If you are new to driving it would be better, unless you have lots of money, to begin with a car from a lower insurance group. If you can build up and maintain a no-claims profile with no penalty points, you should be able to move up the car insurance groups without significantly increasing your premium.
The idea is that cheap car insurance for young drivers should be competitive because you are cutting out the middleman, so the insurer can pass the savings on to you. However you will have to do the leg-work though, which can take a few hours, but it will be time well spent. You should call at least three insurance companies before deciding on a policy. And remember that you can often save between 10% and 20% by going online. Most insurance companies offer cheap car insurance for first time drivers online. So if you get a telephone quote then you need to check you are not missing out on a deal which you can only get online, even from the same insurance company.
There is no shortage of websites that will let you compare car insurance policies and prices between different car insurance companies. But to get the best possible deal, then you need to spend a few minutes making certain that you are answering all of the questions correctly before you jump online.
Don’t think, however, that you can get away with only looking at comparisons on one website. Each website only compares a small handful of insurance companies. If you really and truly want to make sure that you are getting the very best deal possible on your car insurance, then you really need to bite the bullet and take the extra time to make the same comparisons on at least 3 different websites.
Another way to secure cheap car insurance for first time drivers is to pay up front for the policy. Paying by monthly instalments may appear to be the cheaper option but many insurers will charge interest on the payments (up to 25% APR) and this could effectively clear any perceived savings you made on the policy.
Also consider adding breakdown cover to the policy if offered by the insurer as this could save you a lot of money in the long run and is usually quite cost effective considering the peace of mind it delivers. You can save £50-£100 by getting your breakdown cover this way.
So, before purchasing cheap car insurance for young drivers it would be wise to view the car insurance groups that a particular car falls into. These car insurance groups classify cars in a certain level of insurance and each car is assigned a group starting from one and ending at twenty. Buying a car relative to the most affordable group would be a more sensible way to save money on insurance.
By: Paul Hockney
Posts Tagged ‘Penalty Points’
Cheap Car Insurance For First Time Drivers
January 11th, 2010No Insurance, No Car
November 9th, 2009
In the past, the penalties in this country for driving without insurance have been quite modest, with a fine of just £173 on average. But as the amount of uninsured drivers increased, the police are clamping down.
And they’re not doing it by halves. If the police have any reason to think you may not have insurance, they can call a specialist hotline to check your details. There are also some roadside cameras with number plate-recognition abilities that send your registration number straight to a database which automatically alerts traffic police in the vicinity to an uninsured driver.
If you’re pulled up for any reason and found to be driving without car insurance you could face a £200 fine and 6 penalty points. It’s almost certain that your car will also be impounded, and unless you pay the release fees and penalty charges – usually totalling around £300 to £400 – and produce a valid cover note from your new insurer, your car could face resale or even the crusher.
There are hidden pitfalls too. If you find yourself having to get insurance quickly or face losing your car, you may not have time to search the market for cheap car insurance, and could end up paying more than is necessary on your premium. Much better to browse at your leisure and find a good deal.
The good news is that the fewer drivers there are without insurance, the lower the premiums could go for the honest drivers. The Motor Insurers Bureau has to pay out for any claims made against an uninsured driver, and this results in higher premiums to the rest of us. Plus, it’s been found that those who drive without motor insurance are often lacking a valid MOT and car tax too, so the new regulations have added benefits in taking potentially unsafe cars off the roads.
By: Jay Tillotson