Confused.com Hit Back In Best Comparison Row

Following the announcement that Moneysupermarket.com has been named the best price comparison site for car insurance its major competitor has hit back labeling the claims biased.

Clearly not wanting to be out done Confused.com have claimed independent research by Consumer Intelligence found not only they but also Tescocompare.com were in fact cheaper than Moneysupermarket.com when in came to comparing car insurance online.

Confused.com, currently promoting a £1million pound give-away competition, slated the recent Ipsos MORI survey as being own-funded and contradictory to independent research.

So who really is the best?

As this argument rages on we want to know who you think is the top comparison site when shopping around for your car insurance. See the results of our poll.

Was Moneysupermarket.com The Best For You?

A recent mystery shopper survey by independent research company Ipsos MORI has found price comparison giant Moneysupermarket.com to be the best comparison engine for people searching for cheaper car insurance.

When compared (pardon the pun) against its major rivals moneysupermarket.com was almost twice as likely to find the cheapest quote, battering its closest competitors including:

• Confused.com
• Gocompare.com
• Comparethemarket.com
• Uswitch.com
• Tescocompare.com
  

Moneysupermarket.com are certainly the dominant force in the UK price comparison industry with a total market share of more than 50% and their car insurance comparison tool retrieves quotes from more than 60 insurance companies.

But were they best for you? We’d wanted to know which comparison site you think is the best when it comes to buying car insurance. See the results of our poll.

45 Great Car Insurance Resources

The world of car insurance can be a complicated one. So I thought I’d share the best resources I’ve found to help you navigate the car insurance maze.

Whether you want to find a cheaper/better policy or simply want to better understand how your car insurance works these sites and tools can help.

Price Comparison Websites

Extremely useful for searching hundreds of car insurance quotes quickly and easily:

1. confused.com - Searches 97% of car insurance companies to find you quotes

2. moneysupermarket.com - Compares motor insurance quotes from 50 insurance providers

3. uswitch.com - Finds quotes from more than 40 insurers

4. tescocompare.com - Provides quotes from a pane of over 30 insurance companies

5. gocompare.com - Access quotes from over 50 leading insurance providers

6. comparethemarket.com - Searches over 400 policies from big name insurance companies

Female Drivers

These sites specialise in tailoring policies to meet the needs of female drivers:

7. sheilaswheels.com - Find cheap online insurance for female drivers, including handbag cover

8. diamond.co.uk - A girl's best friend with cheaper insurance for women drivers

9. girlmotor.com - Cheaper car insurance for women in three simple steps

Young Drivers

Quotes for young drivers are usually much higher than average, these sites understand that:

10. 4youngdrivers.co.uk - Excellent for drivers over 19 with one years no claims discount

11. 17to40.co.uk - Focuses on individual circumstances to help young drivers get cheaper cover

12. hootcarinsurance.co.uk - Provides young driver quotes from more than 30 insurance companies

Classic Cars

If ever a specialist motor insurance policy was required it is for a classic car and these insurers are experts in this particular field:

13. lancasterinsurance.co.uk - Get classic car insurance quotes from a panel of leading UK insurers

14. footmanjames.co.uk - Quotes for classic and vitange vehicles at competitive prices

15. peterbestinsurance.co.uk - Offers policies specifically designed for classic car owners

Performance Cars

For those who enjoy sports cars and modifications check out these sites that can help you lower your premium:

16. adrianflux.co.uk - Searches 40 insurance companies to find great quotes for modified cars

17. performancedirect.co.uk - Helping to bring down sports car insurance for more than 35 years

18. peart.co.uk - Specialise in offering competitive quotes on performance vehicles

Tips & Guides

Knowledge is power and these helpful sources offer some great ideas for lowering the cost of your insurance:

19. carinsuranceguide.org.uk - Detailed and impartial car insurance guides

20. moneysupermarket.com - Indepth 12 page guide covering a range of car insurance topics

21. uswitch.com - Four page car insurance guide from quote to claim

22. carinsurancemanual.co.uk - A useful list of car insurance providers and articles

23. msn.com - Covers the basics of car insurance

24. theaa.com - A guide to car insurance groups

25. moneysavingexpert.com - Great car insurance money saving guide

26. motorinsurance.co.uk - Useful guide to choosing the right type of policy

27. yahoo.com - Car insurance Q&A with Yahoo.com

28. find.co.uk - All-round car insurance guides with insightful tips

29. gocompare.com - A buyers guide to cheaper car insurance

Forums

Where better to discuss insurance providers and claims experiences, the information picked up can be of great use in selecting an insurer or making a claim:

