The importance of a car insurance is not understood by the policyholders until and unless their car gets involved in an accident. After you get into an accident, you get to understand the importance of a car insurance policy. The birth of this attitude takes place right from the moment when we start to look for a car insurance policy for our brand-new shining car. we try to take every possible step that can help us save every last penny. Actually, it is not a wrong step in trying to save maximum on the budget of a car insurance policy. after all, why you should overspend on a motor insurance cover when you can get the right policy in your budget. In this article, we are going to discuss various steps that should be taken in order to make sure that you don’t spend more than you have to on a motor insurance policy. the way we are going to deal with this is by understanding what really affects the cost of a car insurance policy. this way it will become easier for you to figure out how you can save maximum on a car insurance policy. So, grab a mug of coffee and find a nice and quiet place to understand this article properly.
Shop around and explore what different insurers are offering in their policies
First and foremost, a step that should be taken by every person looking for a motor insurance policy is to shop around to explore maximum options. The market is flooded by thousands of different policies from hundreds of insurers like HDFC ERGO and Bajaj Allianz car insurance. Now exploring these many plans is a difficult task even for a superhuman but with the proper strategy, it can be completed very easily. See, what happens in practice is that there are a lot of similarities in the plans offered by the same insurer. What you have to find out are the exact differences in the plans offered by these different insurers. Once you figure the differences, then it becomes pretty easy to shortlist the companies that offer motor insurance policies suitable to you in your budget. So, get multiple quotes from different insurance agents for both the comprehensive and third party car insurance online and offline.
Take a look at the claim settlement ratio of your car insurance companies
Now that you’ve shortlisted a few insurance companies that offer policies in your budget. But how can you decide which insurance company is more trustworthy than other? In order to measure the trustworthiness of an insurer, make use of the claim settlement ratio. Claim settlement ratio is the ratio between the total numbers of claims settled by insurance companies to the total number of claim settlement requests received by the insurance company. Higher is the claim settlement ratio of an insurance company, more trustworthy is the company and it’ claim settlement procedure.
Browse the internet to find out all the coupons, deals and discounts
This step is a pretty easy one and yet it is very effective one too. like everything that is sold online has some coupons and deals associated with it which helps you in getting even further discounts on it. You can easily come across websites that are built solely around the concept of selling coupons and deals on various commodities. And with a couple minutes of browsing the internet, you will be easily able to find out a few websites that sell discount coupons for the car insurance policies. Let’s face it, what more can you ask for? you don’t even have to have some knowledge about a car insurance in order to complete this step and get some discounts on the premium rates of your policy.
Take a note of your credit score
In countries like India, your credit score plays a bigger role in the amount charged by your insurer for the car insurance policy than your driving record. Your friend with a better credit score than yours can get a lower rate of premiums than you by from the same insurer for the same motor insurance policy. but luckily, if you are non-Indian readers, then you might be sitting in a country where insurers are not allowed to consider your credit score while setting up the rate of premiums for a car insurance policy.
Cut down on the numbers of extensions you include in your policy
Every comprehensive car insurance cover that you will find out will have some add-ons and extensions associated with it. What these extensions will offer is even better coverage in certain situations. Obviously, you would pay extra along with your premiums for each extension you include in your policy. So, before you make up your mind on the extensions, make sure you gather some information about these add-ons and their cost. Make sure you know beforehand the worthiness of each and every extension you can include in your policy. try to keep the count of included extensions to a smaller number.
Use online tools like a vehicle insurance calculator
One of the common problems faced by first-time car insurance policy buyers is the lack of knowledge. They lack the knowledge about even the basic concepts of a car insurance policy. well luckily, this fact is not hidden from the car insurance companies and therefore, they have made available tools like a vehicle insurance calculator. These are simple tools that can help you in pretty much every possible way of finding the right insurance cover for your car. From suggesting you’re the right budget that you should spend on your car insurance cover to suggesting even the policies that fit in your budget, everything is made easier for you through these vehicle insurance calculators. you just have to type in a few numbers about your earnings and savings and some information about your vehicle. let us understand the usage of these calculators with the help of an example. Let us suppose you are looking for an HDFC ERGO car insurance renewal and you also don’t know if there is any other insurer who is offering a better coverage policy at a lower price. Well, you just have to open a vehicle insurance calculator on your laptop screen and type in the required information and get the required results. Don’t you think that it’s the easiest way to get an exciting deal on a motor insurance cover?
Make use of your no claim bonus at the time of renewal
Keeping the same example from the last section of a Shriram car insurance renewal in mind, let us proceed with this section. Let us assume that you get no better deal from any other insurer and your current insurer is already offering you the best deal. Then, in that case, your no claim bonus can be of use in getting a significant discount on the HDFC ERGO car insurance renewal for those who already don’t know about the concept of NCB, see, NO claim bonus is the way through which your insurer gives you reward for making no claims from your car insurance policy for a specific period of time. The discount that you get from an NCB depends on the period of time for which you don’t make a claim. Use the table given below to figure out the discount that you can get right now on the renewal of your policy:
| Time Period | Discount Offered |
| One Year | 20% |
| Two Year | 25% |
| Three Year | 35% |
| Four Year | 45% |
| Five Year | 50% |
Keep your deductibles high
Before we proceed any further in this section, let us first understand what deductibles are exactly? See, at the time of purchasing a car insurance policy, you have to set the deductible which the amount which will not be covered by your insurer at the time of paying for the damage repair. Now according to many recent surveys and studies did y experts, it has become evident that keeping your deductibles higher can help you in increasing your savings. For example, if you keep your deductible amount at 10,000INR and the total cost of damage repair comes out to be 50,000INR, then your insurer will pay out 40,000INR. But if you keep your deductibles to bout 25,000INR, then you can save up to 5,000INR every year.
Keep the insurance cost in mind while choosing your next car
The make and model of a car is a significant factor that determines the cost of its insurance policies. It is not of much importance if you’re purchasing your first car but if you are looking for a second car or third car, then keep insurance cost as one of the important factors while making up your mind on the choice. The choice of your car might not affect the cost of the third party car insurance online but the premiums of the comprehensive cover vary with your choice.
So, we talked about a lot of things that can help you out in saving the most on the cost of your car insurance policy, here comes the easy part. Shop around and explore the car insurance policy that suits your budget and fulfills most of your requirements. Best of luck.