As a young driver living in the North of England, it has become a begrudgingly-accepted fact of life that any insurance quotation I get – be it for a Mini or a Mercedes – will be a minimum of four figures. “It costs me £1700 to insure my Kia Picanto third party, fire and theft – it’s basically one stage up from a skip!” an old mate of mine jokes. But I know he’s being serious.
Are there any ways to reduce this? I think there might be. Some of the following tips will apply equally to more mature drivers, so if you’re looking for a reduced premium read on. However, the young will reap greater rewards from them, as insurance in the 18-25 bracket is particularly punitive.
My first tip might sound like I’m stating the obvious, but consider the insurance grouping of any car you view whilst looking to buy. The lower the grouping, the cheaper the car will typically be to insure. But again here watch your step. It may seem savvy to buy something cheap and unheard of – a Perodua Myvi, perhaps – but parts availability and costs also affect your premium. Better to stick with a common car – used if that is all your budget will permit. The one exception here is sensible saloons – because of the average claim statistics for various models it could well be cheaper to insure a Mondeo than a Mini depending upon your circumstances. When you have your car, employ the good old tactic of KISS – Keep it standard, stupid. Those big alloy wheels may be more to your taste than the steel castors it came with and you may prefer all the shiny bits inside to dull grey plastic. But there will be pound signs in the eyes of insurance salesmen across the land, rubbing their hands together with barely contained glee as their exorbitant quotations drive you into despair.
Another sensible way to reduce your premiums is to get some post-qualification experience. Pass Plus, for young drivers, can knock as much as 10% from a typical premium, and covers a range of crucial skills. Were I responsible for what could be termed the ‘full licence curriculum’ – that which you are taught before being awarded a full licence – I should make Pass Plus compulsory. Courses in all-weather driving, night driving, dual carriageways, motorways, town and country driving are to my mind vital as a means of gaining experience, and the Pass Plus course is thus something I highly recommend. Another activity in which we could all partake to reduce premiums is to join the Institute of Advanced Motorists. Individuals capable of passing the Advanced Driving Test prove themselves to be safe and courteous road users, and typically this is rewarded by reduced insurance premiums.
Keep younger named drivers to the barest minimum. Whilst it may be cheaper for your offspring to do this than to take out their own policies, if the real main driver is not that named upon the insurance form it is classed as fraud. In the case of an accident, your insurer may refuse to pay out. However, it is a good idea for younger drivers to add an older and more experienced family member to their insurance policies as a named driver – still legal, but due to the mysterious ways in which insurance companies work it is cheaper than a policy for a young driver on his or her own.
It is a sad fact of life that the car’s power, parts costs, and the experience levels of those insured to drive it are not the sole influences upon your car’s insurance premium. It is a generally accepted fact that Mr Burglar will be less inclined to relieve you of your pride and joy if it has off-road parking – he doesn’t want to be caught on your driveway or in your garage, where he may struggle to account for his presence. The lesson here is this: if you have a garage, open the doors. Clear out all your junk – the inflatable raft Auntie Brenda bought you for Christmas, the useful-looking offcuts of wood, the spare kitchen tiles – and put your car in there instead. A novel idea, yes, but you could save a fortune. If you don’t have a garage, there’s no need to move house – although if you are so inclined look for a house in a better risk area. For young drivers, the postcode at which the car is insured can mean a four figure difference – having tried to insure my car at my home address and one with a low risk postcode, I could have shaved £800 from the price by moving.
If you have the funds to do so, one of the best things you can do to lessen the blow is to pay your premium as a single lump sum. You might earn a fraction more in interest by leaving your hard-earned cash sitting in a bank for a year, but the credit companies employed by the insurers will charge far more than this for their services. I know a chap who is paying a cool £400 above his insurance premium for the privilege of paying by monthly instalment.
Finally, here’s my favourite tip when it comes to reducing your insurance quotations. It may seem to run contrary to my previous advice, but buy yourself a classic. If your car of choice is over twenty years old – and there are some perfectly acceptable 1980s chariots if you don’t fancy a Morris Minor – the premium will drop. I’ve done quotations on two matching cars; either side of the 20 year age boundary. The difference was over five hundred pounds.
Trying to take advantage of the multitude of tips out there will probably cost more than it saves most people. But try the odd one or two. You may be surprised by just what you could save.
