Ways to bring car insurance down

ruby321

mikey72 wrote: »

My first daughter has a classic mini, it took me about 6 months to find a decent one for a good price.
It's her everyday car, and has so far cost less than £600 a year to insure, even when she was 17. MOT's are a couple of balljoints or similar. Drives the length of the country in it.

There are a couple of 126's on ebay I'm looking at, as I reckon I'll be wanting one of those in a few months.

I would love a mini, can't believe how cheap it is to insure suppose that's something to leave till I get a proper job and saved enough. or I could just get it on finance.

mikey72

It cost £1000 for the car.

It had an mot, a few scabby bits, no history, but was sound.
I had to replace the rubber bits at the front, and put on new discs and pads, and I serviced it before she had it, including new water pump, antifreeze, flush the radiator out.
New halogen headlights so she could use it in winter, and update the interior mirror to a dipping one, for the 4x4's behind.
That was the month before she had her licence.

It's since passed the first mot, and needed trackrod ends for the second. No welding, and the scabs aren't much worse. Beyond that it's been reliable, starts first time, and drives miles. It's also worth more then we paid for it.

forgotmyname

Dave_C wrote: »

Quote:
Originally Posted by forgotmyname
Grow old without crashing or claiming, Keep a clean licence and your insurance will get cheaper.

Curses! Beaten to it - must be old age setting in .

Dave

Ditto, Who posted that advice? Seems like sound advice to me.

Well done that man/woman?

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

useless_git_requires_wife

On helping a friend with his policy renewal we discovered that saying the car was parked overnight in a car bay cost MORE than if it was parked in the public road. Presumably this is because thieves can identify which house to steal the keys from or something, thus making the car slightly easier to nick!

The biggest factors are age, the area you live and claim history as far as I can tell (assuming a mid-range car).

Tobster86

On the comparison site, fine tune every option, potentially being 'differently honest' about anything that can't be (dis)proven. I may get slated for that, but the insurance industry deserves as much honesty as it gives - f*** all.

Regarding Fiat 126s, be careful that they're not Polish imports that may cost a lot more to insure as a result. They continued to manufacture the Fiat 126p ('Maluch') in Poland until 2002!

JimmyTheWig

Tobster86 wrote: »

On the comparison site, fine tune every option, potentially being 'differently honest' about anything that can't be (dis)proven. I may get slated for that, but the insurance industry deserves as much honesty as it gives - f*** all.

As long as you are honest then I don't see this as a problem.
For example you can tinker with your job title. E.g. you could put "software engineer" rather than "computer programmer", if that helps. Both would be honest, just "differently honest", as you say. I think MSE has a tool that helps you do this.
I can't think, other than job title, what else you could do this with though.

One thing to note is that insurance companies keep a record of quotes they give you. So they will know the options that you have tried if you go down this route.
In which case you will need to be able to argue your case that what you have put on the application is correct.

jaydeeuk1

JimmyTheWig wrote: »

As long as you are honest then I don't see this as a problem.
For example you can tinker with your job title. E.g. you could put "software engineer" rather than "computer programmer", if that helps. Both would be honest, just "differently honest", as you say. I think MSE has a tool that helps you do this.
I can't think, other than job title, what else you could do this with though.

One thing to note is that insurance companies keep a record of quotes they give you. So they will know the options that you have tried if you go down this route.
In which case you will need to be able to argue your case that what you have put on the application is correct.

When doing a comparison to try out quotes, I always use a neighbours address (but same style house etc) fake name etc and an identical model car, and only when I have worked out the best quote and options do I update with my real details.

dmoyes

I recently moved and my car insurance was due for renewal within a month of moving so I risked not changing address until the renewal date.

The new area is a worse area (first real move away from parents) and the car has moved from on a drive to on the road. From several searches online I was getting £500+ (last year almost £400)

Even with the same company it went up to £800!
The renewal price was pretty much the same as last year. I rang and changed the details for the renewal and the price did not change at all! I even got offered £10 shopping voucher. So £100 less than anywhere else and I didn't even bend the truth on the renewal.

TomC5

Lomast wrote: »

Some insurance companies will offer a discount if you have a Roadhawk or similar driving camera fitted.

I got 15% with Adrian Flux when i fitted mine

Really? I might have to get one, did you get yours from here http://www.roadhawk.co.uk/shop/cat_1.html or somewhere else? I can't see if it says on the site but do these prevent your from driving at 11pm - 5am?

Quentin

It is a modification so check with your insurers if fitting one will mean any premium increase.