Six factors influencing car insurance rates

Insuring your car is a necessity which has the potential of becoming extremely expensive. Car insurance rates are affected by several factors. If you know what the factors are you will be able to manage them to your advantage.

Factors having an influence on your car insurance rates include:

• The broker
• Claims history
• Excess payment options
• Security
• Vehicle cover policy
• Vehicle

The broker

Choosing the correct broker is the most important factor to consider when it comes to managing car insurance rates. Insuring with Redisure will give you an additional financial benefit and better premiums because:

• Redisure is a zero commission brokering firm. This means we don’t add commission fees to the premiums.
• Redisure is not underwritten by just one company. This gives us the freedom to shop around and find the best possible package that will address your specific needs, and more important, budget restraints.
• As a brokering firm we represent your interests.
• We are not limited to our products and thus do not try to sell you something that is only in our interest.

Claims history

Did you make any claims in the last three years, if so - when, and what was the claim amount?

This will be one of the first questions the helpful consultants at Redisure ask you before calculating any car insurance rates. The same benefits you enjoy with a good credit record apply to a good claims record.

Building a positive history can have a big influence on car insurance rates. Your claims history for the last three years is taken into account when working out your premium. Having a no claims record will definitely benefit you and help you to qualify for the No-Claims Bonus reward.

The excess payment

Redisure consultants provide you the option to increase the excess payment amount you will need to pay once you do claim, in exchange for lower monthly rates. This means that in the unfortunate event that you should have a claim, your excess payment will only be a little higher. You can put some money away in an interest bearing account to help you pay the excess when a mishap strikes. In this way you can build interest rather than spending money.

Security

Security is one of the factors that play a significant role when calculating car insurance rates. Car thefts cost insurance companies millions every year. Any security measures you can put in place that will reduce the risk of your car being stolen or hijacked will have a major influence on the car insurance rates you have to pay. Car owners can also have a look at the informative articles on the Redisure website for information on the vehicle securing.

Vehicle cover policy

The policy you select is also an important factor that determines car insurance rates.

Redisure offers three cover options:

• Comprehensive cover
• Third party only
• Third party, fire and theft cover

Comprehensive cover

This is the more expensive option, but it also gives you extensive cover. Your cover will consist of protection against financial burdens due to loss or damage to the vehicle, medical costs, third party liability, credit short falls, car hire, hotel accommodation, key and lock replacement, and windscreen repair, to name but a view.

Third party only

Redisure’s Third party cover insures your liability to third parties in the event of an accident and is the least expensive of the three packages offered.

Third party, fire and theft

This package covers your liability to third parties with the additional cover to your own vehicle against fire and theft.

The vehicle

The car you drive will be the determining factor when it comes to car insurance rates. The make and model of your vehicle is categorised and placed in a group. Each group has a number allocated to it. If your vehicle category falls in a higher group number, your premium automatically increases. The group numbers are determined by the cost of repairs to the vehicle, the availability and cost of parts, the time it will take to repair the vehicle etc. Your friendly Redisure consultant will be able to provide advice on how to select a low risk vehicle as well as a free quote on car insurance rates.