Recent legislation enforced by the European Court of Justice means that there will no longer be a significant difference in policy prices between men and women. However, young drivers will still be penalised with expensive car insurance rates because of the damning accident statistics that relate to teenage driving.

Young drivers in the UK do not have as many options available to reduce car insurance rates as their US cousins. Major car insurance companies do not accept academic performance as a means of expressing responsibility and the only way that young drivers can bring down the cost of car insurance quotes is to take an advanced driving examination.

Thankfully, a new incentive exists throughout the United Kingdom that gives young drivers the opportunity to improve their driving skills. The Pass Plus course is essentially a practical driving examination supported by qualified instructors who hone the skills learned during the basic driving test. Although a small amount of theoretical knowledge is covered throughout the course, the examination itself is very much hands-on.

Young drivers will learn how to use dual carriageways, motorways and country roads. There is also a section of the course that is dedicated to night time driving, and this has proven to be particularly useful because most fatal road traffic accidents involving road users under the age of 25 occur when it is dark. Although car insurance quotes remain expensive after the Pass Plus course is completed, young drivers can still expect to enjoy discounts of up to 20%.

Take a look through the typical British High Street, and it’s not too difficult to see some of the major changes that have happened over the past 10 to 15 years. Economic crisis, consumer spending habits and changing customer demands have seen many traditional shopping outlets closing for good. One of the most notable absentees in major towns and cities is the land-based car insurance office.

The land-based car insurance office was already dying a death long before the Internet came and sounded its final death knells. The growth of telephone call centres had made shopping for car insurance much easier, and instead of having to spend the entire weekend trudging up and down miserable shopping parades, road users were able to obtain a wider variety of car insurance quotes by making a few simple telephone calls.

Unfortunately, many car insurance companies realised that there was money to be made from telephone call centres and before long, expensive tolls were being charged every time a motorist rang up for a new set of car insurance quotes. With profits increasing because of the lack of overheads associated with telephone call centres, it was a glorious time to be selling car insurance.

Today, the telephone call centre has been superseded by price comparison website. These popular resources, which are free to use, can provide more car insurance quotes in the space of five minutes than an entire afternoon spent talking to pushy sales representatives on the telephone line. Even better, car insurance rates are usually much lower on price comparison websites because rival companies are operating on a head-to-head basis.

Monthly Premium Interest

Some road users find that it’s more convenient to pay for their annual premiums by monthly direct debit, especially if a car insurance package is expensive to begin with. Some car insurance companies offer free monthly payments and never charge any interest for direct debit facilities. However, others carriers can charge out monthly payments at highly uncompetitive rates; the APR with some companies was as high as 38%. Monthly payments shouldn’t rule you out of what could be an otherwise exceptional policy, but you should always consider whether it might be a better option to borrow the money at lower rates of interest instead of paying for the entire premium in monthly stages. If you use a bank overdraft or credit card to pay off your car insurance premium in a single lump sum, you will only have pay interest back on the loan until you have reached a stage where you can afford to pay the money back. If you sign up to monthly payments as part of an agreement with your car insurance provider, remember that you will be obligated to pay a full year of interest charges.

Policy Amendments

The Which Money Magazine survey investigated 151 different car insurance providers and found that 105 of them applied a charge for amendments made to a policy. Amendment charges can cover simple changes such as adding an extra driver to a policy or changing address after a house move. If you plan to move in the near future, it could be worth looking at amendment charges now and opting for a short-term car insurance deal until the transition is complete.

Many motorists believe it’s easier to choose car insurance based on a factor of price. They use Internet comparison websites to see which company offers the lowest premium for their personal circumstances, make a payment then sit back to enjoy compete peace of mind while thinking about how they are going to spend that lovely spare cash. The reality is somewhat different; there are often hidden costs attached to a car insurance policy that cover specific incidents for all named policyholders. There are a number of important things that drivers need look out for to make sure the true cost of coverage has been properly compared.

Cancellation Charges

Which Money Magazine recently completed a survey and found that two-thirds of car insurance companies charge an additional fee for cancelling a policy. Rather than refunding car insurance premiums that were made in lieu, the average car insurance cancellation fee was set at £40, although some providers charged considerably more.  Some providers choose not use a flat cancellation fee and instead, they use systems that refund premiums at a disproportionate rate. If a policyholder cancels their car insurance coverage halfway through a one-year deal, only 20% of the premium is refunded and if the policy has less than three months to run, they might not get any money back at all. It’s difficult to establish how an individual car insurance company might implement cancelation charges but if you are already aware that your current policy won’t be needed for an entire year, you can pretty much guarantee that a penalty charge will be applied.