificate and it should tell you last year’s mileage. If your doing 5,000 miles a year and your telling your insurers up to 10,000 just in case you go over then your wasting your money and what is best is to estimate your mileage so lets assume you do 12000 miles a year which is considered the average that’s about 240 miles a week then you put in 11999 miles for internet quotes as this will keep you under the next 1000 miles threshold and may save you money just for reducing your estimate by a mile get it?  It’s unrealistic to expect drivers to know the exact mileage as no one knows that. In any case you can also adjust your mileage mid term if you do think you will go over what your original estimate was.

5. Increase your excess.  By increasing your excess (amount you pay in the event of a claim), then you can save money. Now you may ask why should I have a larger excess when it defeats the object and prevents me making a claim? Well that’s exactly why insurers want you to have a larger excess because they don’t want you to claim for a small amount. I can’t advise you what excess to take as it is down to personal choice but if you have 2 years or less no claims bonus then id say take a high excess. The reason is if you do claim and you have less than 2 years ncb you will lose all your ncb anyway and you will lose all your valuable discount up to 50 % in some cases! As you build your ncb up to the maximum *maximum depends on the insurer read ncb section later. Which is usually 5 years then you can afford to make a smaller claim rather than if you only had one or 2 years for instance. Say you claimed with 5 years ncb you’d only lose 2 years of that which represents between 10-15 % of the premium depending on which insurer you choose and their ncb percentage rates. Of course you can have your ncb protected too at that stage so you don’t lose any of it.

6. Get driver qualifications. You can dramatically reduce your premiums if you take a PASS plus test as a new driver. Try Tescos  for up to 40% savings  or Direct line  and THEAA.COM who may save a teenager a small fortune and also if you’re more experienced why not take the advanced motor institute test? (IAM) not only will you save money on your insurance which certain insurers such as those above but you will also gain invaluable skills which may prevent an accident.

7. Don’t buy all the trimmings!

 Don’t feel pressured to take the breakdown cover on the spot with the insurance as part of the package (you can usually opt to buy it later usually if you decide anyway) shop around separately for breakdown cover separately check Moneysupermarket     which will compare cover and prices for you unless your insurer gives you a bulk discount for these extras then shop around separately.

Don’t add payment protection insurance if you don’t need it. Really it can be so expensive and is getting really bad press these days because of poor claims payouts if you really need peace of mind id say choose a full income protection plan try INCOME PROTECT  that will usually pay out in the even of accident sickness or redundancy and will provide cover against your salary Most insurers will hate me for this but they nearly all make most of their money not from the actual policy they are selling you but from the extras your buying. in fact it’s the main earner for them as claims are high for car insurance particularly for soaring personal injury cost . As for legal cover then it’s a good idea as this will claim back your losses such as personal injury ,your excess any car hire and other losses that you’ve incurred such as loss of earnings etc. Though this can only be used in the event of a non fault claim and also even if you don’t have legal cover then you are involved in a non fault claim you can always get a solicitor involved to claim these expenses back for you and these days its so easy to find so many NO Win NO Fee basis lawyers they are able to do this because they will claim back their own cost from the third party insurer

8. At Renewal time not only shop around get a FRESH quote from your own insurer you’re usually not rewarded for loyalty!  Now then a lot of people will just stick to the same insurer year in year out and believing just like the good old days their loyalty means they will save money on renewals. Well sadly to say this is not the case and a lot of insurers will actually increase your premiums much as 10%! Not for your loyalty but just because you’re a customer already they know you will likely renew because it can be a hassle to shop around First wait until you get your renewal notice through Go get a new quote online and input the same details as you normally would then see if the quote is lower. If it is you know they are charging you extra for your apparent loyalty! Now you don’t want the hassle to set up a new policy with them again when they already have your details so call the renewals department and tell them about the quote and usually they will acknowledge it and reduce the premium to the one you got quoted as of course otherwise you will only go elsewhere or set up the new policy online anyway which will cost them more for administration cost.

9. Get an approved alarm with immobilizer. This will save you money and give you peace of mind. You must ensure you use a Thatcham approved system such as Toad which you can check out on Directcarparts  an immobiliser is more important than an alarm as it actually does what it says and instead of just making a noise (which no one pays attention to) will disable your car and prevent it being started in the event of an attempted theft.

10. Remove unnecessary named drivers Take you kids off the cover.  Oh I can see them screaming at me now L but so many parents believe by putting the kids on their insurance it will be a cheaper way to insure them. Well yes it can be but usually most insurers will rate the premium on the worst risk and of course who do you think is the worst risk yourself or your 17 year old teenager? Also if there is an accident or claim by them then this will reflect on you and in turn cause your premiums to soar at renewal time. The best way to insure a young driver if its their car is to put the policy in their own name and add an older driver such as the parent for instance onto the policy once they have got one years ncb then premiums will drop the following year depending on the insurer it can be as much as 30% and it’s a good way for them to have their own ncb and not depend on others for their insurance.

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