30. moneysavingexpert.com - One of the busiest car insurance forums around

31. moneysupermarket.com - Hundreds of threads discussing quotes, claims and companies

32. usedcarmart.co.uk - Discussions including cheap quotes, young drivers and making claims

33. ukinsuranceforum.co.uk - A forum dedicated to discussing UK insurance

34. rac.co.uk - Nice forum from the RAC offering advice on accidents and claims

Reviews

Find out how other customers rate their insurance provider and share your opinion with others:

35. reviewcentre.com - Read hundreds of reviews on UK car insurance providers

36. ciao.co.uk - Detailed reviews of car insurance companies complete with ratings

37. uk-insurance-index.co.uk- Read dozens of online reviews and write your own

Glossaries

Confused by terminology? Check out these great A-Z car insurance glossaries:

38. abi.org.uk - Detailed car insurance glossary from The Association of British Insurers

39. gocompare.com - Useful jargon buster to help understand car insurance terminology

40. 17to40.co.uk - A great A-Z designed to help younger drivers

News

Keep up to date with all the latest car insurance developments with these great news services:

41. google.co.uk - Search Google for up-to-date car insurance news

42. yahoo.com - Read car insurance news articles on Yahoo

43. bbc.co.uk - Keep up to date with motor insurance news on the BBC

Last But Not Least

Two other free online tools that everyone should be using:

44. abi.org.uk - Find out the insurance group of any vehicle

45. mileagecalculator.co.uk - Calculate your mileage online

So there you go, 45 free online resources to help in your quest for cheaper and better car insurance, happy surfing!

The Ultimate Guide To Young Driver Car Insurance

In a recent post we explored reports that many insurance providers had started refusing quotes to young drivers. While many news articles focused on the negative side of this story we preferred to look at offering a solution to the problem.

And here it is; our ultimate guide to young driver car insurance. A look at why motor insurance is so expensive for younger drivers and 14 in-depth tips to securing a cheaper premium now and in the years to come…

So why is young driver car insurance more expensive in the first place?

The main reason many young drivers face having to more from their motor insurance is down to “perceived risk”. One of the main factors insurance companies consider when calculating the cost of your premium is how likely you are to actually make a claim. The more likely an insurer thinks you are to claim on your policy the higher your premium will be.

And how exactly do they calculate risk?

Every insurance company use slightly different criteria to calculate risk and will give different weightings to those criteria. Those differences aside, all insurance providers will consider a group of key factors:

• Age
• Driving experience and record
• Claims history
• The car you drive
• Post code
• Gender
  

What does this mean for younger drivers?

These factors having so much influence on the price of a car insurance quote spells bad news for younger drivers and the problem is made more frustrating by the fact many are out of your control. Let’s look at these areas in more detail and see just how much of a problem they can cause:

• Age – young drivers are just that, YOUNG, if insurance companies are going to hold that against you there’s little you can do.

• Driving experience and record – well if you’re YOUNG you won’t have much experience on the roads to help get a cheaper quote will you? Worse still, if you’ve managed to add a blemish or two to your record in this short time then your premium will be even higher.

• Claims history – again, if you’re YOUNG with LITTLE EXPERIENCE how can you have built up any no claims discount? And if you’ve already had to make a claim that will go against you as well.

• The car you drive – if you are lucky enough to be able to afford a nice new car expect to pay for that privilege with a higher premium, if you can only afford a cheap death trap expect to pay a higher premium, if you’re a motoring enthusiast who likes to modify their car, surprise, expect to pay a higher premium – anything out of the “middle of the road” norm and insurance companies will feel justified in increasing the cost of your policy.

• Post code – unsurprisingly some areas on the country are worse for accidents and thefts, usually these are big urban cities such as London, Manchester and Liverpool. More accidents and thefts equal more claims which equal higher premiums. So if things weren’t looking bad enough already, if you live in such as area the outlook just got a whole lot worse.

• Gender – and just to round things off young male drivers are persecuted a little further with the “boy racer” tag which will raise the cost of your premium no matter how competent and safe a driver you really are, talk about prejudice!
  

To summarise this little section of the guide; the more of these factors you have going against you the harder it will be to find car insurance at a reasonable and affordable price.

How Can Insurance Companies Justify This?

In one word, STATISTICS!

Insurance companies love statistics and much of the research conducted goes a long way to supporting their approach of charging more to cover young drivers.

