Shop around for the lowest insurance quote!

First of all, you’ll need to shop around a little. It can be a bit time consuming, but when you end up saving hundreds $£$ you’ll be glad you did.

Avoid making the obvious mistake…

One of the biggest mistakes people make is that they see an advert from a big insurance company and when it comes to getting quotes, they go directly to that company and settle for what they are offered. Other people also phone around and try 2-3 more companies and settle for the low cost insurance quote they get. Come’ on people! you’re not really shopping around.

Zillions of Insurance Companies to Choose From

Ok, maybe not zillions, but there are hundreds of car and motorbike insurance companies to choose from. What are the first few that pop into your head? DirectLine, More-Than, Allianz, AXA, AIG, Geico? Yes, all the big ones! But what most people don’t immediately realize is that there are many many more smaller companies who often beat the giants at providing the cheapest insurance quotes for cars and bikes.

Where to get Low Cost Auto Insurance

There isn’t one specific place to get the best deals on auto insurance. You really have to shop around. And there is no better place to start than at Auto Insurance Comparison sites. You’ll save yourself a lot of time as well. You just fill up your details once at the price comparison site and sit back as they search through hundreds of motor insurance companies.

Cheap State Auto Insurance

There has been a lot of press recently that its possible to get low cost auto insurance based on the state you live in. For example, someone living in Columbus Ohio apparently gets better deals on Columbus Auto Insurance from companies within the state of Ohio. Is there any truth to this? Not likely. The only reason you should go with a company based within your state is when that particular company comes out at the lowest priced quote for insurance.

When it comes to giving away your cash, don’t let sentiments get in the way of getting a good deal on motor insurance quotes. Use price comparison sites first.

Go Directly to the Insurance Companies

There are 2-3 major price comparison sites… whether you live in the USA or UK you’ll know which ones they are. Between them, they will cover about 80% of all auto insurance providers. However, to get the best deal and lowest prices you’ll need to do a bit more leg work. Go directly to the insurance companies who are not listed on the price comparison sites.

There are quite a few big insurance providers who don’t provide their insurance cover quotes via comparison sites so you’ll need to compare insurance quotes yourself by visiting their sites directly. They save a bit of money by not giving commissions to the comparison sites, but they aren’t always the cheapest either.

So good luck and as always, remember to let us know how you get on. Leave us a comment below and share your tips & experiences.

Luckily, my brother and other family members were at hand to give me some basic tips. And although its been over 12 years, some of these tips and tricks still work just as well to get your insurance quotes down.

We’ve already mentioned some basic tips on getting cheap insurance quotes for young drivers on a previous post – so we’ll just summarize that first:

As a young driver with little driving experience, you should start off with a car of a small engine capacity. Going above a 2.0 litre engine will heavily lower your chances of getting insurance cover.

Avoid buying a car which is classed as a “sports” edition or one which has sports modifications such as turbo engine, sports body kit etc.

Unless you’re going to be buying a brand new car from the showroom, its best to avoid spending too much above £5,000 (or $8,000) for an used vehicle.

And most importantly, get some insurance quotes from a number of different insurance companies BEFORE buying the car. Make sure they’ll cover you and that you’ll be able to afford the coverage.

My first car was a Honda Civic Coupe (like the one of those cars at the start of The Fast & The Furious movie – the ones which zig zag under the trucks). Yes, a sports car. And yes, it had some body modifications. I paid just over £4,000 for it, which was a lot for 17 year old in a part-time job. But the real shock came when I tried to get insurance for the Civic. Most companies down-right refused to cover me and out of the few that did – were quoted me between £2,200 to £3,500 just for basic third-party fire & theft. Ouch! That’s almost the same price as what I paid for the car.

So, heres what I did.

I had my brother put me onto his insurance as a 2nd driver. It reduced my insurance down to £1,100 per year. Still a lot, but a big difference – I looked at it as a saving of over £1000.

There are a few other things you can do to try and reduce your insurance quotes.

How your occupation affects your insurance quote

Your occupation has about a 10% influence on your motor insurance price. Some professions are considered higher risk than others. Sounds strange, but it makes sense. Think about it, a “head chef’s” job is considered quite stressful. They spend a lot time in the kitchen where its hot, they have to deal with other staff, cooking, getting compliants etc. Now, they finish work and head home in their car – they’re considered not to drive as safely as someone who works in a less stressful environment. Now, don’t get me wrong – not all jobs are the same based on the title, but thats just how insurance companies work it out. Its all about risk analysis.

