Author: Richard Norfolk

With ‘unsolicited mail’ campaigns and extensive advertising, it appears that car insurance is very popular amongst providers. The sheer variety of schemes being offered to satisfy different requirements, when multiplied by the number of companies active in the market, presents motorists with a choice of routes as complicated as a road map.

Most providers have some sort of restrictions in place to filter out the higher risk drivers. These, including the apparently accident prone and those who flirt with the law by amassing points on their licences, are not popular with most insurers. Their cover is left to specialist companies who are prepared to take them onto their books in exchange for very high premiums.

There are also what might be termed ‘specialised exclusions’, where drivers are excluded by a company because of their record. For example a driving ban will result in refusal of cover from the Halifax, whilst a drink driving offence or 12 penalty points on your licence will result in a ‘no’ from MoreThan.

If you are in the sort of category where you are penalised for misbehaviour, then it is only right that insurance companies avoid passing your hefty costs on to more conventional customers. If you are anxious to get driving again, you could find it hard work trying to shop around for a company which is prepared to take you on. In these circumstances a broker will do a lot of the ‘leg work’ for you, and than can be no easier way to set this enquiry in motion than a visit to brokers web sites.

The remainder, those run-of-the-mill motorists who manage to negotiate life’s roads with only the occasional bump, are then faced with such a variety of choice that deciding on which insurer to go with could easily occupy far more time than the decision is worth. Perhaps the best start is to decide if you fall into one of the special categories which offer advantageous terms.

Gender is perhaps as good a starting point as any. Chauvinistic male motorists should consider the fact that their female counterparts can get special terms, based on the statistically safer driving of female motorists. However, the ladies should examine the terms and costs on offer rather carefully, as it does not necessarily follow that the best deals are offered by the specialists.

With any insurer it will pay to look beyond the ‘puffing up’ of the adverts and check out the finer detail. Will your no claims bonus be protected? Will the approved repairers supply a courtesy car? Is breakdown cover included within the basic cost? There tend to be a lot of extras available which in some cases will be covered in the basic cost, but where they are not provided as standard they could really load your premium.

Amongst the questions to be answered will be what level of excess you are prepared to pay, where is the car normally parked i.e. road, drive or garage, is an alarm or immobiliser fitted, do you need cover to drive other cars, and even – are you married? Single drivers often pay a higher premium, but don’t try getting married just to cut your insurance costs!

On the other hand you need to ignore ‘benefits’ which you are unlikely to need. Free cover for motoring abroad for example, is a waste of money if your car will never leave these shores. In this case you have to remember that there is a cost factor built into the premium for any ‘free’ service, unless of course you have discovered the contradiction in terms – the totally altruistic insurance company!

Many other groupings exist, where favourable terms may be offered to drivers meeting specific criteria. These can relate to age, employment, driving experience, even the make of car to be covered.

Whilst age can be used to apply ‘penalties’ in terms of cost for older drivers, where possible loss of alertness or slower reaction times are felt to make accidents more likely, the slightly younger can have an advantage. For example, those just retired are likely to cover less miles per year, and will almost certainly do the greater part of their motoring when the roads are less busy outside the rush hours.

Civil servants have for many years been able to get advantageous terms on a variety of insurance cover needs, with deals negotiated on their behalf on the basis of the large numbers who are likely to respond to the offers. It may be worth enquiring if your employer or your trades union has any such arrangement.

Owners clubs, comprising enthusiasts who drive a specific make or type of car, sometimes make similar arrangements for members whose choice of car could invoke insurance cost penalties. Classic cars of even recent vintage can be very costly to repair, especially when parts are difficult to obtain, and performance models have obvious dangers for drivers and insurers, including repair costs for drivers as well as cars!

It is all a bit of a minefield, so your best move has to be to go online and find a broker who will do most of the hard work for you, but first of all decide on the options which you need and which ones you can manage without.

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