Even more reductions to your car insurance premiums
How many miles do you drive?
If you have a classic convertible and drive it only on sunny days, then you may only cover a few hundred miles a year. Be sure to tell your insurers and they will lower your premiums. But if you drive hundreds of miles every week then you can expect the insurance company to bump up your car insurance premiums to account for the extra mileage. On the other hand if you drive less than, say, 2,000 miles per year, some insurers become concerned that you may not get enough driving experience and the premium can go up a little.
8,000 miles is considered to be the average annual mileage, but actually we quite often do a lot less than that. Keeping track of your annual mileage and you may find you're able to reduce the figure you give your insurers, which may save you money.
Go comprehensive: it's cheaper than third party, fire and theft!
Insurance prices are based purely on statistics. That's why insurers can get away with prejudicial pricing.
Statistics often show that people who drive cheap old cars don't seem to care much about crashing them, so they have more accidents. It's the damage to other cars and, particularly, the injuries caused to others that cost the insurers so much money. On the other hand, if you have comprehensive insurance you're statistically less likely to be in an expensive accident. That's why some insurers sometimes end up quoting cheaper comprehensive cover than third party, fire and theft! You're most likely to save with this technique if you have a cheap old car.
Insurance ratings
The insurance industry has some standard car ratings, from one to twenty. However, many insurers now use their own systems, which can go up to 40 or 50. With all these systems, the higher the number the more expensive it is to insure. The rating of a car depends mostly on the engine size and weight of the car, but it can also factor in other things such as cost of replacement parts and the probability that it will be stolen.
Size does count
But it’s not just the engine size, but the weight of the vehicle that matters. If your car has a big engine and is light, then it's going to go fast. Insurers don't like young drivers with nippy cars and they price their quotes accordingly.