Why Don’t Car Drivers Pick Up The Money That’s Waiting For Them?

It never ceases to amaze me how people will shop around for savings of
a few pounds or dollars on the latest high street gadgets, clothes, or
groceries, but leave much greater savings on the table when it comes
to insurance.

The motor insurance industry is extremely competitive and all of the
companies want your business. Being competitive however, does not mean
that they all charge the same or similar premiums for the various
types of cover. There are huge differences in premium rates and
therefore great scope for a bargain if you are prepared to shop
around.

There are many reasons why insurance rates vary between companies.
Each assesses the risks involved in every area of cover and will have
different views of the level of risk associated with each activity.
These risk assessments will be based on the experience of those
companies in the past and the plans they have for the future but they
will change over time to reflect changes in internal and external
factors.

Some insurers for example regard younger drivers as too high risk and
the premiums they charge will reflect this while others are prepared
to accept a certain proportion of higher risk customers in the hope
that they will stay with the company as they get older and become less
of an accident risk.

Others will be actively targeting certain types of policy or drivers
and will therefore discount the price for new customers but may not
carry this on for later years. Yet others may continue these discounts
but vary the amount from year to year depending on what proportion of
their business they want to have in that particular sector.

No claim discounts will vary in amount and the length of time they
take to be earned and motor insurance companies will have different
loadings for age. Some companies even specialise in insuring older
drivers allowing them to pass on the benefit of the lower claims
record of this group, to all policy holders.

Limited time offers may be made by other insurance companies which
were not available when you last renewed your car insurance or you may
have become a better risk by not making a claim in the previous year
or by falling into a higher age bracket.

Remember the insurance world is always changing because it has to
reflect changes in how we live and behave and the cars we drive and
because of the complexity of calculating risks and costs there will
always be different views about the appropriate premium rates for any
car insurance policy.

It is now really easy to check out the market using Internet insurance
sites that a few minutes spent online can result in major savings in
costs plus if you sign up online you will usually get an additional
discount of 10% or more. Those few minutes online could turn out to be
the most profitable few minutes of the year!

So go ahead and shop around for a bargain.

Michael Masters writes for