Many of these reports highlight the fact that younger drivers:

• Speed more
• Are involved in more accidents
• Injure and kill more people on the roads
• Are more likely to drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs
• Suffer more thefts
• And as a result make more claims!
  

You can read more about these figures at www.abi.org.uk

All these stats and facts result in the “perceived risk” that leads to car insurance providers dishing out higher premiums to younger drivers. And it is the worsening of this situation that has resulted in several insurers turning young drivers away.

Is There Any Good News?

It’s fair to say that having read the guide to this point the picture looks very bleak indeed. Insurance companies take a dim view of younger drivers and the statistics back them up.

However, it is important that we understand the problems in order to combat them and find a solution, and this is exactly what we are going to do.

OK, Now For The Good Stuff!

14 Great Tips To Help Younger Drivers Lower Their Car Insurance Premiums

By combining as many of these tips as possible you can significantly lower the cost of your insurance.

• Take the PASS PLUS course – I wanted to get this one out of the way first as it’s only an option within 12 months of passing your test. Choosing to take this advanced driving course can help lower your insurance costs as some companies offer a discount to drivers who have passed the course. The discounts will vary from one provider to another. In addition to cheaper motor insurance the course also reduces the risk of having a crash by improving your skills and experience on the roads, in the long-term this can help build trust with insurers and lower your premium even further. Visit the PASS PLUS site to learn more

• Avoid modifications – adding “mods” to your car is a bad idea for younger drivers and helps promote the “boy racer” tag that insurers use to bump up your premium. By resisting the temptation to “soop up” you can help prevent your quote from going any higher. If you do decide to modify your motor make sure you let your insurer know as failure to do so could mean your policy is invalid when you make a claim. This scenario could make getting future car insurance an even harder prospect.

• Improve security – any money saved on modifications could be better spent improving the security of your vehicle. Fitting an approved alarm and immobiliser system reduces the chance of theft (which makes you less of a risk) and can help lower your quote. Parking more securely at night, such as on the drive or in a garage also improves security and lowers insurance costs. Make sure your insurance company is fully aware of the efforts to which you are going.

• A smaller engine – remember when we said the car you drive affects your premium? One of the main reasons younger drivers have more accidents (and pay higher premiums) is that they aren’t experienced in controlling powerful vehicles. Opting for a 1.0 or 1.2litre engine (in a low insurance group) will result in far cheaper insurance compared to a 4litre super charged turbo! Also you will benefit from cheaper road tax and petrol costs, the savings from which can offset the cost of your insurance and make it cheaper.

• Going on your own insurance and building up no claims bonus – I won’t lie, in the short-term this could sting a little but past that point the savings are huge. Typically one year’s no claims will result in a 30% discount on your premium and by building up four or more years the discount can be between 60-70%. With this in mind going on your parents insurance to lower the cost in the short-term makes little sense. Some insurance companies allow named drivers to build up no claims bonus but usually this is not transferable to another provider.

• Look for rapid bonus schemes – when taking the plunge of going on your own insurance keep an eye out for rapid bonus schemes. These deals allow you to build up one year’s no claims bonus within 9-10 months as apposed to the traditional 12. This is great way of accessing the discounts available by having a no claims bonus more quickly.

• Look for worthwhile cash back offers – as well as rapid bonus schemes look to take advantage of cash back deals offered by insurance companies. Insurance providers operate in a highly competitive market and frequently offer these incentives to attract customers. Cash back offers between £50-£75 are not uncommon and can act as a nice little saver on the cost of your policy.

• Shop around online – with so many companies and policies available using the internet to speed up the process is a good idea. Price comparison websites such as confused.com and moneysupermarket.com compare quotes from dozens of insurance companies and a search only a takes a few minutes. The results, (while not 100% accurate) provide a quick overview of the prices available and let you find the deals that are right for you at a reasonable price. A little bonus tip here, HAGGLE! Once you have these quotes to hand try to barter with the insurers and challenge them to beat your lowest quote. We’ve already discussed how competitive the industry is and this is where you can take advantage and lower your quote even further.

• Consider specialist insurance companies – as well as getting quotes from mainstream companies don’t forget to check out those who specialise in young driver car insurance. Companies such as 4youngdrivers and Adrian Flux provide cover for many young drivers and are well placed to offer competitive quotes. Again use your influence as a potential customer to drive the price down as far as possible.

• Offer a higher voluntary excess –this is a useful tool but one that should be used with caution. By volunteering to pay a higher excess the cost of your quote will fall as there is less liability for the insurer. The important point to remember is not to set your excess at a level you could not comfortably afford to pay in the event of a claim.

