IT is always worth shopping around when buying insurance, and never more so than when buying motor insurance. Unlike other insurances - such as life, home, travel - the variation in motor insurance premiums can be enormous, usually reflecting the level of underwriting losses that a particular company has suffered over the previous year or years.
Unfortunately for most drivers, 1995 proved a bad claims year for most of the motor insurers and premiums are on the rise again. This week Guardian PMPA announced a 5 per cent rise in premiums. The company insures 40 per cent of the state's drivers.
The latest survey from the AA and Lansdowne Market Research for comprehensive insurance for a 1992 1.1 litre Ford Fiesta - a fairly typical secondhand car - shows just how diverse are the premiums being quoted by a number of the leading motor insurers.
Costs range from as low as £246.00 for a 45-year-old woman driver, to as high as £874 for a man of 25. It also confirms what is already well known by car drivers - women in general will pay far less for their insurance than men and older drivers will pay less than younger ones.
The survey includes the main benefits offered by the insurers for the different age and gender categories but shows all sorts of disparities. For example, one company offers a male driver age 25 free windscreen security etching. The same service is not on offer to a 25-year-old woman. Another company offers a 45-year-old male driver personal accident cover; this cover is not on offer to a 45-year-old woman.
Bonus protection is offered to both male and female drivers, but not necessarily by the same companies to each sex, or to the same category of driver. As the survey shows, women may pay lower premiums, but the benefits package may not necessarily be as extensive as might be expected. Similarly, the addition of `extras' (that may never be used) may or may not compensate for having to always pay consistently higher premiums.
Not all the insurers are happy with this survey. A spokesperson for Premier Direct told Family Money that it was "a bit too selective in the benefits it highlighted. For example, it doesn't show how women drivers who might very well drive the Fiesta as a second family car are given credit by Premier for the years they may have been down as named driver's on their husband's insurance, or for the fact that they will not lose any benefits should they put someone down as a named driver on their own policy.
Drivers should also note that the low or high rates that one company may consistently show for a five-year-old Ford Fiesta may not necessary be repeated for a newer or more valuable car.
Though you will have to contact the direct insurers yourself (most provide freephone numbers) a good broker will shop around with the major companies on your be half though you should keep in mind that he may not hold agencies for all of them. Make sure to ask.
