I don't want to lie but what can I adjust to make my car insurance cheaper?

tobiascurious

I don't want to lie when getting a quote for car insurance, but I can choose how I use my car, what car I buy, etc. It's possible to tweak things when getting a quote and some make hardly any difference, some make a lot of difference.

Which factors do you think are the most important when getting a quote? This is what I think.

very important
previous claims history
driving convictions
value of car

quite important
age
gender
postcode
engine size
occupation

less important
how long licence held for
annual mileage
class of use (social / commuting / business use)
modifications

huckster

Not sure I go along with your list. You just declare accurate info and they quote based on this.

The car, the usage, where you live and your driving experience are the main factors. I typically own any car for over 5 years and I find this helps. I presume if you own the same car for awhile and don't claim, this is seen as a stable risk.

adamc260

I would consider all your 'less important' ones quite important ..

Also a 17 year old could have a £20,000 - 1.4 Golf but im pretty sure if they had a £6000 suped up honda civic with twice the BHP of the golf they'd cause a lot more damage to OTHER peoples property than they would in a golf due to the manner of driving in the civic.

Just be accurate with the information you give, if you can't afford the insurance, you can't drive, simple as that =/ Not to be rude here.

tobiascurious

My point is that you can choose certain things - like doing 8000 or 12000 miles in a year, and using it to commute or not
If these things make a big difference then it could be worth changing your behaviour, but if it just makes a few pounds difference you may as well get a quote for the higher mileage and for the added class of use and not worry about it

theoretica

Have you read the car insurance guides on this site? You could run a few cars you are considering through an online quote generator to see how much difference insurance group and value make.

When I first took out car insurance it worked out slightly cheaper if I added my dad as a second named driver.

adamc260

tobiascurious wrote: »

My point is that you can choose certain things - like doing 8000 or 12000 miles in a year, and using it to commute or not
If these things make a big difference then it could be worth changing your behaviour, but if it just makes a few pounds difference you may as well get a quote for the higher mileage and for the added class of use and not worry about it

some people cant choose it though.. I cant, not with my job

hcb42

the main criteria will be age and postcode...and vehicle, obviously.

Ian_W

tobiascurious wrote: »

quite important
age
gender ...

THEN
If these things make a big difference then it could be worth changing your behaviour ...

If you're thinking of gender reassignment - don't try it at home :eek: seek professional advice and note that by the end of 2012 insurers will not be able to use gender when calculating risk thanks to the European Court of complete blithering idiots.

MichaelCR

tobiascurious wrote: »

I don't want to lie when getting a quote for car insurance, but I can choose how I use my car, what car I buy, etc. It's possible to tweak things when getting a quote and some make hardly any difference, some make a lot of difference.

Which factors do you think are the most important when getting a quote? This is what I think.

very important
previous claims history
driving convictions
value of car

quite important
age
gender
postcode
engine size
occupation

less important
how long licence held for
annual mileage
class of use (social / commuting / business use)
modifications

Declaring false information knowingly will lead to your car insurance being invalid, Should you be involved in an accident or simply picked up by the police for some reason, You could be prosecuted for Driving without valid insurance, And of course the Insurer will simply refuse to pay out your claim, Cancel your policy, And you'll have fun getting a new quote when you have to disclose and explain why you lied on your car insurance application. As to your list, I don't quite understand,

previous claims history - Most insurance companies will check this.

driving convictions - If they ask to check your driving license via PNC or as identification etc or if you are involved in an accident your policy will be invalid, And you will probably be prosecuted

value of car - Not so important, Although if you declare your cars value at £1000 when its worth £5000, If you have an accident and damage your car, The insurance will not pay out the true value.

age - How can you lie about your age lol ?

gender - Females get cheaper insurance, However its now something you can lie about really.

postcode - How would you lie about this ? They need your real address.

engine size - Kind of hard to lie about, You give them the reg plate, and it comes up as 1.8 litre, You say its 1.4, They will not pay out in the event of an accident, You are also driving without valid insurance.

occupation - Not to sure about this one, although lying at any stage could effect the chances of a claim being paid.

how long licence held for - You can't lie about this, They will check.

annual mileage - I know plenty of people who have lied about this, a friend of mine put 2000 miles he's already done 6000 miles, They don't check this from my knowledge...

class of use (social / commuting / business use) - Easy one to get away with, Although if you put social, And you have an accident in either work time or whilst commuting to work they will ask questions and it will raise suspicion.

modifications - Again, They won't pay out if you have an accident, Theres only one thing i wouldn't declare and thats a change of stereo.

Theres no point in lying mate, Why risk being caught for the sake of a few hundred pennies when you could get caught, Loose your car, Have to pay £200+ To get it back from the police, Then a £400+ Fine for driving without valid insurance, And risk 6 points, Plus having sky high car insurance premiums in the future.

My insurance will cost around £330 a month ! But end of the day i'm being honest on my application, If myself, And many others are honest and pay without lying, Then why should you be able to lie and get a false insurance quote ?

Simple, Don't do it.

LudaMusser

There are a number of things you can do to your insurance policy to get the price down slightly. I always add my Dad to the quote as a second driver, this usually brings the quote down. I`m not entirely sure why, maybe it`s because he is over 60 yrs old, has maximum NCB and it means I will be driving the car slightly less. Although he is on my current policy he has never driven the car in the 18mths I`ve owned it. I`m doing nothing wrong or illegal by having him as a named driver although he will never actually drive the car. See if it helps

You can also value your car lower, put the excess higher and lower the annual mileage figure. You could also go for third party fire and theft instead of fully comp or you could even go more basic than third pf&t.

Use a site like confused.com so you can easily tweak your quote and then get new figures in seconds. If you do have a bump and you`ve lowered your excess you will have to pay out more yourself so you need to take most of the above into consideration, they will get your quote down but in the long run if you have to make a claim you may be worse off. The second named driver is a good one though as it won`t make a payout any higher

HTH