Variables Affecting The Cost of Car Insurance

Many variables affect the cost of car insurance, and here we summarise some of the more important ones.

Probably the most influential of all is the age and the sex of the driver. The more likely a driver is to make a claim the higher the premium, and young men tend to make a lot of claims. Male drivers under 25 have to pay very high premiums, and though historically women have not suffered anywhere nearly as badly, sex discrimination laws are changing that. This doesn’t mean that males can’t find cheap car insurance. It just means they have to shop around more thoroughly.

Driving history is also very important. Drivers who do not make claims can build up large no claims discounts which can cut their insurance costs in half. Generally no claims discounts are transferable between insurance companies and they can also be protected so, should just a single claim be made, all or part of the no-claims discount will remain intact.

Location counts too. If you live in a regions known for car crime, then your premium will be much higher than if you lived in a relatively crime-free area. Insurance companies use post codes to differentiate between these regions.
Fast expensive cars understandably cost much more to insure than slow cheap ones. The differences can be very significant, maybe in the region of thousands of pounds. Fast cars are more likely to be involved in accidents and, when they are, they are much more expensive to repair or replace.

Often the cost of insurance premiums can be reduced by limiting the annual mileage. Some people with very expensive cars that they use only rarely mitigate the cost by driving only a few thousand miles a year. Insuring for just a single driver or for named drivers can also have an impact.

Any security feature that is additional to those fitted by the manufacturer can reduce the premium and any performance enhancing modification certainly will increase it.