MARTIN Lewis’ MoneySavingExpert has urged drivers to check the exact day they should buy their car insurance.
Depending on when exactly you renew your car insurance policy, you could save hundreds of pounds.
Buying your car insurance on the right day could save you hundreds
September is the most popular month of the year for car insurance renewals, but many people risk paying over the odds if they don’t know when to do it.
Number-crunching by Martin Lewis‘ MoneySavingExpert team has revealed that to get the cheapest possible price, you need to get a quote between 20 and 26 days BEFORE you want your policy to start.
That means if your car insurance is up for renewal on September 26, you need to shop around for next year’s policy on the 1st of the month.
MSE analysed more than 70million car insurance quotes and found that this is the best window of opportunity to get a decent deal.
Quotes given before or after this time frame will likely be more expensive, and could see you pay hundreds of pounds a year more than you need to.
One MSE fan wrote in to reveal the success they had had with this tactic. Their daughter had been quoted £995 for her car insurance when she shopped around 30 days before her renewal date.
When she checked again 24 days before the renewal, the price had dropped to £805 – a saving of almost £200.
MSE also suggested checking whether you could still save money by switching your car insurance policy even if it’s not up for renewal yet.
Most providers will charge an admin fee of around £50 for cancelling your policy early, but it might be worth paying this if you can save hundreds of pounds on a cheaper deal.
How else to cut the cost of car insurance
Shopping around for car insurance is crucial to make sure you’re not overpaying.
Under new rules, insurers are no longer allowed to reserve their best deals for new customers while hiking rates for existing users.
But that doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find a cheaper premium elsewhere
Comparison websites such as CompareTheMarket and GoCompare can help you look – it’s worth checking several sites as they each work with different insurers and will have different prices.
Check cashback sites to see if you could get money back on your premium.
When we checked, Topcashback offered up to £33 on purchases through GoCompare and up to £20 if you buy from The AA.
Small tweaks on your policy can also help you cut costs.
Adjusting your job title could reduce your premium as some roles are deemed as being riskier – although, it still needs to be an accurate description of what you do.
Recent research found that job titles with the most expensive premiums include fast food delivery driver, taxi driver and – surprisingly – librarian.
Tweaking your job title from “chef” to “caterer” or from “journalist” to “writer” are acceptable ways to describe your profession without breaking any rules, and could save you money.
Adding an additional driver can bring down your costs too – this particularly works for younger drivers who can add a parent to their policy.
The additional driver must be a “named driver” though – it is important that the policy is in the name of the person who most frequently drives the car.
Otherwise this is known as fronting, which is against the law and could get you an unlimited fine, six penalty points and a criminal record.