This article is aimed to give you some simple guidelines on how to cut the cost of your car insurance.

You can make savings of a few £100 by sparing an hour, so it's well worth the effort.

Remember, insurance companies will quote you depending on how likely you are to claim. The more risk you pose, the higher your premium will be. The less likely you are to make a claim, the lower your premium.

The biggest benefit of getting quotes online is that you can get a quote from 100's of insurers quickly with minimal effort; you will also be able to go back and change details to see if certain factors are increasing the cost of insurance e.g. get a quote with your partner on the policy and a quote without, see if it makes any difference. You can make savings of a few £100 by sparing an hour, so it's well worth the effort.

Start by using a comparison site like comparethemarket.com*, MoneySuperMarket.com*, or confused.com and play with your quotes using some of the advice given below – most comparison sites will allow you to save your results and then make changes.

WARNING- Make sure the information you provide to your insurance company is correct on your final quote. If an insurance company finds any incorrect information in the event of a claim you may find you’re out of pocket because the insurance company will not payout.

Simple tips on insurance cost cutting:

1. When applying for car insurance make sure your car posses the lowest risk possible of being stolen.

This is quite a broad point but in essence make sure you park your car in the garage or drive overnight. Also, if you do not have one already it may be worth installing an immobiliser, alarm and tracker, try getting quotes with an alarm fitted and then a quote without and see if it makes any difference.

2. The amount you drive means you’re at more risk of having an accident.

Try not to give an excessive amount of mileage. If you’re not going to drive the mileage you have stated then think about reducing it. You can always call them to increase it later although there may be a charge.

3. Accepting a higher excess will reduce your premium.

The excess is the amount you will have to pay in the event of a claim. Therefore you should weigh up the price of the policy against the excess; Is it worth paying the extra £10 on your premium for an increase in excess of £300? (The answer is NO – pay the £10 is my advice). The reason is because you save £290 in the event of a claim, including those that are not your fault.

4. Add a second and maybe third person (women and older experienced drivers may bring down the price of your policy).

Sometimes adding a second driver especially those who pose less risk than you can bring down the price of your policy. I’m a 24 year old male by adding my 21 year old sister the premium was reduced by over £100.

5. Insure young drivers in their parents name, or under somebody who posses less risk and may have some no claims discount.

Sometimes it’s not worth young drivers having a policy of their own as insurance companies see them as a high risk. Having their name on a policy (being a ‘named driver’) rather than the policy holder can be a lot cheaper. Companies like direct line will also allow the named driver to accrue no claims bonus something well worth paying the extra for. The no claims discount can substantially reduce the cost of future insurance.

6. Build up your no claims bonus

Generally over 25’s should take out a policy in their name to build on their no claims bonus. Insurers give people who do not make a claim a discount as they have proved they pose less risk on the road. Starting to build this up early can reduce future premiums significantly.

It maybe too expensive for younger drivers so the cost of insuring themselves and being a named driver should be weighed up, get a quote online for a young driver and change the quote and see what happens.

7. New policies can be cheaper than renewals./p>

At the end of the year don’t just pay the renewal; you’ll have most likely received a new customer discount the previous year so by switching you may get another introductory discount. Although from my experience the same insurer often will give you a cheaper quote.

8. Don’t always apply for Niche insurers.

Experiment using comparison websites and then apply directly to the cheapest companies to find greater savings. Niche insurers like women only, young driver and over 40’s are not always the cheapest.

9. Consider the level of cover you need.

There are three main types of cover and depending on your car, you don’t need fully comprehensive cover on a £500 banger as your premium and excess will end up costing you more than the car is worth. The three types of cover available are:

• Third party only- The most basic cover commonly offered. You get nothing, but the person you hit will be able to claim off your insurance. It will not really cover you for anything else either like theft or damage.
• Third party, firs and theft- As above but it also covers your car against theft or fire damage.
• Fully comprehesive- This generally costs around twice as much as third party, fire and theft, but your car will be repaired or replaced even if the accident is your fault. These may also come with break down cover, legal cover and may allow you to drive other cars but you must allows check the policy.

Other ways of saving money on the cost of your insurance.

1. Never pay using monthly payments

If you cannot afford to pay the cost of your insurance in one payment and like the idea of paying in monthly instalments then consider paying using the a low interest credit card.

Why? I hear you say. The monthly payment option works like a finance agreement and you pay interest on it. The interest rate by most insurers is usually much higher than a low interest credit card.

2. Always see what deals insurers are providing, most of the offers on this site are updated by the insurers so they are usually up to date. After using a comparison site go directly and apply directly to make a bigger saving. Comparison sites usually make a number of assumptions and these may not always get you the cheapest quote.

3. If your buying a new car look at the group of the car on parkers.co.uk.

Each car falls into an insurance group, the group relates to the risk your car posses to the insurance company. Insurance groups range from 1-20, 1 is the lowest insurance group with the smallest premiums and 20 the highest insurance groups with the highest premiums. So in group one you get your Ford Ka and Fiesta and in Group 20 you get the lovely Austin martins and Ferrari’s.