Save money on your car insurance

[katykicker]

Car insurance is an essential. You wouldn’t want to drive anywhere without it. When we were driven off the road by a road rage nutter back in 2014 I was so grateful! Our insurance company offered us a courtesy car, come and towed our write off away and got us a cheque out in next to no time.

Anyway, here is today's post on how you can save money on your car insurance: http://blog.themoneyshed.co.uk/moneymaking-bootcamp-save-money-on-your-car-insurance/

Have you been able to save money on your car insurance? Why not share a few tips to let other TMS users know how well you’ve done*! This year was possibly our biggest ever saving - and we didn’t even have to switch companies!

*Keep it legal please. I don't want to see posts about falsifying information or pretending to still live at home for cheaper insurance

 

[Darcey]

Good morning
I cannot believe how easy it was to reduce my car insurance this year -

Received renewal quote for £264

Went through a few comparison sites and found the same insurance for a little bit cheaper with a different comp

Went through Top Cash Back to see if the new company was on there and they were and were offerring a generous cash back, I put so I put my details in and the final figure came up around £211 (which included taking cashback into account - although be aware this is not always guaranteed - however in this case the cost of the new insurance without the cashback was still cheaper than my original quote)

Rang original insurance company and told them I could get the insurance with Top Cash Back for £211 and if they would match that then I would stay with them. There was one point where the advisor said they could do £230 I then re-iterated about it being cheaper through the cash back site and then she put me on hold for a few seconds and came back to me with an even cheaper quote than the cash back quote - £204. So even if you get a good deal through a cash back site still ask your insurance company if they will match it. I didn't really have to try. This was for fully comprehensive, breakdown, legal cover and windscreen. I do do low miles but it wasn't that much more if I'd done more.

 

[katykicker]

Good morning
I cannot believe how easy it was to reduce my car insurance this year -

Received renewal quote for £264

Went through a few comparison sites and found the same insurance for a little bit cheaper with a different comp

Went through Top Cash Back to see if the new company was on there and they were and were offerring a generous cash back, I put so I put my details in and the final figure came up around £211 (which included taking cashback into account - although be aware this is not always guaranteed - however in this case the cost of the new insurance without the cashback was still cheaper than my original quote)

Rang original insurance company and told them I could get the insurance with Top Cash Back for £211 and if they would match that then I would stay with them. There was one point where the advisor said they could do £230 I then re-iterated about it being cheaper through the cash back site and then she put me on hold for a few seconds and came back to me with an even cheaper quote than the cash back quote - £204. So even if you get a good deal through a cash back site still ask your insurance company if they will match it. I didn't really have to try. This was for fully comprehensive, breakdown, legal cover and windscreen. I do do low miles but it wasn't that much more if I'd done more.

We made a huge saving on ours in a similar manner We also have legal, windscreen, all that jazz. Can't be without it really - not unless you want to fork out lots of money if you have a car crisis!

Well done you and thanks for sharing [member=340]Darcey[/member]

 

[BoostMyBudget]

Perfect timing Katy! Our car insurance is due for renewal at the end of the month and shopping around is on my to do list next week! I will definitely be using these tips and will report back. The point about your occupation is particularly interesting. My husband has changed career this year and I'm worried his new job will be seen as higher risk (yes, I know I should have reported it to the insurance company at the time...) I think the green site has a tool which shows you which which job titles in the same field get cheaper insurance. Not sure if I'm allowed to link to them here but will look it up if you want!

 

[MintySky]

I just did the insurance on my new car last month, so I was a little nervous reading your post in case I had made lots of mistakes! Luckily I had done most of the stuff you mentioned. Although, strangely, adding named drivers to my policy actually reduced my bill! I guess it depends on your circumstances?

Btw, sorry for the newbie question (and for being off topic!), but why do you guys call that other site the 'green site'? I can't figure it out and it's bugging me

 

[Jon]

Every year we play this game, not just with our car but also home insurance and every other insurance the loops round each March.

I always pay annual on these things as well which keeps the cost down!

 

[Romell]

Car insurance is an essential. You wouldn’t want to drive anywhere without it. When we were driven off the road by a road rage nutter back in 2014 I was so grateful! Our insurance company offered us a courtesy car, come and towed our write off away and got us a cheque out in next to no time.

Anyway, here is today's post on how you can save money on your car insurance: http://blog.themoneyshed.co.uk/moneymaking-bootcamp-save-money-on-your-car-insurance/

Have you been able to save money on your car insurance? Why not share a few tips to let other TMS users know how well you’ve done*! This year was possibly our biggest ever saving - and we didn’t even have to switch companies!

*Keep it legal please. I don't want to see posts about falsifying information or pretending to still live at home for cheaper insurance

I always pay off my insurance annually so that does bring the price down, as well as that I try to find other quotes online and if they are cheaper than the quote I am receiving from my current insurer they normally offer to beat it and throw in extra's such as breakdown cover

 

[NickSW6]

Last year, I took Martin Lewis's advice and tried a quotation putting my parents on as named drivers. To my astonishment, my premium reduced by about £100 as they are safe drivers and have had no accidents in the last few years. My Dad had an accident during the year so I took him off this year. Midway through this current insurance period, a friend of mine was crashing at mine for a month or so, so I put him on as a named driver. He's also a safe driver who has never had an accident. I have had two very minor prangs in the last two years and I was amazed, when doing a quote adding him as a named driver, that my current premium reduced by £400!! So, try it on the comparison websites. I changed insurers midway to take advantage of these and my current insurer (John Lewis) was so surprised at this reduction that they even waived the cancellation fees for me!

As my circumstances have now changed, I ave given up my car completely and have joined various car-sharing schemes. I live in London, so this is quite easy as there are about 25 cars available through various schemes located within 10 minutes walk / Boris Bike of my home. I worked out that I was spending about £500 a month all-in with fuel, car cost (PCP) and insurance. I now spend a fraction of that and haven't seen a massive impact on my life. Some boroughs in London are also introducing Electric car schemes by which you can do one-way journeys - you just have to dump the car at a charging point at your destination and plug it in Fulham and Hammersmith have just launched a scheme called Blue City and they gave me the subscription for a year for free and the flat rate is 17p a minute. The range of the cars is around 81 miles and can be used anywhere within the M25. I still use Zipcar for other trips and also Enterprise car club (which, incidentally has Range Rover Evoque's in the fleet for those occasions when you want to posh it up).

I was. a bit nervous giving up the car as I loved it (a very fuel-efficient 1.4 petrol automatic Audi Q3) and I thought I would lose some independence, but I haven't really looked back since doing it!

 

[katykicker]

Wow [member=4126]NickSW6[/member] this is awesome work! Well done you. Must be quite scary like you say but then all that money saved!