Check out these tips to cut your car insurance costs and save some cash.

Compare Car Insurance Online

A simple but effective way of lowering your car insurance costs is to shop around for insurance. Existing customers will rarely get the best deals from the insurance companies because their cheapest possible prices will be reserved for new customers. When you compare car insurance, you will be able to see how much you can save by switching. Of course, when looking at car insurance quotes, you have to ensure that you are comparing like with like. The voluntary excesses should be set to the same level and you need to include any extras that you currently have. This is the first step for cheaper car insurance.

Increase Your Excess

One of the ways that you can reduce your monthly premium is to choose a higher voluntary excess. The rule of thumb that covers this is that when the excess is high the premium will be lower. You should experiment with this using a car insurance comparison tool to check what different excess levels will provide in terms of the monthly premiums. Of course, you need to keep in mind that you have to be able to pay the excess that you are setting. If you have to make a claim, you need to be able to provide this amount before the insurance will pay out.

Get No-Frills Cover

Before you add extras to your insurance such as legal expenses cover or the use of a courtesy car, you need to carefully consider it. Insurance companies are generally enthusiastic about telling you about the value of the extras, and they could come in handy, you do not need to get them. Including too many of these extras into your insurance policy will increase the costs and you need to consider this.

Consider The Distance You Drive

Before you get car insurance, you need to think about how far you drive each year. It is possible that you could save money if you agree to a lower annual mileage cap compared to the last insurance policy that you got. This is a very helpful tip if you have more than one car in your family. In these cases, one car will generally do more miles than the other and you might be able to lower the insurance costs for the car that does less.

Do Not Pay By Direct Debit

Spreading the costs of your policy over the year may seem like the best solution, but you need to consider paying the premium in one lump sum. Paying each month will generally cost you more in the long-run. A lot of insurance companies will charge you interest when you pay monthly so check before you sign. If you need to spread the payments and the insurance company charges interest, you should consider paying with a 0% purchase credit card. When you do this, you need to ensure that you clear the balance in full before the end of the 0% period.

The Other Ways That You Can Cut The Costs Of Driving

While fuel costs can become cheaper, it still costs around $50 to fill up the tank in a standard family car. You can reduce the fuel consumption in a number of ways and save money. One of the ways is to ensure that your tires are always inflated correctly, particularly if you are going on a long trip.

Car manufacturers also recommend checking the tire pressure every few weeks. If you feel that this is too often, you should do this at least once a month. If you are going on a long trip, you need the check the pressure before you go.

Another quick way to lower fuel consumption is to remove any excess weight from the car. Look at the trunk and footwells for anything that could be increasing the weight of the car. Driving smoothly is another way to lower fuel consumption so take it easy on the accelerator and brakes. If you are going to be waiting somewhere such as the school gates, turn the engine off instead of idling.

Fuel costs also vary depending on where you are filling up. This means that you should shop around to ensure that you save at the pump.

Consider A Car Share

One of the more radical ways to save money would be to have a car share. This could be something that is a permanent arrangement with someone who has a complimentary schedule or something that is done for specific journeys such as the work commute or the school run.