Car insurance - how low can you go?

It is important to remember when looking for a renewal on your policy that you will be assessed on how much of a risk you appear be to the insurer. With this in mind answer any questions carefully, ensuring you don't guess at any answers as this could inadvertently bump up your premium price.

There are several options for you to choose from when beginning your search for a policy so low it's practically doing the limbo.

You can follow the traditional method of searching through your local telephone book, search for companies on the internet and then follow a quote by quote procedure until you find a suitable policy at a cheap price. The other option now available and fast becoming ever prevalent is the comparison site. Use of these sites will allow you to receive quotes from a variety of companies by entering your details once. The work is done by the search engine at the comparison site which applies for quotes on several sites on your behalf. After a very short time your results are returned and usually put into price order for easy viewing. It is important to remember when utilising this type of website that you should never go for simply the cheapest policy as this may not always provide the cover you require. Check the level of cover offered with the policy and if it is adequate and happens to be the cheapest policy then all the better.

So what can you do to increase that premium? Here are some suggestions:

1: When entering information for a quote, ensure you are accurate, for example giving a more precise mileage can shrink your premium price noticeably. If you state you expect to travel 15,000 miles instead of 10,000 you are increasing your level of risk by 50% as you will be on the road for 5,000 miles extra. Utilising M.O.T documents (if you have them) will allow you guess at a pretty accurate mileage as long as your circumstances have not changed.

2: Be careful when entering your job title, of course if you are retired there is little you can do here and believe me we're all jealous. On a serious note however; the way you describe your job title can impact hugely on your car insurance quote. For example, describing yourself as a journalist instead of selecting reporter can save £90 on the average policy. This follows a similar theme with most job descriptions, so as you can imagine it may be worth quoting a couple of times with different job titles (as long as accurate; straying too far from the truth could result in voiding of policy at a later date).

3: Always review the excess you will be expected to "stump up" on a prospective policy in the event of a claim. This can vary drastically from one insurer to another. Offering a higher voluntary excess can save money on your premium price but will mean having to find a bigger lump sum in the event of an accident or claim. Believe me; trying to produce £500 out of thin air can be fun at times.

4: Where you keep you car overnight can play its part in your premium price too. If you can ensure your car us garaged overnight instead of left on the street you will save money on your car insurance policy. Again you must be honest here, as in the event of your vehicle being stolen this will be an area that is investigated. Of course suggesting you have a garage when you don't is not a good idea and trying to produce evidence of this "garage" to the police when filing a crime report could prove to be interesting.

5: My last few tips concern the features that are offered with a prospective policy. You may be inadvertently paying for a feature you do not require, such as legal protection or personal injury. Most insurers will allow you to remove these from the policy making it cheaper. Think about this carefully before doing so, as you may find a need for these features at a later date (especially if you're the suing type; just a joke of course). Along with your general excess you will find extra's such as windscreen excess or young drivers excess, checking these before you commit to purchasing a policy could save you money in the long run.

Finally, if you can find an insurance company who will combine car insurance along with perhaps house insurance or similar you may save a large amount of money. This is worth looking into as packaging policies ultimately makes things cheaper and easier to manage.

Make use of the information above and you should be able to shave a large amount of money off your policy. All that is left to be said is "good luck" and many happy years of driving.

Chris Rowlands is a UK based author with experience within the financial industry centering on insurances.