Look Before You Leap Into Car Insurance

By Author: Alisdair Cosgrove
Total Articles: 184
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Purchasing, car insurance can be a very expensive enterprise. There are lots of different factors that affect the cost of car insurance. The driver's age, your driving record, area that you live in, are just some of the details and an insurance company takes into account when calculating the cost of your monthly car insurance premium.

Something that people completely overlook when deciding to purchase a new or used car is that insurance companies have very different rates for different vehicles. An old Honda Civic with 150,000 miles on the clock will have very different rates of insurance than a new Jaguar.

However, of all vehicles, sports cars stand out as easily the most expensive to insure. The reasons for this should be fairly obvious. Firstly they have been engineered to go considerably faster than regular cars, the faster you go, the worse the results of any accident that may occur. Sports cars also attract young joy riders and car thieves which means they are stolen the more often, which naturally results in higher insurance premiums. Sports cars also attract drivers that tend to want to drive faster, ...
... and also drive more miles each year, as sports cars are used more for enjoyment than a regular saloon car.

Help is at hand in the Internet age, where there are many sites that can be searched for exact details of which cars are more likely to be stolen. The more often a make and model of car is stolen, the higher the average premium will be.

With modern safety equipment now available for most models, these features can reduce the amount you pay in premiums each month. Items like airbags and anti-lock brakes will reduce your premium as you are less likely to be involved in a serious accident in a car fitted with these features.Generally speaking, if you can choose a car with as many safety features as possibl, this will be reflected in a lower insurance premium. Security features such as a good manufacturer's alarm system will also be a help. There are also official crash test rankings, the higher the ranking, the safer the car. Not only will this help to reduce insurance costs it should also give you greater peace of mind.

It is best to start thinking about the cost of insurance at the same time that you start thinking about buying a new car. It is not very sensible to only consider the cost of insurance once the car has been purchased. There is no great mystery, in comparing cars with insurance, common sense should be your guide, a flashy, superfast, expensive, boy's toy, sports car is bound to attract a much higher insurance rate than a regular 1600 family saloon.

Basically, and a car that belongs in the excitement or fantasy bracket is sure to attract a much higher premium than a 'regular' or 'boring' family car. You should contact your insurance broker, to get an idea of the cost of insurance for any vehicle you are considering purchasing before signing on the dotted line. You should also consider items like bodywork and mechanical repair costs. These will also have a drastic effect on how much you will pay for car insurance. A new front wing for a Ferrari will cost many times as much as a wing for a Toyota Camry. The insurance companies will be expected to play for this wing should you have an accident, so they will expect you to pay more to cover the risk.

In the end will probably always buy your dream car, but you should always consider your car insurance needs before, not after, making a purchase.