How to save big bucks on your car insurance policy

We bring you several tips to help you getting the best insurance at the lowest cost.

1. Compare quotes online.

The internet provides a great platform for comparing quotes online, there are several insurance comparison sites available for the South African market.

2. Insure your vehicle for the correct value:  

Drivers of older vehicles must ensure that they are not over-insuring their cars. Not all insurers take into account the vehicles depreciated value so make sure your vehicle is insured for the correct value.

3. Update your home contents policy:  

When it comes to home contents insurance, opportunities to reduce coverage could lie in carefully and regularly updating household inventories.

Review your household inventory every six months and adjust the total insured sum accordingly.

When you calculate the insured amount of your home contents, make sure you are using replacement values and not market values.

Remove old and discarded items that no longer need to be insured from your inventory list. Why should you pay for cover on a computer that stopped working in 2011? 

Similarly, the costs of some appliances and gadgets have come down in price so you really shouldn’t be paying to insure an item that was more expensive when it first hit the market than it is nowadays.

4. Don’t duplicate coverage:  If your short-term insurance company offers free roadside assistance, you needn’t opt for the same benefit from your medical aid provider, and if your cellphone is insured under your home contents, you shouldn’t be paying for separate cellphone cover.

5. Increase your security:  Your short-term insurance premium is calculated based on your risk profile.  Your risk profile is based on a number of things such as where you live, the type of car you drive, and the security interventions you have in place, amongst others.

Burglaries, robberies, hi-jackings and petty theft are also on the up so insuring your valuables has become a necessity. Aside from the risk of having your car or any other possessions stolen, there is the possibility that something else could go wrong, such as a burst geyser or even a fire.

You could reduce your car insurance premium if you’ve fitted your car with additional safety features such as a tracking device or an alarm, for example.

You could receive a reduction on your home insurance premium if you’ve invested in new alarm system for your home or if you’ve moved to a safer neighbourhood.

6. Don’t claim unnecessarily:  Keep your insurance for real catastrophes which result in unexpected large losses and avoid claiming for small events that you could cover from your own pocket. When you claim for every little scratch, your insurance provider will raise your premium to reflect the higher risk you pose.

7. Don't be hasty when it comes to choosing your excess.

You need to make sure you balance the cost of a policy and the level of excess it will require you to pay in the event of a claim.

A relatively 'cheap' policy could mean a large excess and a more expensive policy, although it may demand lower excess, might not be worthwhile.

Ideally, you want to pay the lowest excess you can in the event of a claim. However, opting for the lowest excess might make your premium too expensive for you. Best practice is to find a balance where you’re paying a reasonable premium and your excess is not too high that you won’t be able to cover that amount should you need to make a claim.

Visit: http://www.car-insurance.org.za to compare quotes online