Factors affecting premium

Insurance companies determine your premium based on risk factors. Sounds technical but this just means that they look at lots of different facts about drivers - and using historical data and boring statistics - calculate how likely different groups of people are to have accidents or make claims.

Factors that affect car insurance premiums include:

  1. Age: Car insurance is generally cheaper as you get older because older people tend to have less accidents and convictions than younger drivers.
  2. Vehicle type: We know that someone driving a 'hot hatch' or a souped-up car is more likely to have an accident than someone driving a bog standard family car. Equally, whether you are male or female, car insurance is always more expensive for more desirable cars because they're more likely to be the target of thieves.
  3. Location: Sad but true - some places are significantly more risky in terms of theft and accidents. As a broad rule, car insurance is more expensive in cities than rural areas, but risk factors are calculated right down to each individual postcode. Storing your car in a garage will often reduce premiums over street parking.

What can you do to reduce your premiums? Choosing our female-friendly car insurance is one good way to make sure you're getting the best value but there are other steps you can take to minimise your car insurance premiums. (See section - Cheaper car insurance.)

Insurance groups explained

Even a female-friendly insurance company like ours needs to use insurance groups for cars, in order to manage the risk of theft or an accident. For example a souped-up hot hatch is more likely to be stolen and more likely to be involved in an accident than a small-engined family saloon, so hot hatches find themselves in higher insurance groups.

There are currently 20 motor insurance groups for cars. The lower the number, the least risk your car is deemed to have.

How do you know which motor insurance groups apply to which cars?

If you are thinking about buying a new car and want to know which car groups apply to which models, the dealer will be able to tell you – or you can use various independent sources: Insurance groups are listed in most car magazines or you can use the search facility at the Association of British Insurers website.