Secrets Of How Your Car Insurance Is Calculated
Factors that affect the price you pay
The Price of the Car. For example, the more expensive a car is, the more it costs to replace, and the more attractive it is to thieves. Each vehicle is also categorized into a car insurance group by the Insurance Group Rating Panel, based on several different factors including the cost to repair the vehicle, safety ratings, and maximum speed. These groups range from eg. 1 (the cheapest to insure) up to 50 (the most expensive to insure), and form a base around which car insurance companies build your quote.Age and Experience: If you’re a newly qualified driver, under the age of 25, or both, you are deemed to be of a higher risk than other motorists by insurance companies, and as such you will have to pay more for the same cover. The younger and therefore less experienced you are, the more you should expect to pay; this also applies to any policies you are added to as a named driver.
No-claims history: It’s simple: the less you cost your insurance company, the less they charge you. Most companies will give you a discount for every year you don’t make a claim, usually up to a maximum of 50% – and this is transferrable across insures as well if you decide to switch.
Occupation: Your profession can alter the cost of your car insurance as well; for example, a teacher will generally find cover to be cheaper than a taxi driver as the insurance company makes an assumption based on previous statistics as to how well that person will drive. Journalists, for example, will struggle to get cheap car insurance as it is assumed that their driving style will not be as safe as others.
Excess: This is how much your car insurance provider will expect you to pay before they will contribute to your repair bill. As a rule, the more money you’re prepared to stump up yourself, the lower your premium – although there is a ‘tipping point’ where increasing your excess will not affect the premium.