Any advice for cheaper car insurance

jonmc1980

Hi, i'm wondering if anyone can give me any tips on getting a cheaper deal on my car insurance. I've tried all the comparison sites but the cheapest I can find is 570 from Admiral. I'm driving an 01 Ford Mondeo LX and only have one years no claims discount.

I also noticed Admiral do an accelerated deal are these a good option? I'm concerned as if they hike up my premium the following year - will I have a full year to put to another company or is it classed as 10 months?? Any advice would be appreciated! thanks

dacouch

I would recommend you avoid any of these accelarated no claims discounts deals as they are a clever marketing ploy.

They will charge you for 10 months cover and in 10 months your renewal will be due and if you decide to look for other companies you will have one years no claims bonus plus 10 months no claims bonus. The vast majority of other companies will only accept the one years no claims bonus. So in effect this means its far more likely you will have to renew with Admiral (Who will allow you 2 years). It is possible it could lock you in with them for a few years until you receive maximum no claims bonus.

If admiral are the cheapest then why don't you just take the normal 12 month policy which should be just a little bit more and then in 12 months time you can shop around with your proper 2 years no claims bonus and go with whoever is the cheapest.

I cannot comment on the premium Admiral have quoted as we do not know your full details but I would suggest you check on the quote to find out what the "Total Excess" is. Insurers tend to quote with a largish Voluntary Excess of say £250 (Sometimes as much as £500) and then they also often have a "Compulsory" Excess that is built into their policy which is often £100 or more for "Normal" drivers aged over 25 with a full uk licence for over 12 months. There is normally a bigger compulsory excess if you are aged under 25 or have held a full licence for less than 12 months. If you look at the total excess (Voluntary Excess + Compulsory Excess) you will know exactly how much you will have to pay in the event of a claim and compare like with like with other Insurers.

(The excess is the amount you have to pay if you wish to claim on your policy)

scheming_gypsy

i've used the acceleration discounts with Admiral previously and the renewal document came through as 2 years NCD and not 1 year and a 10 months,

The 10month policy doesn't usually come out a massive amount cheaper than the 12 month policy.

To try and get the price down:
bump up the excess
knock off any extra bits - courtesy car, breakdown cover, legal fees etc.. you can always add these on again later if you want and have more cash knocking about.
Stick a parent or 2 on... or somebody older who's been driving a lot longer.
Check your job is right, some bump up the policy where you change to another one with a different name, but same role, and it can change the policy. There's a checker somewhere on here on the main site.
Try going through a broker, some will give a discount.


you could also do the Passplus course or have an alarm and imobilser fitted but will the cost of that justify any insurance drop?

check the amount of miles per year.. have you over compensated and put yourself at a higher percentage chance of an accident. ie: if you've put 20,000 down when you might actually only be doing 5,000 they'll have you down as being on the road 4 times more, and 4 times more chance of having an accident, than you actually are.

Quote

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

knock off any extra bits - courtesy car, breakdown cover, legal fees etc.. you can always add these on again later if you want and have more cash knocking about.

OP

NB

You can't always "add these on again later".

scheming_gypsy

you can with Admiral, they actually phoned me and asked if i wanted to add them..

although i don't think so in the case of an accident.