Looking after your money can be a tough task at the best of times, especially when you’re having to worry about taking out yearly car insurance. Typically, insurance for young people and students is expensive and reasonably hard to get; this is because students (and generally anyone under 21) are seen as being far more high risk than other social groups. Students are particularly affected as they often live in high crime areas, which will inevitably push up insurance premiums.
Whilst the impulse may be to just go for the cheapest insurance policy you can find, it would probably be advisable to pay the same level of attention to your policy as you do to its’ price. You need to make sure that the policy you choose is right for your circumstances, and that you’re choice isn’t based entirely on price.
It’s fair to say however that most students will be choosing their policy based on bottom line price, as this is the most pertinent element. With that in mind, let’s look at some of the ways students can save money on vehicle insurance.
An easy piece of advice is to try and think about your cover when buying your car in the first place. You might want to get something small and fast, but you qualifying factors should be small engine, no modifications and in a low insurance band, as these will save you considerable amounts in the future.
Try and keep your car as secure as possible; if you’re student accommodation has a garage, you should use it to keep your car locked up. This diminishes the potential of your car being stolen or vandalised and will cause your annual cost to drop.
You could also agree driving limits with your insurers, such as only driving a certain amount of hours per month, or agreeing not to drive during rush hour. Insurers like this as it diminishes the chances of an accident or claim if they can minimise your use of your vehicle, this will lead to your premium dropping in most cases. You could even try short term car insurance and/or one day insurance, as this is hugely cheaper and if you’re only going to be using your car during specific periods, may well be a good option.
You should also take the pass pluss test, which will usually save you around 10% (or more) on your yearly premium.
Whichever option you decide to take, ensure you get a good number of quotes; most companies will offer an instant car insurance quote and with this and price comparison websites, you should find you’ll be able to find the cheapest option available to you.


