Research has revealed that one in five motorists have driven without car insurance. So is it a risk worth taking?
Car insurance is a legal necessity in the UK yet a fifth of drivers admit they have broken the law by getting behind the wheel of a vehicle that they were not insured to drive. In fact, nearly a tenth of motorists have even disregarded the law in their own vehicles with men the most likely to take the risk – one in four admits to driving uninsured, compared to 16 per cent of women.
With warnings that car insurance premiums may rise by as much as 10 per cent this year, it may seem like it’s worth taking a chance if it means avoiding sky high premiums.
However, the reality of getting caught driving uninsured will quickly put this ‘chance’ into perspective.
Anyone caught driving uninsured can face penalties in the region of £200 as well as six points on their driving licence. There is also a risk that the car may be impounded with typical collection costs in the region of £150, plus £20 a day for storage. Drivers may also face court action, particularly if they are repeat offenders.
What’s more is that driving uninsured is actually one of the key contributors to why car insurance premiums are so high. Uninsured motorists cost the industry £500 million last year in claims, adding around £30 to the average motorist’s premiums.
If you think that the cost of running a car, coupled with high insurance costs, particularly if you’re a young driver, is too much to bear then look into ways to save money legally.
For example, most car insurance providers offer discounts if you stay claims free; agree to a limited mileage; pay premiums annually instead of monthly; increase the security of your car; increase your voluntary excess; and avoid driving convictions.
There are vast differences in the rates that insurance companies charge for the coverage that you need. You will see this immediately when you start shopping online for discount car insurance. Many people think that all insurance policies and costs are the same, but they are mistaken.
There are many ways in which you can save money on your next policy – some of these have to do with the insurance companies themselves, but there are things that you can do as well to lower your car insurance costs.
One of the questions you will have to answer in order to get a quote for discount car insurance is whether or not you have had an automobile accident in the past six years. Your driving record plays a significant role in determining the rate you have to pay for a new policy.
If you have a clean driving record, and this includes not having any tickets for traffic violations, you will be able to get a cheaper rate than a person with one or more accidents or speeding tickets on their record. Switching to a new insurance provider will not erase an accident from your record because you will have to provide a driver’s abstract and a claims history letter from your insurance.
Never cancel an insurance policy until you have another one. Just seeing or hearing about discount car insurance that is cheaper from another company does not insure that you will qualify for the discounted rates. Doing this could leave you without an insurance policy and this means you cannot legally drive your car until you have another policy in place.
If you have safety features installed in your vehicle, this will qualify you for discount auto insurance. All new cars have seat belts installed, but some of them now come with Global Positioning Systems installed. With these systems, if your car is stolen, the system will locate it for you.
This is one factor that insurance companies like to see and will give a discount because it reduces the risk of the car being damaged beyond repair before it is located. Air bags, anti-lock brakes and daytime running lights are other safety features that insurance companies look for when determining discounts.
You can get discount car insurance if you are over the age of 55. Most companies offer an age discount to drivers of this age who have been driving for a number of years. However, there are also discounts for younger drivers if they take a driving course before they receive their driver’s license.
Anyone can benefit from taking such a course, though, and realize discounts in the cost of cheap car insurance. Students can also get discounts on insurance if they have good grades in school. A grade point average, with a transcript provided by the school, could reduce the insurance costs.
The price of your car and the make and model has a lot to do with the cost of car insurance. The insurance company will look at what they will have to pay out if your car is totally destroyed in an accident.
Replacement cost for the car will also mean a higher cost of insurance and although you will get discount insurance without this clause in place, you should have it in your policy. Without this, if your car is totally destroyed you will only receive its value on the current market and not what it will cost you to purchase a new car.
Car insurance is a funny thing. Most people can’t stand paying for it. Only when they need it are they really happy that they did. While everyone complains about the amount they pay in premiums, the truth is you can do a lot to lower those amounts. In this article, we take a look at the issue of how filing claims against the insurance policies will affect your car insurance rates.
There are two very distinct views when it comes to car insurance. Some people view their policy as a pool of money that they can access whenever they need to. Others view it as a financial tool that should be used only as last resort. Your attitude toward your car insurance goes along way to establishing how much you’re going to pay in premiums. For some reason, this is a big surprise to most people. It should not be. Let’s take a closer look at how this works.
Let’s say you’re fresh out of college and you have a job. You living in an apartment in a decent part of town. Unfortunately, you don’t have a garage. You come out of your house one morning to drive to work and noticed a dent in the side of your door. The dent isn’t too bad, but it’s clear that the paint is scraped and the door is dinged in. What do you do? You really have two options. The first is to take it to a repair shop and get it repaired with your own money. The second is to take it to your insurance company and have them deal with it. The first option is going to cost you more in the short term, but the second option may cost you in the long-term.
The more often you file claims under insurance policies, the higher your premium rates are going to go. Why is this? Well, think it through. The more often there are claims on the policy, the more money the insurance company has to spend. You can bet the insurance company is going to be paying close attention to how much money they’re spending on your policies. Once they realize that they’re spending more and more money, they’re going to do one of two things. The first is to raise your premium rates the next time you renew your insurance. If you really go nuts with your claims, they will simply cancel your policy.
So, how do you know if you’re making too many claims under policy? The average for all insured motorists in the United States is one claim approximately every 11 years. Yes, 11 years! Once your insurance premium rates start going up because of excessive claims, it can be very difficult to get them to come back down. As a result, you want to be really careful of making claims.
You buy car insurance for a reason. It is important that you figure out what that reason is. If you hate paying high premiums, take care of small repairs on your own. If you don’t really care how large your premiums are, then you can make as many claims as you like. It is up to you.
