How to Get Cheap Car Insurance Rates Without Reducing Your Cover

Everywhere you go these days you will hear the same word applied to car insurance. On the TV ads and commercials and on the radio........

Compare!

Well yes, you certainly do need to compare what you are spending your money on when it comes to car insurance, but as expert Dave Healey points out in the following article, there is a lot more to Comparing Car Insurance than what you are first led to believe by the giant car insurance 'price comparison' sites, whose horrible jingles regularly ring in your ears......


How to Get Cheaper Car Insurance Without Reducing Your Coverage

When you enter your details online and ask for a quote, the car insurance rating system returns a price for your coverage determined by the answers you give to the questions asked. This is exactly the same process as if you walked into a high street brokers or telephoned a company you found in say yellow pages. The difference online is that you are doing the work filling in the form or researching the market for yourself, saving the insurance company the cost of employing people to process your application.

Online car insurance is therefore nearly always a cheaper method of purchasing coverage as nearly all online motor insurance companies offer an immediate discount to the basic insurance rates, of at least ten percent for purchasing this way. To get the cheapest cover then, it is necessary nowadays to spend some time online.

The art to obtaining cheaper car insurance is found in a combination of first identifying a set of policies or companies that suit your particular insurance cover needs and then adjusting the factors within the preferred policy to tailor the price of it to your pocket.

Different companies ask different questions to assess your risk, but all ask a basic set of questions called rating factors. Although rating factors vary from policy to policy, the standardised method of rating a vehicle according to its risk group (engine size and cost to repair) and a driver by his age and experience, apply almost universally. When looking for cheaper insurance always answer the questions asked truthfully, in order not to invalidate your cover.

Your answers to the standard rating factor and risk questions should always be the same, as things such as your age or the type of car, do not change.

Identifying a company which is right for you is of particular importance as it is not desirable to reduce coverages to save on price. Getting cheaper premiums is about negotiating a price for the level of cover you desire. For example, reducing your coverage from comprehensive to third party fire and theft may save you a lot of money up front, but will cost you dearly in most cases in the event of a claim, especially if you are at fault!

A good place to start, if you have the time, to get an indication of what you are likely to pay, is to visit a car insurance price comparison site. These websites compare rates and policies, often from hundreds of different insurance suppliers. Some online systems particularly these so called aggregator or price comparison sites are more often obliged to ask more questions, so getting a cheaper quote can be time consuming. This is because certain of the insurance companies on the panel require differing information about the driver or the car, in order to return the quote. This obviously takes a lot longer to complete the quotation and purchasing processes where sometimes hundreds of policies are involved, however the time spent is rewarded with a list of competing companies offering a variety of quotes, giving you a very good indication of what you are likely to have to pay. These may not be the cheapest quotes you will find online, but being presented with various offers and options is a starting point for identifying cheaper car insurance.

If you like a look of a particular policy that you have found on a car insurance price comparison site, you can often save money by visiting the company's own website and applying direct. In order to ensure you get the full benefits of cheaper cover it is often necessary to remove all cookies from your browser window, before visiting the car insurance provider direct.

It is also worth remembering that many of the cheaper car insurance companies do not have their motor insurance products for sale on the price comparison sites, and many make a point of this direct exclusivity, in their advertising campaigns. These so called direct car insurance companies are also able to offer large discounts for purchasing their insurance because they cut the costs of production of the policy by cutting out the costs of the middleman, in the form of a price comparison site fee or car insurance brokers commission. The commission savings these direct insurers make by conducting business this way can then be passed onto their customers as cheaper car insurance premiums.

Another area to explore if you have particular driving coverage needs or own a classic or expensive performance car, is the specialist car insurance market. This market is comprised of many specialist car or niche motor insurance schemes, often operated by much smaller companies who could specialise in, for example, a particular classic car make and model scheme, young inexperienced driver insurance, or drivers with convictions.

These specialist policies are often available at much cheaper prices than both the price comparison sites and the direct insurers because they have both the bulk buying power and mutuality of affinity groups, where these economies of scale can be passed on as cheaper car insurance premiums to the customer; and also benefit from the fact that where the risk is known and can be grouped, much more accurate and tailored risk pricing can be achieved. To identify a suitable specialist company simply search online for insurance for your vehicle type.

Once you have identified a few policies that are suitable for your personal driving requirements, there are certain adjustments that can be made within the quotation system that will reduce the premiums.

Many of the adjustments that online car insurance applications allow you to make, do not reduce your levels of cover but transfer some of the risk to yourself in the form of excesses. The excess is the amount that you personally have to bear the cost of in the event of a claim, before the insurance cover kicks in.

