I recently spoke to a customer about insurance and she asked for an article on how you can manage your insurance. I’d been meaning to share one for a while, so here it is. Please beware though – some of these may reduce your cover, or increase the amount you pay if you need to claim. In the interest of giving you a full list, I’ve included them anyway.
The key thing here is that it is all about managing your risk – you’ll need to decide what works for you (or not). Most of the items in this list can relate to any insurer, although some are specific to Club 4X4.
While I’ve prioritised these from what I think are the easiest and lowest increased financial risk to the more difficult and potentially more costly, you’ll need to weigh up the cost and benefit to ensure you are getting the best value from your insurance.
1. Take an Age / Driver Restriction
The next easiest way to help reduce your premium is to take an Age / Driver Restriction. This limits who can drive your car, but that certainty for the insurer translates to a smaller premium. For some insurers this will look like a nominated driver policy (where only the nominated drivers can drive the car), and for others it might be an age restriction – (no-one under the age of X drives the car). At Club 4X4, we offer an Age restriction, running in brackets of 5 years up until 35. The higher the age restriction, the more you save. So, for example, you’d see a bigger reduction if you select no one under the age of 30 driving the car than you did if you said no-one under 20. The beauty of our system is that you have flexibility to select a range of ages, not just under 25’s!
The catch with this is that you are generally not covered if someone under the age you select drives the car.
2. Consider paying annually
A lot of insurers offer an incentive to pay annually rather than monthly. The savings amount will vary from place to place, but it's always worth checking both payment options before purchasing a policy.
Be sure to consider if you can afford a bigger sum up front versus spacing the cost out over monthly payments before making a decision.
3. Review those optional extras
There are a range of optional extras you can take up with most policies, which will increase your cover, but at a cost. This includes things like hire car after theft, free windscreen replacement cover, and sometimes even roadside assistance.
If you need to reduce your premium, it is worth considering whether you could take these off your policy. It will reduce your premium, but beware, you will also reduce the cover you have available, so another one to do a cost benefit analysis on.
4. Take Laid up cover (Caravans/Camper Trailers etc)
If you’ve got a Camper Trailer or Caravan and want to reduce your premium further, and you know you won’t be taking it away, layup cover is a great choice. Witha Club 4X4 policy, you can choose up to 2 layup periods per year which can help make the most of when you can’t get away.
Please remember though, with this option you are only covered for fire, theft, or a claimable event at the garaging address, not out on the road. You even need to call your insurer for permission if you are going to take the vehicle for a service.
5. Increase your excess
Increasing your excess can be another easy way to reduce your premium, although it does have the effect of increasing the amount you pay if you need to make a claim, and that is why I’ve put it further down the list. Effectively here, you take on more of the risk or potential cost in the case you need to make a claim. It can be beneficial if you don’t have a claim, but it will work out more expensive if you do!
6. Complete Driver training
Completing driver training can be another way to positively impact your premiums. It is a great (and fun) way to improve your driving skills and will also reduce your chance of having an accident. I’ve included it down here though because you need to book and pay for a course in most cases to become eligible for the discount.
At Club 4X4, if you've completed an offroad 4X4 training or offroad towing training, these are positive rating factors that can impact your premium.
7. Become a member of a 4WD Club
Many insurers will offer some kind of discount to certain clubs or groups. Find out which ones and see if you can become a member to save.
Club 4X4 offers a discount to our partner 4WD club members. You can find out more about how to access the discount or sign your club up here
