Cheaper car insurance: 20 top tips on how to reduce your policy price from an expert

With car insurance and other household expenses on the rise, Brits are looking for ways to cut bills and make every penny count.

We’ve got the inside scoop on the best ways to reduce your car insurance premiums this year – straight from the experts themselves. Flexible car insurance provider, Cuvva shares 20 ways you can reduce the cost of car insurance with steps you can put in place immediately.

Cuvva’s Darryl Bowman explains: “There is no need to pay more than you have to for your car insurance.

“Cuvva is on a mission to make insurance flexible, fair, and most importantly, we want to make sure it’s affordable. Through the Cuvva app you can get temporary cover whenever you want to drive someone’s car, meaning you only pay for the time you’re actually behind the wheel.

“Drivers can access cars easily when they need to get around, while saving on all the costs that come with owning a car. Some customers have saved thousands of pounds annually by borrowing a mate’s car instead of owning one of their own.”

According to Cuvva, drivers can save money by making these following changes to their policy:

Shop around, even mid-policy (but be wary of cancellation fees)
Insurers are now banned from hiking the cost of your car insurance at renewal compared to the price given to new customers. Don’t wait until renewal time to find a better price and switch, but watch out for cancellation fees if you switch mid-term.

Make sure you’re on the electoral register before you get quotes
Lots of insurers use the electoral register to check their potential customers’ identities. If they can’t find you on the electoral roll, they might make your quote higher – or they might not cover you at all.

Buy your car insurance about 23 days before you want it to start
Research has shown quotes are at their cheapest around 23 days before your chosen start date. This might be because insurers see those who leave shopping for insurance until the last minute as less organised and therefore riskier to insure.

Look into multi-car policies if you’re insuring more than one car
If you have more than one car in your household or in your immediate family, it might be cheaper to insure them with a multi-car policy. The main benefit of doing this is that it can be cheaper.

Look into multi-insurance policies (like home insurance plus car insurance)
Some insurers offer cheaper rates when you buy more than one insurance product with them. For example, your car insurance and home insurance.

Tweak your job title on your insurance forms (but don’t lie)
Your job title is one factor that can affect how much your car insurance costs. Statistics show people with certain jobs are more likely to have an accident than others. For example, you could say you are a ‘caterer’ instead of a ‘cook’.

Be aware of any interest on monthly payments
Most insurers charge interest if you choose to pay monthly instead of annually. So you end up paying more overall than if you pay for your car insurance in one lump sum. If you prefer to pay for your insurance in one go, find an insurance provider that doesn’t charge any interest to pay monthly.

Sell your car and share instead
Many infrequent drivers choose to sell their car and borrow somebody else’s instead. With temporary car insurance options, it’s easier than ever to borrow a friend or family member’s car without the costs that come with owning one. Fewer cars on the road is kinder on the environment, too.

Make sure you know about different insurance companies’ extra charges
Hidden insurance charges are easy to miss, but they can add £100s to the cost of your car insurance. Some companies charge you to change your personal details, like your address, for example. It’s worth looking into insurers’ hidden fees before you sign up to a policy.

Make your voluntary excess bigger
The higher you make your voluntary excess, the cheaper your insurance premium will be. However, that does mean you have to fork out for the higher excess amount if you need to make a claim.

Build up a no claims bonus
Building up a no claims bonus is one way to get cheaper car insurance. The longer you go without making a claim, the more no claims discount you’ll get.

Remove stuff you don’t need from your car insurance policy
There might be add-ons on your insurance policy that you don’t need, like courtesy car cover, breakdown cover, car key cover – this list goes on! To make sure you’re not overpaying, check your policy details carefully, and take off anything you don’t actually need.

Look into buying add-ons as separate products
Some car insurance add-ons might be cheaper to buy separately. For example, it might be cheaper to get breakdown cover with a different company than to include it in your car insurance policy.

Look into adding another (responsible) driver onto your policy
Sometimes adding another named driver to your car insurance policy can make it cheaper.

Adding a responsible driver to your policy (like someone older, with a healthy claims record), might lower your premium.

Get a less ‘risky’ car
Cars with small engines are much cheaper to insure than cars with big engines because they’re seen as less risky by insurers. If you’re struggling to afford your car insurance, it might be worth downsizing or getting a cheaper car.

Consider taking a driving course
Taking an extra driving course could get you cheaper car insurance. They cost money though, so you’d need to make sure the price of the course doesn’t outweigh the savings you’d make.

Limit your mileage
When you buy car insurance the company will normally ask you to tell them roughly how many miles you drive a year. Insurance is normally cheaper the less you drive but it’s important to be honest. But you might want to think about cutting down your usage so you can get cheaper insurance.

Look into telematics policies
A telematics policy (also called a black box policy) monitors how you drive and prices you fairly against your actual driving. The better your driving is, the cheaper your insurance.

Look into dash-cam insurance
Dash-cam insurance is where you have a camera attached to the front interior of your car. It’s worth looking into because some insurers offer a discount which ranges between about 10-15%.

Try negotiating with your current insurer
Once you’ve checked quotes across a few different comparison sites, try haggling with your current insurer. If you’ve found a cheaper quote somewhere else, they might match it or go even lower.