Cheapest Car Insurance Companies Revealed

Cheapest car insurance companies revealed

We’re all looking to save money during these tough economic times and finding the cheapest car insurance deal is one way to reduce our annual outgoings, potentially by hundreds of pounds.

So if one provider can make a legitimate claim to be the cheapest car insurer the UK it seems obvious to consider its policy when our renewal is due. However, will the nation’s cheapest provider necessarily be the cheapest for you?

Which car insurance company offers the cheapest deals?

Research by a comparison website has revealed that Saga was the cheapest car insurance company in the UK during 2008.

An analysis of 14million quotes for the full year revealed that Saga produced average premiums of just £176 a year. This placed it well ahead of its nearest rival Lloyds TSB, which boasts average premiums of £205.80 a year. The rest of the top 10 was completed by Lancaster car insurance; Bradford & Bingley; Post Office; Diva; Swiftcover; Local Broker; Sheila’s Wheels; and Insurance Factory.

What is perhaps most encouraging about the results is that the average car insurance premium over the top 10 stands at £240.75 – that’s more than £55 cheaper a year than the previous year’s top 10 average at £295.80 a year.

So is Saga the place to go for car insurance quotes?

Certainly Saga can now make a strong claim for new business as it is consistently cheap. However, there is an important caveat with its cover.

Saga is an over 50s only car insurance provider. This means its quotes are helped by the fact that it is effectively ‘cherry picking’ a lower risk insurance group. As it doesn’t offer quotes to young drivers who traditionally face high premiums, its insurance rates are naturally cut.

Indeed there are several ‘specialist’ providers that appear in the top 10. For example, Lancaster is a classic car insurance specialist, so the drivers it chooses may spend less time on the road and are less likely to drive at high speeds. Sheila’s Wheels and Diva meanwhile, are female-only specialists – and statistics show that men are involved in 97 per cent of all dangerous driving offences.

What’s clear is that if you do fit into these groups, then a specialist insurer could save you money and potentially offer cover options that are more suitable for you. However, you shouldn’t fall into the trap of assuming that these insurers are always the cheapest.

How can you find the cheapest car insurance quote for you?

With car insurance it’s vital to remember that quotes differ depending on your personal circumstances. This means that even if you are in the over 50 age group, a specialist provider may not always be the cheapest – much depends on your driving history, your personal circumstances and the car you drive. Insurers will assess risk based on the perceived likelihood that you will make a car insurance claim – so this can differ widely from one insurer to the next.

To be sure of finding the cheapest car insurance for your circumstances, you should enter your details into a comparison website. The leading comparison tools now have the ability to compare quotes from more than 100 providers with one search. This gives the user a near complete overview of the market so they can be sure they’re picking up a cheap deal.

With the average car insurance premium for the top 10 cheapest insurers dropping substantially it’s clear that customers can benefit greatly from the competition in the market. So the message to policyholders is to shop around rather than simply accepting a renewal quote.

Are there other ways to save on car insurance?

There are a number of steps you can take to make yourself more attractive to any insurance company and therefore more likely to receive affordable quotes.

For example, boosting the security of your car will help lower your premiums. Fitting car alarms, immobilisers and tracking devices will set you back initially but you can quickly recoup this outlay with premium savings and have additional peace of mind. If you have a garage that you can use for overnight parking then do so – this could cut premiums by around five per cent.

For cheap car insurance there are a range of tactics you can employ from paying annually instead of monthly; to increasing your voluntary excess; to building up a no-claims discount or agreeing to a mileage limit. The key however, is to shop around every year and never settle for an uncompetitive quote.

Technorati Tags: Cheapest Car Insurance