Cheap car insurance for
convicted drivers
As we have reported before, driving penalty points increase
the cost of
car insurance by 27%, while those with driving bans can expect to
pay considerably more as car insurance
companies reduce their risk
tolerance owing to their precarious financial status following recent
losses.
Many now refuse to insure convicted drivers with previous bans. What
can the convicted driver do to reduce the cost of their car insurance?
Our advice, some of which is adapted from advice provided by the Admiral Insurance Group (AIG) and the British
Insurance Brokers Association (BIBA),
is as follows:
Check the conviction code
You can find this on your court paperwork and on your driving license.
Some convicted driver codes are treated as minor offences by insurers,
including speeding (SP30), failure to stop at a red traffic
signal (TS20) and driving without reasonable consideration for other
road users (CU20).
Use a previous no claims
discount
Don't forget to use a no claims discount acrued before the conviction.
Many car insurance providers will acept this and it will help you to
get cheap convicted driver's car insurance.
Buy a lower car insurance
group car
The ten cheapest cars from a car insurance perspective, as rated by the
ABI (Thatcham) 1-50 rating system are:
1. Citroen C1
2. Toyota Aygo or C1
3. Peugeot 107
4. Vauxhall Corsa
5. Ford Fiesta
6. Chevrolet Matiz
7. VW Fox
8. Fiat Grande Punto
9. Nissan Micra
10. Skoda Fabia
Improve your car security
Add an immobiliser or other Thatcham-approved security devices. It also
pays to review the overnight parking arrangements. Could you park
off-road or in a garage?
Cut your mileage
This allows you to cap your annual mileage, so-reducing the cost of
convicted driver car insurance. One way to do this is to use public
transport more often, for example, to go to work.
Add an over-25 'clean
license' second driver
Convicted drivers can benefit from adding an experienced driver with a
clean driving license as a second driver.
Consider increasing your
voluntary excess
This is worth a try but be careful not to overdo it as, obviously, you
could face a hefty bill if you have an accident. Try various sizes of
excess to determine the optimal balance between premium reduction and
increased size of excess. Be aware that some car insurance companies increase the premium when you
increase the excess; so be careful not to accidentally increase
your cost.
Don't customize your car
Adding alloy wheels, for example, will push up the cost of car
insurance as it renders the car more attractive to thieves. Further,
customizations are not compensated if your car is stolen.
Don't pay monthly
Pay for your convicted driver car insurance cover in one lump sum as paying monthly generally
increase the cost by over 10%.
Shop around for convicted
driver car insurance
Clearly, the more quotes that you get (for example, via a price
comparison site) the easier it becomes to identify cheap car insurance
for convicted drivers. A word of caution, however: don't neglect
checking over the policy features. You're better to pay a bit more for
a better level of cover than to simply select the cheapest car
insurance policy from a price comparison site.
Don't try to save money
via Third Party Car Insurance
As we've presented elsewhere, third
party car insurance is too risky as it does not provide personal
injury cover where you are liable for the accident while it is usually
costlier than alternative comprehensive policies anyway.
Don't be tempted to
withold information on your car insurance application
This invalidates your cover and, as we've explored in another article
in this 'buyers' guide' series, you're increasingly unlikely to get
away with it: Honesty now
essential.
If you take your time to find the best deal and attempt to apply as
much of the above as possible, it should be possible to cut the cost of
convicted driver car insurance considerably. The
resources below, especially the price comparison sites, will help you
to find the best prices.
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