An article on MyFinances.co.uk lists 15 ways in which you can cut your car insurance:
- buy a car that’s cheaper to insure
- switch insurers
- secure your car
- increase voluntary excess
- get insured as a named driver
- pay upfront
- pay with a 0% credit card
- watch out for good deals
- tell your insurer if your circumstances change
- reduce your mileage
- driver more safely
- use a ‘telematics’-based insurer
- take advanced driving lessons
- be honest
- don’t necessarily get the cheapest policy
I have to say that the list is a bit of a damp squib, really. Except for the parts which are dangerously wrong and misleading (see the one I’ve highlighted in red).
MyFinances claims that the only problem with being a named driver is that:
…it is illegal to tell an insurer your parent is the main driver on your own car.
What they don’t explain is that it is also illegal to do it on ANY car if you are the main driver (owner or not), and with some insurers (Tesco, for example, so hardly the obscure ones) it will also be considered illegal if you are merely a regular user (which I wrote about in this article).
The one about paying upfront is also a red herring. For most people, it’s how much they have to pay right now that’s the problem. If they are quoted £2k, paying £184 a month (including a 10.6% premium for the privilege) is rather more manageable than paying £2k in one go – especially if they don’t have £2k in their pockets.
And this obviously has knock-on implications for the advice about using a 0% credit card. At best, it will only work for 1 year while the 0% promotion is running – plus, you need to be able to get a credit card in the first place, and not get sucked into the downward credit spiral that comes with the things.
Reducing your mileage? Right. And while we’re at it, let’s just not get a car at all and save the whole lot.
I’m sorry, but most of the advice is just unrealistic.