It is a legal requirement to own car insurance but most of the time we never need to make a claim. Insurance companies are usually a little too quick to squeeze as much as possible out of us. From seemingly unnecessarily high excesses, to limited cover and never ending pages of small print they all try to find ways to make us pay more than we should for our car insurance.
This makes choosing the right insurance of the utmost importance, even more so in the current economic climate when few of us have extra pennies to throw away on low-quality car insurance.
So what's the solution? Price comparison websites continue to claim they make life easier and can beat your current insurance quote, however, increasing numbers of insurance companies are opting out of price comparison sites to cut costs. All this just adds to confusion ? where do you start?
You should start by writing down exactly the type of cover you are looking for. A lot of people actually only require third party fire and theft, whereas others will need to fork out for the whole hog. Also, work out how much you can actually afford and ask friends and family for advice and recommendations.
Don't completely disregard price comparison though as they do have their merits. For example, they are ideal for finding out about new insurance companies you may never have heard of before. However, do be warned, you shouldn't just be led by enticingly low prices. If it seems to good to be true it usually is.
Once you have narrowed down your list to say three to five companies check whether it is cheaper to book online or by phone. Before you make a commitment, draw up lists of pros and cons for each policy.
This hard work will all be worth it if in the end you save ?200 or so. Just through closely scrutinising policies and the full-packages they offer, you can save a packet.
Another point to bear in mind is the rate your current company offers you. By switching you can usually save money, but you may lose your no-claims bonus so it may work out to be more valuable to stay put. In addition, some insurers will offer to match your new quote to keep you as a customer, so this may save you money and you'll get to keep your no-claims bonus.
