Insurance

Everyone knows that Car Insurance is expensive, even those who don’t yet drive. It’s always been that way since time began… so you shouldn’t get your unmentionables in a twist….it’s going to continue to be a big slice out of your driving budget for as long as you spend time behind the wheel. Sure it may reduce in time providing you stay clear of accidents and claims.

What you should do is to examine the ways in which you can reduce this necessary evil and then get on with your life and your Driving. We are going to give you a brief look at the various ways in which you can keep more of your hard earned money in your pocket instead of the Insurance Company’s.

Legal Obligations

First let’s look at your legal obligations. Every Driver must have Insurance Cover and the minimum level is Third Party which is obviously cheap compared with the De Luxe Designer version. This is not really much good to you since if anything happens to your car such as theft or a write- off in an accident then you will get nothing ...except a big headache and an even bigger hole in your bank account as you attempt to replace the missing Motor.

Best  Options

Third Party Fire and Theft Insurance is a common option for those starting off, since you are covered in the event of the car being stolen or being destroyed in a fire and any claim against you in the event of an accident, will be looked after.  But where does that leave you? Not a pleasant place I’m afraid, since you will have to fork out for the repairs to your car out of your own pocket. Quite often the repairs to an old car will cost more than the car is worth so again that leaves you with no car should you decide not to bother getting the car fixed.This option is worth considering if you are not too fussed about scrapping your car in the not to distant future.

The best and most expensive option is Comprehensive Cover which will provide recompense to you in the event of any misfortune, even if it’s your own fault in an accident. It is expensive but well worth considering if you have a car that you  are not only fond of but that has a reasonable value and you know the past history. A full service history or F.S.H is worth a lot when considering buying a car and so if you have this, plus your own service and repair invoices you should be able to judge whether you will be running the car for the next couple of years or not. This will help you make the decision to go for Comprehensive Cover or not.

Now to the bad news…

let’s talk about the cost of Insurance for Learner Drivers. It has always been very, very expensive, irrespective of the value of the Car. Males under 30 usually get quite heavily loaded; in other words they pay a much higher premium than a fully licensed Driver. Females on the other hand have been treated more favourably in recent years since they statistically are involved in much fewer serious accidents than Males. There have been some rumblings deep in the corridors of the E.U. that the lower rates for Females are discriminatory. We will leave that for the Politicians to argue about!

The key to an acceptable level of Insurance cover is as follows: -

 Here are Ten Tips to combine over time that should give you a much more favourable level of Insurance outlay.

1.     Learn to drive with a Professional Driving School so that you will have much higher skills and competence than Drivers who have been careering around for years and years creating mayhem. This skill will be with before your sit the Driving Test!

2.     Pass your Driving Test sooner rather than later, because as soon as you have a full license your Insurance will be significantly reduced. In other words don’t delay in applying for your Test and take fine-tuning lessons in the lead up to the Test date.

3.     Stay out of other peoples accidents! Particularly those caused by the previously mentioned Drivers. There are a few Golden Rules that will help you achieve this...read more articles throughout the site.

4.     Realise that passing the Driving Test is only the first rung on the ladder of becoming an experienced Driver and take great care in the first two years after the Driving Test. Statistically this is the most dangerous time for a Driver. I can tell you from experience that this is so. Two serious accidents, not involving another vehicle, in my first year after passing the Test first Time, was enough for me to take stock and to do some serious analysis.

5.     Avoid driving when under severe stress… this is a key factor in many accidents even with experienced Drivers. Stress can be emotional, physical and financial and an accident will just lead to more of the same.

6.     Avoid driving in Bad or treacherous weather conditions... for example Gale force Winds; Snow and Ice or flooded roads after very heavy rains.

7.     Be sensible and stick to a small car in your first few years of driving until you have built up sufficient practise under many different road and weather conditions. Often an Insurance company will refuse to cover you if you present them with your 3.5 litre Porsche or Ferrari if under a certain age! Of course if you can afford one of these you are not likely to be worried about the cost of Insurance.

8.     Drive within the Law at all times and don’t pick up Penalty Points which will ultimately increase your insurance costs or worse still, put you off the road completely (again no need to be worried about Insurance premiums here but you will need a Chauffeur which will be rather more costly I think.)

9.     Learn the basic mechanics of your car even if you are not a technical person or get a Local Driving Instructor to give you a short tutorial on the main points of mechanical failure which can lead to accidents.  Being able to recognise certain key problems with your car will help to prevent breakdowns or serious Accidents which will again increase your Policy Premiums after a claim.

10.  Continue to learn and build your skills after passing the Driving Test and         on into the future by taking an advanced course, there are several options here. We cover them in other sections on the site.

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