The higher the excess you are prepared to accept on a voluntary basis the cheaper the cost of the policy. This method of reducing premiums is fine if you are a careful driver and do not believe that you will ever have an at fault accident or claim. Higher excesses invariably mean small claims for bumps and scratches are avoided. A new type of car insurance called value car insurance was recently introduced into the UK market by supermarket chain Tesco.

The concept of this insurance is an ultra high compulsory policy excess to deter all but the most serious claims; coupled with ultra low premiums, sometimes as much as a third of the competitors prices. Companies are able to offer this cheap coverage because claims are reduced and profits higher.

So in order to get cheap car insurance it is necessary to dedicate some time comparing policies, plans, schemes, covers and prices. Going direct or haggling on the phone can also sometimes produce spectacular price reductions, particularly as there are many promotional offers these days that are only available direct from the supplier. The more time you dedicate to exploring and researching various car insurance options the more likely it is that you will find much cheaper car insurance than you are currently paying!

Original Article Pulication : http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dave_Healey http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Get-Cheaper-Car-Insurance-Without-Reducing-Your-Coverage&id=3102589

So there you have it...
Shop around, Compare Car Insurance at YouTube and check out TV and radio ads for great cheap car insurance deals.
Always remember to check what you are buying in terms of a claims service!

Drive Through Classic Car Insurance Comparison Supermarket

The driver of this classic 1978 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost decided to take his grievance up directly with his local Tesco supermarket in Andover UK, by driving the car through the plate glass window and into the store.
He might have difficulty getting insurance for his not so cherished vehicle when he finally gets out of prison in a couple of years time........



Maybe he thought you had to go to the checkout to compare classic car insurance prices; a line which this famous store is now offering to its car insurance customers!

How to Compare Car Insurance Online and Save Money

How To Compare Car Insurance Online

Everybody these days will tell you to go and compare Car Insurance online if you want to get cheap car insurance. But where do you start?
And more importantly what should you be comparing?
We asked our classic car insurance specialist to investigate........

Original areticle by: Dave Healey

Comparing car insurance online, particularly classic car insurance, can be a minefield for any people, with so many options available online at the click of a mouse, it is often confusing, a problem that is exacerbated if you own a classic car and require specialist car insurance.

So how do you choose firstly a website, then a company, then the policy, that is going to be right for your prized possession, your cherished classic car?

You could like the majority of people start off by visiting a large car insurance comparison site, such as the ones you will see advertising during virtually every commercial break on television. don't expect to find any bargains at these types of sites. They are designed around standard polices for standard vehicles, and although many of these sites willl now quote for classic cars, the premiums are often heavily loaded and more often far from competitive. Having spent time filling out the application form online it can be disappointing to find that most companies on the comparison panel are refusing to quote for your particular classic, or have loaded the premium as the do not want your business. For the majority of the large car insurance companies, classic cars mainly equate to expensive claims, and not profitable target business.

When comparing what can at first appear to be, cheap classic car insurance through one of thee large supermarket distribution outlets, be very careful to read all the wordings in the small print, paying particular close attention to the information regarding claims.

If you own a classic car you need to ascertain that in the event of an accident your classic car will be taken to a specialist or maker approved repairer and that only genuine replacement parts will be used on your car to repair it. Unfortunately you will find that most mainstream car insurers have a network of approved repairers nationwide, and will often insist that cars covered under their policy contracts must be repaired through these outlets. In situations such as this, what appeared to be a bargain cheap car insurance deal at source, could prove to be a very expensive mistake.

The solution to the problem is to approach a specialist car insurer or broker, in particular one who has experience in underwriting classic motors, and preferably has a large book of business of classic car insurance. Unlike in many other professions for example healthcare, a specialist in car insurance is often cheaper than the High Street names and offer better value quality cover that can be tailored to the requirements of your specific classic car make and model. By specialising in a particular market niche these car insurers have developed group schemes for virtually every type of classic. By joining one of these schemes you are joining a risk pool of like minded individuals and similar cars. The specialist car insurer is able to determine more accurate rates for a particular classic and you will also benefit from the power of group buying which delivers economies of scale in the form of shared risks and cheaper premiums.

About the Author:

With the demand for specialist car insurance rising, there are now many websites where you can compare car insurance online and specifically specialist schemes, covers, and rates for classic car insurance. When comparing both covers and premiums it is essential that you make comparisons on a like for like or similarity basis, including the arrangements for settling a claim.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - How To Compare Classic Car Insurance Online