With all the excitement that comes with buying a new car, one commonly forgotten expense that can dramatically affect the overall price is car insurance. However, there are quite a few factors that can be tweaked a little to help you get the best price and avoid having to shell out over the odds.
One major factor that affects the price of your car insurance is age, not only because of the figures suggesting older and younger drivers have more accidents but because it generally relates to your experience level. If you have been driving for less than 3 years, for example, then your insurance is likely to be more expensive than if you’ve been driving for 10 years. Also, take into account that every year you’ll accumulate a no claims discounts and with a lack of no claim, the insurance will be more costly.
Go for the smaller engine – One of the only ways to get around this cost is to opt for a less powerful and expensive vehicle, which is why you’ll generally see young drivers with smaller and cheaper cars. Most vehicles will have the same model in different engine sizes. So during your first few years driving, it would be a good idea to opt for the smaller engine sized variant to help you save money on the insurance costs.
Cheaper cars equal cheaper insurance – The price of the vehicle will also affect the insurance cost. If you want to get a very expensive car within your first few years of driving, you will also need to be able to cover a high car insurance premium. For this reason, we’d always recommend driving a slightly less expensive vehicle until you have a few years of no claims discounts racked up. Even if you can afford it!
Go second hand – Insuring a brand new vehicle is always going to be more expensive than insuring a second hand car due to the value of the car. This is why opting to buy a second hand car from a trusted dealer is never a bad idea. Bad second-hand vehicles can cause maintenance issues down the line and end up costing more on insurance if you have to claim, so always go with a trusted dealer.
Focus on who is driving the car? – With most insurance plans, there are options to put multiple drivers on the car if it will be driven by multiple people. If you are in the first couple of years of driving then this could be a great idea. Getting a more experienced driver that you live with on the insurance plan (parents are a popular choice) will add their no claims discount to the package. Of course, however, you should only do this if the other person is actually going to drive the car and needs to be insured too.
Black boxes – You can decide to get a black box fitted into your car, this is a great option for brand new drivers to significantly reduce the car insurance costs in their first year of driving. This will record all of your activities and is also useful to have in case you get into a driving dispute.
Where is the car kept? – If your car is kept in a public car park or somewhere away from your home, it will be deemed to be more at risk of damage and theft, so will cost more to be insured. This is why, if possible, you should park your car on your property to reduce the price of your insurance plan.
