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How do I find cheap car insurance quotes?

Compare quotes on multiple sites. Price comparison sites all have different commission arrangements with the insurers on their panels. Try getting quotes from 'no deposit' car insurance site www.lowdepositcarinsurance.org.uk; they link to multiple cheap car insurance comparison sites.

Buy the newest car you can afford. Insurers tend to like new cars because they often have better safety features than older ones, they are usually more secure (although not always - beware of keyless entry systems!), they are less likely to feature in accidents caused by mechanical defects, and owners tend to treat them more carefully. These can translate into lower premiums for you.

Get a car with the lowest possible insurance rating. There is more to this than simply the engine size. The raters are interested in the accident rate that the car has; some are more stable than others and some attract more careful drivers than others. Repair costs, and availability of spare parts, come into the formula as well. If you have an accident and have comprehensive cover your insurer will want to be confident that your car can be repaired quickly, and economically.

Consider a Telematic policy. The traditional way of working out premiums is to use statistical information but this way careful drivers would be charged the same as reckless ones, just because they drive the same cars or live in the same postcode. A Telematic (in other words blackbox) policy allows them to tailor make the premium to individual drivers. As a result, if you for instance drive carefully, do not exceed speed limits, and stay off the road at the more risky times of day, you could benefit from lower premiums. However the opposite is also true. If you corner too sharply, drive too fast or break a curfew, if there is one, your premium may increase and you may even have cover withdrawn completely.

You would also have to bear the cost of fitting the blackbox system, which would probably be included in your premium. If you changed to another insurer you would probably have to pay to have it removed and swapped over too.

Telematic Systems can be good for young drivers, those who live in riskier postcodes or motorists with high-performance cars, but the possible drawbacks have to be considered as well.

Offer to pay a higher voluntary excess. This would not only reduce the amount of money that the insurer would have to pay out in the event of an accident, but it could also indicate that you were confident that you would drive carefully and avoid accidents. You would have to make sure though that the total of both the voluntary and compulsory excesses was a sum that you could afford to pay out if necessary.

Consider whether or not you really want want the included extras. When you get a quote from a price comparison site it is likely to include 'free' extras such as a courtesy car if your own is off the road because of an accident, legal representation and even personal accident cover. However you may not need these. If this is the case, once you get the quote you should be given a reference number; ring the customer service department at the insurance company, tell them the quote that you have been given, explain that you don't want the extras and ask how much they will reduce the premium by. You may be pleasantly surprised.

Buy a Dashcam. In the event of an accident in which the other party blames you (in other words, 99 percent of all accidents), having a recording of the true events could make a blame accident into a no – blame one. Even being involved in an accident at all is likely to increase your premium; but if you were judged to be at fault the premium would not only increase by a great deal more but you would probably also have to pay out any excess that your policy stipulated.

Compare quotes on more than one website. Many people think that all the different price comparison sites will give you exactly the same quotes for exactly the same policies. This is just not correct. You will often find that different sites could offer much lower, or much higher, quotes even for exactly the same policies from the same insurance companies. This is because they all have different agreements with them. If you want to get the lowest possible price comparisons then you should get quotes from as as many of the better price comparison sites as possible.

Check your car's security. Many car manufacturers rushed into fitting keyless entry systems. They did not take into consideration the fact that there are a lot of very clever criminals in the world. If you are thinking of buying a particular make of car check online to find out how easy it is to break into. If it is yet another of those with security faults either buy a different one or consider a steering wheel clamp. This may not prevent the thieves from getting into your car but would make it extremely difficult for it to be driven away.

Fit a tracker. Hide it in an inaccessible, or difficult to find, spot within, or under, the car.Do bear in mind though that when expensive cars are stolen they are either stripped down very quickly for spare parts or put into a shipping container (which would block the signal from the tracker) for exporting. This means that although trackers can be very useful if the car is stolen by an amateur who just wants to use it to get home or carry out a few crimes and it, they can be far less effective if it is stolen by a knowledgeable professional.

Add one or more experienced drivers to your policy. Your insurer may feel more confident about covering you if there is another person with a safe driving record taking an interest in the car.

Park the car in a secure area. If it is left parked during the day, or even worse overnight, by the curbside there is a much greater chance of it being stolen or vandalised. Consider taking an advanced driving course. Some insurers may give a discount to those who've done so.

Consider joining a car owner's club. Some of these have special deals with insurers which could save you money particularly if your car is particularly different from the average.