CONFUSED.COM’S Rob Powell asks can price comparison websites really save you cash?

Everyone knows they should shop around for the best deal, but with that number of insurance brands on the market it’s not feasible to approach every single one yourself. This is where price comparison sites can really help.

Renewal and new business quotes are calculated differently

It’s true – there are different pricing models for current customers and new ones.

Different brands aim at different markets

The most obvious of these are the insurers aimed at women and the over 50s, but other brands aim at different types of people too and they’re not always so obvious. Different age groups, areas of the country, ‘safe’ drivers, families with multiple cars… almost every permutation you can think of has a car insurance brand aimed at it, and you are bound to fall into more than one – if you’re a 55 year old woman which type of insurer is going to be cheaper, the one aimed at women, or the one aimed at the over 50s? You don’t know without comparing.

A change in circumstances can mean your current insurer is not so competitive

Getting older, moving home, getting married (or divorced), it’s all a factor in calculating the cost of your car insurance which means that different brands can become more competitive at different stages of your life.

Playing with the price

A price comparison site will store your details, making it easy to change certain bits of data to see how they affect the price. If you have a £500 excess instead of a £150, by how much will the prices change? What if I add my wife as a second driver? Or take her away? What if I say the car is parked on the drive instead of in the garage?

By making small changes here and there – but still being legal and truthful – you could really get the price down and find the best insurer for you. Here are some hints to help get the price down:

Higher excess – By saying you will pay a greater share of the costs if you have an accident your premium will come down

Don’t park in a garage – You may think that a car is safer in the garage as thieves and vandals can’t get at it, but quite a few insurers will charge you more for doing so. A lot of accidents happen as people drive in and out of their garage or involving other items stored in there, so there is actually an increased risk of an accident.

Have another driver – If you are an inexperienced driver, adding a parent to your car cover as a named driver could bring down the cost: insurers may think this reduces the risk associated with your policy, even if the named driver isn’t going to be using the vehicle all that often.

Beware, however, of putting this experienced driver down as the main driver in order to reduce premiums further still: if you lie to your insurer about who the main driver is, it might invalidate your policy, which could lead to you driving uninsured. If you are going to be using the car most, you have to say so on your application.

Check your occupation – What you do for a living is a rating factor in calculating your insurance, especially if you want cover for commuting or business use. There may be different occupation descriptions that apply to you, such as writer vs. journalist or builder vs. construction worker.

Some insurers will be happy with a generic term such as nurse whereas others will want you to be more specific using midwife, ICU nurse, surgical assistant, or one of many other possibilities. This is why price comparison sites often appear to list occupations several times – the different insurance companies need them listed differently.