Help yourself to get a better quote

I have to point out before I go any further – don’t lie about your occupation – it will make your insurance cover invalid. And you don’t want that. No worries though, you don’t have to lie.

Lets take the above Chef’s job title as an example. We did some trials on a few insurance sites and found that by changing the title to “Kitchen Worker” or “Kitchen Staff” reduced insurance quotes by upto 5-6%. As you can see, theres no lies. A Chef is still a Kitchen Staff, so you can probably get away with that.

So think about your profession and see if theres room to describe it differently. It could help.

Where you Park affects your Insurance Price

Next is parking. Its common sense that parking on the street is higher risk than parking your car in a locked up garage or drive way. Well, insurance companies see it the same way. Again, don’t lie about where you’re going to be parking your vehicle. Instead, consider finding a better location to park. I didn’t have a garage when I first bought my car, I had on-street parking. However, my neighbours down the road had a twin drive-bay and only one car so I used their parking space. I specified that I would be keeping my car at their address. This helped me reduce my insurance quote by a further 4%.

Of course, you must first get permission from the owner if its not your own property. Also consider leaving your car at your work place if it works out cheaper – this as we’ll explain later may also reduce your milage and hence further reduce what you pay for your insurance cover.

Are you single, cohabiting or married?

This again can help you reduce your insurance quote. I lived with my parents at the time but if you live with your girlfriend or boyfriend, then you are cohabiting. This can, in most cases further reduce your quotes. So even if you aren’t married, you can state that you are cohabiting if you have a girlfriend/boyfriend with whom you live in the same property.

Total milage per year

The more milage you estimate to do per year, the more you’ll be adding onto your insurance premium. Just a few hundred extra miles per year might not make a difference, but a couple of thousand most certainly will. If you work somewhere that has good safe parking facilitie, then consider leaving your car there over-night. If you do this more than 5 nights per week, you can register your car to be kept at your work address. If the location is safer than your home address, you may find that you could be saving quite a lot by doing this. In my example this would have saved me £300 (almost 30%), but I chose not to do this because it wasn’t convenient for me.

So there you have it, some basic tips to help you reduce up to 40% of your insurance quotes. Take all of this into consideration and by all means shop around to see which company can give you the best quotes.

And keep in mind, sometimes you’ll find that being fully-comprehensive may only cost a few pounds/dollars more than 3rd party – so make sure you check out all the options before committing yourself.

Good luck – and remember to share your savings and tips by leaving a comment below.

There are literally hundreds of price comparison sites for motor insurance quotes. You give your details and they search through thousands of insurance providers and display the best prices as well as a summary of services & perks. All this is free! And if for some odd reason anyone wants you to pay for a quote – give them the middle finger and walk away. Below is a list of just a few well known price comparison sites and car insurance companies who give free insurance quotes (just the way it should be).

• Money Super Market (UK Price Comparison Site for Motor Insurance)
• Compare The Market (Car Insurance Price Comparison)
• Confused (Price Compare Car Insurance)
• Direct Line (Car Insurance & Home Insurance)
• Geico (US Price Comparison for Cheap Auto Insurance)

Why Should I Pay for Car Insurance Quotes?

Damn right you shouldn’t! Think about it this way, if you go to a local car parts store and ask how much a spare tyre costs… you wouldn’t expect the sales assistant to charge you a fee just to tell you the price… would you? Of course not. So why would you be charged to get a motor insurance quote? Why woud you pay just to be told how much it will cost for a service. That’s ridiculous. But, believe it or not there are companies out there who do actually charge for insurance quotes. We like to think of them as blood thirsty sharks! Avoid them.

Getting a car or motorcycle insurance quote is free at any reputable company. If anyone wants to charge you for them.. then run! Don’t get ripped off. Use thousands of other reputable insurance companies who do it for free.

Why most UK Insurance Companies don’t provide Cover for New Drivers?