• Limit your mileage – reducing your perceived risk is a major weapon in your arsenal for lowering car insurance premiums and limiting your mileage does just that. If you are on the road for a shorter amount of time you are less likely to be involved in an accident. By working out how many miles you will drive over the year and agreeing to stick to that limit it is possible to negotiate a further reduction in your premium. Be sure to leave yourself a few miles in reserve just in case.

• Pay upfront rather than monthly – in theory paying in monthly installments sounds like a good idea. In reality it can be very costly. Most insurers charge interest on monthly payments which increase the overall cost of your premium. Paying upfront may put a dent in your budget for a while but it is usually the cheaper option. Occasionally some insurers offer monthly payments that don’t incur any fees, if you can find a deal like this then great, if not it is better to bite the bullet and pay upfront.

• Insure third party only – if your car is worth relatively little you may want to consider only insurance yourself for claims made against you rather than covering damage and theft to your own vehicle. In some cases the cost of replacing a cheap vehicle may be less than taking out a comprehensive insurance policy.

• Drive safely, carefully and responsibly – I thought we’d finish with a nice easy one and this harks back to those young driver statistics we mentioned earlier. Sadly all young drivers get tarred with the same brush so by proving yourself to be a competent and trustworthy driver your premiums will fall. Avoid speeding tickets and other driving penalties and the savings happen sooner than you might think. Combine this with building up your no claims and insurers will soon be queuing up to offer you car insurance at a discounted rate.

One point that has become apparent in this guide is young drivers still face a challenge to find affordable car insurance. The trick is to make this difficult period as short as possible. Hopefully, following the tips above will help you to find the best deals, gain the trust of insurance companies and get started on the road to cheaper premiums.

Young Driver Car Insurance – All Is Not Lost

You may recently have read one of the many articles published announcing that several leading motor insurance providers have taken the decision to refuse quotes to young drivers.

Leading brands such as Swiftcover, More Th>n and Esure have apparently decided that young drivers are more trouble than they’re worth.

And when you look at some of the statistics being thrown around you can see where they are coming from:

• An eighteen year old is three times as likely as his/her parents to have an accident whilst driving.

• 17-25 year olds hold just 10% of all driving licenses but cause more than 20% of car accidents.

• One in three young male drivers will write off a car in their first year of driving.

• 25% of the convictions for causing death by dangerous driving are for drivers under 20

You can read even more of these “alarming” statistics here and here.

Other car insurance companies to take this step include; Sheilas' Wheels, Marks & Spencer and AXA and with more providers likely to follow suit this isn’t a small problem than can simply be ignored.

Now why these articles and stats make for good reading the truth is there are many young drivers out there, who drive responsibly and safely, who are suffering higher car insurance premiums due to actions of the minority.

Car insurance premiums for young drivers have historically always been high and this latest development will only make it more difficult to secure a reasonably priced policy.

But as the title says, all is not lost; there are many steps young drivers can take to help lower the cost of their insurance, such as:

• Avoiding modifications

• Driving a car with a smaller engine

• Going on your own insurance and building up no claims bonus

• Taking the Pass Plus course

• Offering a higher voluntary excess

• Shopping around online

• Limiting your mileage

• Looking for rapid bonus schemes to build no claims bonus more quickly

• Paying upfront rather than monthly

• Improving security

• Looking for worthwhile cash back offers

• Considering specialist insurance companies

• Insuring Third-Party Only if the car is relatively cheap

All these options are covered in greater detail in our ultimate guide to young driver car insurance.

Get Your Car Insurance On eBay

From antiques to video games you can find just about anything on eBay, the world’s largest online auction site.

Now it seems we can add car insurance to the ever-growing list of services offered by the UK’s most successful online marketplace.

eBay have teamed up with insurancewide.com to offer a car insurance quote comparison service on their eBayMotors section – a site visited by more than three million of us each month and where a car is sold every two minutes.

For those who use eBayMotors the opportunity to compare car prices and car insurance in the same place should be greeting as an extremely convenient set-up.

After all, how many times have you set your heart on a car only to realise you can’t afford the insurance. Checking the costs alongside each other has the potential to make the buying process run much more smoothly.

Insurancewide.com and eBay are combining to offer a service that should be commended. If you should ever find yourself surfing for a car on eBay why not try their new insurance service too and drop us a comment to let us know your thoughts.

