Behind the Wheel’s Simon Lai talks annoying advertisements in his quest to find cheaper car insurance.
The other day I decided to change my car insurance provider. A big step I know.
After more than 10 years of loyalty to a particular company (not naming names), I’d had enough of ever increasing fees and decided to make the switch.
My car gets limited use, I have a good driving record, I’m not in my 20’s anymore and I live in a fairly safe area. So I couldn’t understand why I was paying so much.
Nowadays there’s a whole host of budget car insurance companies serving as an alternative to the bigger, more established companies. Supermarket giant Coles has also got in on the act, flooding our TV screens with their grating ‘little red quote’ commercials.
These companies want your business and this was obvious (with the one I dealt with), in their delivery of quality customer service.
Also, they may be willing to lower the fee even further to get you in the door as a first time customer. In my case, I was hesitant in my decision about the starting date of the policy and they dropped it a further $30. Don’t be afraid to ask!
So in the end, I managed to reduce my policy rate by more than half which I think is a pretty good deal.
Insurance, along with tax returns and bank accounts aren’t things you want to think about too often. Good news is, there are ways to make it less painful.
Ever notice that commercial with the really irritating meerkat with a Russian accent, sporting a dressing gown? Well, I actually paid attention to the ad for once and he’s advertising insurance comparison website comparethemarket.com.au.
There are a number of other comparison sites which help cut out the effort of researching quotes yourself and allow users to compare rates from different insurance companies and see how they stack up against your own.
So, definitely shop around and you might save yourself some cash.
However, the devil is in the detail. Some policies may be cheaper than your current, but make sure you read the fine print and be aware of what coverage you’re actually getting for your money.