Motor insurance companies in general view new drivers as higher risk due to the lack of driving experience. In fact, studies and all sorts of surveys has found that a large percentage of insurance claims are made by (or against) drivers who have less than a year of driving experience – new drivers. Something to keep in mind is that a lot of those classed as “new drivers” are generally aged between 17-24 years old. Age plays a big part too.

Ways to avoid being declined for insurance cover if you’re a new driver

The best thing to do, this applies to drivers of all ages and experience, is to get an insurance quote for a car BEFORE you buy it. The last thing you want is to have a car for which you stuggle to get insured on. The newer and higher the value of the car, the harder and more expensive it is to get it covered. The size of the engine as well as modifications (e.g. turb engines) make a huge difference too.

If you’re a new driver, consider getting a car which is not too powerful. For example, as a 17 year old new driver – the liklihood of being covered for a brand new Maserati is very unlikely with most insurers. Try to go for a vehicle that is around or under 2.0 litre engine and perhaps under £5,500.

Another way to ensure you are covered is to look out for motor companies doing special offers on new models of cars. For example, not too long ago Ford were offering Fiesta’s with free road tax and insurance for one year. This way you can have a brand new car and be fully covered by insurance and as a bonus you might even be able to get a great 0% interest finance deal on a new car.

More tips on getting cheaper car insurance for new drivers

Some general tips are mentioned on other parts of columbusautoinsurance.org (see related articles below).

Well, it is clear to most people and drivers most especially that getting an auto insurance policy is one of the most important things that one should have when owning a vehicle. Upon purchase, most vehicles would always come along with auto insurance wherein vehicle owners have the chance to extend their policy or simply choose another company once the auto insurance policy is already expired.

In reality, there are different auto insurance companies that offer these cheap policies and offer a wide coverage. Well, there are some that are good and offers 24/7 service, but some doesn’t. When choosing an auto insurance company, this is the very first thing to consider. However, most people would realize that the best insurance company that they know of offers high prices for policies and claims. Well, here are some of the tips that car owners and drivers can consider to have auto insurance for an affordable price without jeopardizing the quality of service and without taking anything from the coverage of the insurance as well.

• The rates of insurance companies would depend upon the gender, age and the records of the one purchasing the auto insurance. When the company have seen that the driver’s record is accident free, then there is a higher chance that the amount that will be paid for the auto insurance is lower compared to people who has already a record for a driving accident. The reason behind this is that insurance company would not want to offer these policies to people who are known and prone to accidents. The longer span of time that a driver would not experience an accident, the higher the chances that the amount that will be paid for auto insurance every month would be less.
• Hopping from one insurance company to another might be something that most people got used to do. Maybe their reason would be is that they are not contented with the coverage or with the service. There is nothing wrong with that. But take note, that once a driver has already found an auto insurance company that they love and fully trust, stick with it. Customers who are staying long and renewing their auto insurance policy gets higher discount rates.
• For people who own more than one car, it is recommended to insure both vehicles with the same company. Doing so, the company could offer higher discounts.
• If possible, add some safety measures and features into a vehicle. When an auto insurance company knows that a vehicle is more secured, there is a high possibility that the amount to be paid yearly or monthly is cheaper compared to vehicles who doesn’t have added security.

The four things mentioned above are just some of the most important things to keep in mind and some important guidelines to help everyone out when it comes to finding an auto insurance company. It is always important to remember that cheap may be good, but not all times. Following the simply ways stated above, people could get the chance to have a wider insurance coverage and at the same time pay for their auto insurance policies for a lower price.

To get the wide range of insurance quotes any car owner is looking for go to http://www.insurance-auto-insurance-health-insurance.com/

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Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – Auto Insurance: Cheaper Is Not Always Better

Here is a list of things that affect your auto insurance quote:

• Your Age
  Motor insurance is generally much higher for younger drivers
• Your Driving Experience
  Obviously, the longer you’ve held a driving license (and been driving) the cheaper the insurance quote.
• Where you Live.
  Your area code (zip code) has a significant affect on what the companies will quote you.
• Who you live with…
  Yes its true! Whether you’re married, single or co-habiting makes a difference.
• Where you will park your Vehicle over-night
  Off-stree parking, parking in a secure garage and even in private drive-ways can help reduce Insurance premiums

That’s just a few things. There are lots more! We’ll share more tips with you very soon.