Motor Insurance Renewal Due? - Don't Try To Save Money By Doing This

With car insurance costs set to rise yet again, many motorists are keen to hear about ways to cut their insurance costs. Whilst there are still some powerful ways to control your insurance costs, some are less effective and even illegal.

Insurance Fronting

This is a simple money-saving tactic: instead of a driver who would face high premiums (such as a young male) taking out insurance in their own right, a lower-risk person (such as a parent) takes out a policy and then names the high-risk driver as an additional driver. From the insurers point of view, the high risk driver is considered an occasional user of the insured car which is reflected in substantially lower premiums.

The flaw in this money saving strategy is that it is illegal and considered as fraud. Done intentionally or not, giving false information on an insurance application constitutes an act of fraud. This includes declaring the vehicle owner and main user of a vehicle as an "additional driver". Whats more, the policy becomes void once the fraud is discovered leaving the driver uninsured and therefore breaking another law for driving without insurance.

Stay With Your Existing Insurance Company

Whether it's because of lethargy or lack of time, many policyholders allow their car insurance cover to automatically renew without checking to see if they could get a better deal first Others, surprisingly, renew with their existing insurer because they mistakenly assume that moving to another provider will mean sacrificing their accumulated no-claims discount.

In fact, insurance providers must transfer your no-claims history and supply written confirmation of it.

This is often confused with no-claims discount protection which requires an additional cost but will allow you to have one claim which doesn't affect your accumulated no-claims history. Although such a claim may still affect your no-claims record if you insure with a different provider in future.

Swap Your Car For A Cheaper Model

It might seem to make sense to downsize your car in the hope of saving on premiums, but this isn't always effective. It's not the inherent size or power of your car that decides the premium, but simply the potential costs of repairing damage. There are multiple factors at play, including some more obscure ones such as how widely available spare parts are for a particular model. Sure, a Maserati will usually cost more to insure than a Mini, but when it comes to two similar vehicles, it's not always easy to guess which will be cheaper. If you really want to find out which car would be cheaper, try running a price comparison quote online, but bear in mind you'll usually need a genuine license number of a car that fits the specific make and model you are considering buying.

To find out what money saving strategies do work and could cut your premiums every year, visit the car insurance companies index page at UK Insurance Index for more tips and resources.