Getting the lowest possible quotes for your car insurance
Your car insurance is costing you a packet and you are looking for the cheapest possible quote. Before you do that, though, it helps to know how insurers calculate your premium in the first place. These are the main factors that they look at:
Your address
Where you live can have a huge impact on your premium. If you live in an area which has a high accident or crime rate then you are very unlikely to be offered the lowest possible quotes. You may well be a completely honest and careful driver yourself, but many of your neighbours may not be, and insurers are interested in statistics. Too many claims from an area or evidence of fraudulent claims can push premiums in that postcode up to high levels; or it may even prove impossible forresidents to get insurance at all.
Your occupation
People in different occupations are at differing risks of having accidents. Insurers like to see people who work from home or drive only a short distance to their place of employment and who have nice safe occupations such as human resources, nursing, teaching etc. These motorists will qualify for the lowest premiums.
What they do not want to see are people whose lifestyles could include late nights (particularly at weekends) and the possibility of a lot of socialising which could involve drinking. Those who are disc jockeys, whether full or part-time, can fall into that category. They are also well aware that people in the sports or entertainment industries will sometimes have highly paid passengers in their cars; an accident which caused injuries to these people could prove extremely expensive. Premiums for these drivers will always be a lot higher than average.
Your age
Young drivers are far more likely to be involved in accidents, and at higher speeds, than those who are a lot older. This can be put down to in experience, adrenaline, showing off, and downright overexuberance whatever the reasons those under the age of about 25 are involved in a disproportionate number of claims and will therefore pay correspondingly higher premiums.
Your driving experience
Driving experience speaks for itself. If you've been a safe driver for the past 10 years and you have a claim free record you are far less likely than average to be involved in an accident in the near future. Conversely, if you have had little experience, or a record of fault claims, the possibility of more claims in the future is above average. Insurers will either not want to know you or will charge you a prohibitively heavy premium.
The car you wish to drive
Cars, as we all know, belong to certain insurance groups and those in the lowest group are almost invariably those with the smallest engines and lots of safety features. This is not the whole story however. Insurers are interested in the cost of claims as well as the likelihood of them occurring. If your car has expensive spare parts, a fully comprehensive policy may cost you more than average. If these spare parts are difficult to get hold of, or have to be specially ordered from abroad, then garage bills can mount whilst the mechanics are waiting for them, leading to extra costs for the insurance company, and higher premiums for you.
Getting the cheapest possible policy
You cannot of course easily change your address or occupation. However, every insurance company has a different way of assessing the likely impact thst these factors are likely to have on what, if anything, each motorist is likely to cost them during the life of the policy. This is why premiums can vary so greatly from one insurer to another, and it is a reason why there is no one insurer that can claim to be the cheapest for every class of motorist. Indeed, some of the cheaper insurers will only offer low quotations to motorists with the safest profiles, but may still offer very high premiums to those they deem more risky. This is why using price comparison services is still one of the best ways of finding yourself the lowest possible premiums.