How To Pick The Best Over 50 Car Insurance Policy
Last Modified 16th of February 2021
If you are over 50 (or you’re shopping for car insurance on behalf of someone who is) you (or they) probably have many years of driving experience. Older drivers are usually calm and conscientious on the roads, they tend to drive more sensibly than younger drivers and thanks to their years of experience and more attentive driving style they are usually less likely to crash. All of this means that if you are a 50 something mum, you will probably be able to insure yourself much more cheaply than your 18 year old son can. Even if your car is faster and more expensive. But let’s face it, insurance is always too expensive and ok so you’re not paying £1,500 a year, but you’d probably still like to get the best policy and the best price right? Make Sure You Shop Around Younger drivers with their high premiums have to shop around because not doing so could cost them more than they can afford. If you are paying relatively small premiums anyway, and if money is not too tight, you might not think it’s worth it – it almost certainly is though. A simple search on a price comparison site could save you at least £100, maybe more, and for 30 minutes work I’d say that’s worth it. Your Insurance Might Be About To Rise After December the 21st it will be illegal for insurance companies to discriminate over gender, which means that if you are female you might find yourself paying more than you used to. The reason being, female drivers are statistically less likely to crash and have until now been cheaper to insure as a result. Of course if you are male the cost of your insurance should also come down to level things out, however; because men are more risky drivers on average your premiums can’t drop too far, otherwise you simply won’t be profitable to insure any more. This means that women’s premiums are likely to go up by more than men’s drop by. Some insurance commentators think that women’s premiums will go up by up to 30% and that men’s premiums will only drop by 10%. Another Risk For Older Drivers A recent change in insurance law means that every vehicle which is taxed and ‘on the road’ must be insured. Or in other words if your insurance runs out you must either re-insure it or declare it off the road. If you have a car that you don’t use all that often, make sure it is either insured very cheaply or that you declare it off the road whilst you are not using it. You could consider sharing a car with a friend, neighbour or family member in order to make insuring it more economical. This is a particular concern to older and perhaps retired drivers as you may not necessarily think about your car except for the rare occasions when you do use it, but if you are not insured you could get a written warning or a fine and eventually even be prosecuted. Getting The Best Policy When it comes to actually take out your policy you will hopefully use a comparison site, but don’t forget to compare like for like. Not all insurance policies are the same and whilst younger drivers might want to do everything they can to save some money, older drivers can afford to be a little bit picky. Some things to look out for are things like your excess. A higher excess will save you money of course, but a lower excess gives you peace of mind that if you are involved in an accident you won’t be taking a hit to the pocket as well. Courtesy cars are another thing to consider – for younger drivers an accident is an inconvenience, but if you rely on your car for commuting to work or picking up the kids from school being without a vehicle for a few weeks could be a nightmare. Making sure your policy covers you for a courtesy car and potentially for other expenses incurred is vital. Customer service is a matter of preference; if you are keen to save money then you might just go with the cheapest quote you find, but if your policy is pretty cheap anyway you might well find it’s worth an extra £20 a year to ensure you get covered by a company with UK call centres!