Your Car Insurance in 2008

For most of us the hassle of managing our finances gets more difficult every year; food bills, petrol prices, council tax, utility bills and mortgages repayments are set to rise in 2008.

Add to that credit cards, loans, holidays, Christmas (yes I mentioned the “C” word in January) and 2008 is already shaping up to be an expensive and stressful year.

Insurance makes matters worse too; house, car, life, travel, pet the list goes on and on.

With all this to handle a little friendly advice can go along way so when it comes to car insurance we’re happy to start 2008 with an overview of what you can expect from your car insurance provider and how to get the best deal.

Lets start with the bottom line, money…

Cost

Car insurance in 2008 can be summed up in two words: HIGHER PREMIUMS

Nobody wants to pay them but this is what many of us will face in 2008 unless positive action is taken.

Insurance companies should exist to provide protection at a reasonable price. But many exist to make profit. All have expenses to cover and many have shareholders to please.

As a result they need to make more money. And where do they get this from? Us of course!!

Many insurance renewals this year will be sent out not with lower quotes to reward loyalty but with premium increases to take advantage of customer lethargy and improve revenue figures.

It’s not just existing drivers that will be targeted either; those who pass their tests in 2008 will face high motor insurance costs as companies use “high risk” drivers with no NCB to boost profits – young drivers, especially young make drivers (read “boy racer” in insurer’s eyes) will be ruthlessly targeted.

So how do we combat rising insurance costs in 2008? We start by confronting the insurance companies themselves…

Insurance Companies

As we’ve already said insurance companies exist to make profit BUT they also need to compete with each other to win our custom.

This is where we can push the advantage of “you need me more than I need you”.
When that renewal letter arrives odds are you will be looking at a rise in the cost of you car insurance premium.

Should this be the case call your insurer immediately and challenge the increase.

If you’ve made no claims during the year and built up more NCB then a rise in price is unfair and unacceptable. Insurers are banking on the chance you won’t fight back and in the majority of cases confronting your insurer will result in your premium being lowered in order for them to retain your business.

If you are getting insurance for the first time then shop around for quotes and play the insurers against each other, challenging them to beat the price offered by their competitors in order to win you as a valuable customer can lead to huge savings.

Remember insurance agents are under pressure to meet targets so use this to drive down the price.

Now that we’ve taken the first steps to avoiding higher car insurance costs we shouldn’t rest on our laurels. There are savings to be had if you’re prepared to spend a little time on the research.

Whether you want to switch from your current insurance company or you’re buying car insurance for the first time using price comparison sites can help…

Price Comparison Sites

Millions of people in the UK use price comparison sites every year to buy their car insurance online.

Using these sites you can search once and get quotes from around 50-60 insurance companies.

This is an excellent tool in helping to compare prices and unearth good deals, but how will they work in 2008?

Firstly there will be more of them, over the last few years the two main names were confused.com and moneysupermarket.com – in 2007 many others including gocompare.com, comparethemarket.com and tescocompare.com emerged.

In 2008 we can expect to see even more variations start up, trying to cash in by referring us to insurance providers

With more competition in the price comparison market our best bet is to use several of them to search for car insurance quotes, some will have better technology or exclusive offers so results will differ from site to site.

Nevertheless price comparison sites do take a lot of the hard work aware from getting quotes and if they can help us save money on our car insurance then they are certainly worth a few minutes of our time.

Armed with the knowledge that we can challenge our insurers over the cost of our policy and with a vast array of free comparison services at our disposal what is there to stop us making a saving on our car insurance in 2008?

Well in a word…

…us

One of the main factors in a customer paying high insurance premiums is the customer themselves…

Customers

Lets not mince words, we all hate insurance; it costs to much, takes time out of our lives to arrange and deep down we all think insurance companies are out to rob us.

The result of all these negative thoughts is we don’t link having to deal with insurance, we’d rather just push it to the back of our minds and forget about it.

But this is exactly what the insurance companies rely on when they send out your annual renewal (accompanied with a vicious price increase)

The onus is on you, me and all other customers to fight back and obtain a fair and competitive policy. Any remnants of being rewarding for your loyalty is fast evaporating from the insurance market.

Summary

There is no hiding away from it; 2008 is going to be hard on our finances and when it comes to car insurance we face the prospect of higher premiums

But all is not lost; we know we can use the competitive nature of the market against the insurance companies and that we can use price comparison tools to quickly compare a large number of quotes.

Once you find the best deal for you it’s time to be ruthless and switch.

Let battle commence!