If you are struggling to keep your car on the road, there are a few things that could help strip down the premium to a more affordable level. But some are risky depending on how much your car is worth and how much it could cost to repair.
For expensive cars, changing the coverage level from fully comprehensive cover to, say, third party fire + theft, or just standard third party only coverage is not recommended.
Expensive and mid-range cars: ways to get the price down
If you've been through all your insurance details looking for things that could be added, removed or changed to lower the premium, such as removing a named driver that no longer uses the car, deleting old business usage coverage that is no longer active, lower annual driving mileage, change in parking location, the addition of a tracker or black box, and all these boxes are ticked, the best thing to do if you are not happy with the price you are paying is to phone up your current policy provider.
Your Call Counts
Explain your situation. Mix in some cost of living crisis difficulties if you are genuinely struggling. Be friendly and polite, but let them know you are not happy with the price and are considering finding a new insurer. Ask the representative to help explore any possibilities that will result in getting the price lowered. If everything has been looked at and the agent can not lower the price, ask to speak to someone higher up the chain.
I'll let you into a little secret. I do this literally every year when the renewal comes around, and every year I get the renewal price slashed by hundreds of pounds. Don't be apprehensive about this, you have nothing to lose and potential savings to gain. Explain your situation again, hint at the potential of you leaving them in search of of a cheaper alternative. If you already have a confirmed cheaper quote from another insurance company, that's even better.
Show them this information and they will more than likely try to beat or match that quote to keep you as a customer. In all honesty, I never do a real quote before phoning them, I just hint at leaving and remind them of my loyalty, and I still manage to get the price lowered. These days customers are more like a number than a real person, but the bottom line is, they do not want to lose you. After all, you are paying them a considerable amount of money each year, and if you haven't been much hassle to them, this will work in your favour.
Such as, no penalty points, or no fresh points on your driving license, none or minimal driving offenses, no constant crashes / accidents [fault or non fault], been with them a few years, never or non frequent failed / missed payments etc, these are all key "good customer" points that will help in getting them to consider lowering the price.
They Won't Budge - Move On
If all this fails for you, don't be scared to take your custom elsewhere. Do a fresh quote online. New companies are added to quote websites all the time, and they are all looking to snag new customers by offering them a cheap first year. After the first year, if they raise the premium to a ridiculous amount, phone them up, try to get the price lower or near what the first year was, if they won't budge, perform a new quote and go with another company that is trying to acquire new customers by offering them a cheap first year. Do be sure to read the reviews on the company you're considering changing over to, as some of them can be a nightmare to deal with.
Alternative to normal insurance
There's also pay by the mile car insurance to consider. Pay-By-Mile car insurance can work out cheaper for some drivers, but most insurers offering by-the-mile auto insurance have limits on who they will insure depending on the number of miles they drive. ByMiles UK, which is one of the leading pay by the mile insurers will only cover drivers that travel less than 7,000 miles each year.
With the rise in fuel prices in full swing, resulting in drivers trying to use their cars less and less, this can be a good fit for those who are cutting back the miles spent on the road. But like the rest of the coverage options out there, pay by the mile requires equally as many personal details and is just as diverse as "normal" car insurance in terms of pricing. It can vary from person to person. So, the only way to really know if Pay By Mile will work out cheaper is to carry out a free quote online. This can be done on the official ByMiles UK website.
Please Note: All policies offered from ByMiles UK are fully comprehensive and a Miles Tracker is required in-car to track mileage accurately. This is supplied for free with all new policies and is very small. For the full details of who ByMiles motor insurance is suitable for please refer to the official ByMiles website.
Other options to cut the cost. If you pay car insurance in monthly installments, consider paying it all off in one go, which works out a little cheaper over the year. There's always the option of swapping for a cheaper car or going electric / hybrid. If you're thinking Tesla, just to be on the safe side, read this post first.
Cheaper cars: ways to get the price down
If you own a cheaper car, or as most people call them in the UK, a run around, much of what has already been mentioned above also applies to cheaper cars. Things like, going through the policy to double check if there's anything that can be added or removed which will help lower yearly renewal price, shopping around in search of new quotes [read the reviews carefully before changing insurers] where insurance companies are looking to build a fresh new customer base by offering a low introductory premium, and definitely one of the most important, phoning your current insurer, telling them your personal situation and asking them for a discount. There's also pay by the mile / pay as you go cover to consider if it seems like a good fit for your current lifestyle.
With cheaper cars, fully comprehensive insurance is not as essential as it is with the more expensive vehicles. Changing from Fully comprehensive cover to either third party fire and theft or third party only can slash the price of car insurance.
But the savings made on the switch does have some drawbacks, which I'm sure you are aware of, as they are pretty self explanatory. Obviously, the car isn't fully covered with third party fire and theft, and not really covered at all with third party only.
However, parts are usually cheaper and drivers who get into minor accidents / collisions with no personal injuries that don't want their premiums to rise sometimes decide not to go through the insurance but to sort it out between themselves, which can save money in the long run because no claim was ever made.
Major accidents, with hopefully no serious injuries. If the car involved is considered a right-off [too much to repair and will be salvaged / scrapped], it's easier to replace a cheaper car with another one. You could always get a car on finance / HP if you fit the criteria, but that is not recommended. Why put yourself in debt when there's no shortage of good reliable run arounds to choose from. Just be sure to pick one that's in good overall condition and scores well on safety features.
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