Cheap Car Insurance in Northern Ireland

It is true that car insurance in northern Ireland does not tend to be as cheap as in the mainland, but the following hints and tips will helps you find cheap car insurance in NI.

Shop around

It might sound too obvious to be worth mentioning, but the best way to find cheap car insurance in northern Ireland is to shop around! Call several telephone based insurers and try some of the provider websites for an online car insurance quote. Younger drivers, people with risky occupations, and those living in high-crime areas, will probably be better off going to a local broker.

Burglar proof your car

Fitting your car with security devices may cost money but the expense can often be recouped through lower premiums. A car immobiliser could typically cost between £75 and £100 but could knock about £50 a year off your insurance premium, so not only do you get peace of mind at night, but you are also more likely to be getting the cheapest car insurance premium.

Increase Your Excess

Most policies insist you pay the first £100 of any claim. But asking for a higher excess may qualify for you for a cheap quote. For example, by increasing the excess to £250, you could save about 10%. But the savings could be wiped out if you made a claim. As always, the more information you have available the better. So ask the insurance agent and be aware. You may not end up taking hte hogher excess option, but at least if you ask you will be satisfied that you have done your best to find the cheapest insurance possible.

Reduce your car mileage

Its fairly simple statistics - the fewer miles you drive, the less likely you are to have an accident! Almost all insurance companies will ask you for your estimated annual mileage, and this figure will be taken into account when calculating your premium. NOTE – We do not mean that you should lie and underestimate your mileage!!!

Buy a Car In A Low Insurance Group

British made cars, such as Ford Mondeos, Vauxhalls and Astras are generally cheaper to repair and therefore insurance premiums are lower. Check what insurance group your car is in before you commit to a purchase. Not only are popular cars easier to repair, but there is also more data available for the number crunching computers to bite into, which may result in a cheap insurance quote.

Restrict Your Claims

When you make a claim, you have to work out whether it is worth losing your no-claims bonus. Insurers reward drivers who do not make claims, with up to 70% off the premium. So for example, imagine you are iinvolved in an accident and the estimated damage is for £600. you are sitting on a 4 year discount and paying £350 per year for insurance. By putting the claim through the insurance company you will avoid having to fork out the £600 upfront, but next year you may find your insurance quote jumps up to £700, and the next year it could be £650, so over the course of a couple of years you will end up paying more on extra insurance premiums than you would have paid out to fix the damage yourself. So if you want to get cheap insurance, try to restrict the number of claims that you submit.

Change the Main Driver

Your policy may be cheaper if the car is insured in a woman’s name. Particularly if a member of your family is employed in a risky occupation. However, be careful. You must not give fraudulent or misleading information. The person who drives the car for the majority of the time must be named as the main driver, or any future claim under the policy may not be covered.

Insurance companies use pure statistics for calculating the likelihood that a certain user will have an accident. By categorizing different aspects of the risk into groups, the insurance companies are often able to offer special discounts for statistically safer groups: