One of the most expensive costs that all motorists in the United Kingdom have to fork out for is car insurance. The law states that all vehicles on a public road need to have a minimum of third party car insurance cover in order to legally travel.
There are many factors that can affect the price of your car insurance premium, such as your driving history, the type of car you drive, how often you drive it, where you keep it overnight and where you live.
The two main reasons that anyone will ever claim on their car insurance are theft or damage. Although making a claim is a fairly straightforward process, it can impact the amount of money you pay for your car insurance come renewal time. So to help you avoid having to make any car insurance claims, here are some top tips:
Be a better driver
Most car accidents are caused by human error, rather than mechanical failure or some other reason. Obviously you cannot ensure that all other drivers on the road are good drivers, but you can make sure that you are a good driver:
- Don’t drink and drive – in Britain, there are legal drink drive limits that everyone must abide by if they plan to drive on public roads. But what many people fail to realise that your own unique body characteristics (such as weight, age, gender and the type of drink you consume) can affect you more than you may think. So the answer is simple: don’t drink anything alcoholic at all if you are driving;
- Have a good night’s sleep – fatigue can adversely affect your driving, such as making you fall asleep at the wheel. This is obviously very dangerous, so in order to be fully alert for any car journey, make sure you’ve had a decent amount of sleep the night before;
- Control your anger – if you suffer from road rage, then you should consider taking some anger management classes to help you deal with it. Getting angry behind the wheel can often cause you to make stupid, and in some cases dangerous, decisions which can affect both the people in your car and other motorists on the road.
Buy a better car
If your car has questionable braking efficiency or is unreliable and prone to cutting out whilst you are driving, then you should consider just trading your car in for a better one.
There are many car dealers that can help you choose your next car, so whether you want an Audi A3 or a Ford Mondeo, they will have cars that are suitable for your specific requirements.
Make your car less attractive to thieves
Most car thefts are what’s known as opportunistic thefts; this means people that walk past your car spot something valuable inside it such as a laptop or smartphone, and simply smash your window and steal your valuables!
You can help make your car less attractive to thieves by removing anything of value from your car, and if you need to keep something valuable in the car, then keep it somewhere out of site such as in the boot of your car.
Image Credit (smademedia)
