Phew! --mine was never that much, even when I was living in the centre of Manchester right next to crime-free Moss Side [cough! cough!]. I know the insurance premiums game is all a bit of a random number generator. But the usual ways to squeeze it are:
1:
Long No Claims Bonus -- Oddly enough, the last two times I've insured my motor, they've said they don't need to see any proof of my no claims. Which is good at the time. But may get troublesome if, in a couple of years I get a company that does want proof of my no claims and the last actual written one I've got is from several years ago
2:
Voluntary Excess -- I always bump that up to the maximum possible. Let's face it, the fuckers never pay out anyway, if they can help it. So you might as well say you'll pay the first £1000 of any claim yourself, as that's what you'll end up doing anyway.
3:
Mileage -- I usually say 5000. Again, my last two insurance companies haven't asked for any proof of that. The one before that did ask me to submit my odometer readings every year when I renewed the policy and the small print did say they could add extra charges if I went over my stated annual mileage. A couple of times I did and they didn't bother. So I'd always go for the lowest estimated mileage you can get away with. I don't do huge mileages anyway. So 5000 / year isn't ridiculously inaccurate.
4:
Comparison Sites -- I've tried a few of them and the meerkat one does seem to return better quotes than confused.com. The good thing about the comparison sites is you can keep going back and changing the odd detail to see if it makes any difference. A lot of the time things you think would make a big difference don't and things you think would be irrelevant can change the quote by a fair bit
5:
Security --always say you've got a factory fitted alarm and immobiliser. Sometimes you can say you've self-fitted a tracker [I had a no-brand Chinese one in my camper van that cost me £25 off eBay] Sometimes they'll only let you select your tracker from a list of approved ones.
6:
Parking --say its parked overnight somewhere secure. On-street parking will push your premiums way up. At my previous gaff, my motor was parked in a communal carpark by an inner city block of flats. As the carpark had a gate on it, I described it as a 'locked compound' or 'secure carpark' when applying for insurance quotes. I didn't think it worth mentioning that the lock on the gate could be opened by a 4 year old with a screwdriver and that no fecker ever closed it anyway. Don't want to confuse these issues with too much data!
7:
Modifications --never say you've modified your vehicle in any way. Some insurance companies will consider even things like putting on a roof rack or non-factory tyres to be a 'modification' and adjust their prices skywards, accordingly.
8:
Fully Comprehensive --Always go fully comp. The good old days of getting a lower quote if you go for a barebones '3rd Party Only' policy are long gone. And most insurance companies will think you're slightly dodgy if you ask for that type of policy. It's actually usually cheaper to insure fully comp than 3rd party only.
BTW -- for the people whose renewals have stayed the same this year, or actually gone down by a whole penny, this is probably the reason:
Reform means firms can no longer quote policyholders a higher price, with possible savings of £120 a year for those renewing
www.theguardian.com
