|
In
Ireland, car insurance is a lucrative business and this is great
news for drivers. The
more insurance companies in the market, the higher the competition,
and the cheaper the rates.
We
hear many horror stories about the cost of insurance: premiums are
going up, young drivers are being priced out of the market,
insurance for women is increasing in cost, etc. However,
for the well-informed driver a little understanding of the way in
which car insurance companies calculate their premiums, and of some
of the tactics they use to increase the cost of their policies, can
yield some very big savings.
Firstly,
cheap
car insurance in Ireland
is easy to find, but first, you must rid yourself of any complacency
when renewing your insurance. Some companies rely on the fact that
customers will accept any renewals without question.
This means that when a policy comes to the end of its term,
the companies send out a renewal that they price at a higher rate
than is necessary. If
you are aware of this fact then you can contact your insurers and
negotiate a better deal, or shop elsewhere. Never
accept a renewal policy without first brokering a deal, by doing so
you could receive as much as 35% off the original price – which is
well worth any effort needed to find the deal.
In
Ireland, the majority of car insurance companies offer a pay-monthly
option. However, they
also tend to sell these with a hefty annual percentage rate.
Some companies charge an APR of 20%, so for instance, if your
policy costs €400 a year, by opting for a monthly repayment plan
you will be paying €480 over the course of the year.
It is much better to pay any premium in full.
Having said that, monthly repayment plans make good financial
sense in some circumstances, as the financial burden will seem
relatively small when paid across the course of several months; if
saving is difficult, monthly repayment makes perfect sense.
All images are in public domain from Wikipedia
|
