Car insurance

New drivers are considered more of a risk by insurance providers. This is partly because of inexperience, but mainly because most new drivers are young drivers.

There are ways you can reduce the cost of your insurance – telematics policies could be cheaper, for example.

Typically, paying your car insurance annually offers the best price. Whether it’s better to pay for your premium annually or each month will depend on your circumstances.

Paying an annual lump sum is usually cheaper than paying monthly. A monthly payment plan could mean you pay more as you might be charged interest on the instalments.

The insurance provider will carry out a credit check if you want to pay for your car insurance monthly. Providers will also look at your credit score (a ’soft search’) when you compare insurance quotes, but this is just to check your details and won’t affect your score.

See more on car insurance and credit checks.

To work out your car’s value, you can use a free valuation tool like the one from Autotrader. Or look at used car listings to see the prices of models the same as yours that are of a similar age, condition and mileage.

When you compare car insurance with us and enter your registration number, where possible we’ll give you a valuation figure based on the car’s market value – the amount you’d receive if your car was written off.

See more on how car values affect premiums.

Some insurance quotes last as long as 60 days, but some can change at any point. When you compare car insurance with us, you can save your searches but you won’t necessarily get the price that you saved when you come back to buy your policy. 

If you cancel your policy within the 14-day cooling off period, you might have to pay an admin fee but you’ll get a refund minus the days the policy was active for. If you cancel later on, you may have to pay cancellation fees and admin fees. You may or may not get a refund, depending on the circumstances and whether you pay for your policy annually or monthly. 

Find out everything you need to know about cancelling car insurance.

If you made a claim last year, you’re likely to pay more for your car insurance. In fact, your premium may go up even if you have an accident and don’t make a claim, because the insurance provider might consider there’s more of a risk of you being in another accident.

Your no claims discount that shouldn’t be affected if its protected, but your basic premium is still likely to go up. 

See more on how an accident can affect your car insurance premium.

Telematics or ‘black box’ insurance uses technology to monitor the way you drive and transmits the data to your insurance provider. If you drive safely, it could lead to cheaper car insurance.

Telematics works either through a GPS device – a black box – fitted in your car or a smartphone app. It records how you corner, brake, your speed, the time of day and how far you drive, for example.

Black box insurance provides evidence that you’re a safe driver and could reduce your premiums, making it particularly useful for young and inexperienced drivers. But older drivers with low mileage may also find it can help save them money. 

Find out about telematics insurance.

If you share your car with one of your parents, having them on your policy as a named or additional driver could reduce your premium. But they mustn’t be on the policy as the main driver if they’re not. This is a type of fraud called fronting and it's illegal.

A no claims bonus, also called a no claims discount or NCD, builds up every year you have car insurance without making a claim. You can accumulate up to five years and sometimes more, depending on the insurance provider. Your NCD can cut the cost of your car insurance when you renew. You can also opt to protect it so that it’s not affected if you do make a claim.