4 Tips To Cut Your Car Insurance Costs
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Nobody gives much thought to car insurance because having it is as natural as having to fuel your car. In fact, to get your road tax renewed, you require a car insurance policy.
Car insurance makes up the largest expense many car owners will fork out annually for as long as he or she owns the car. This can be a significant amount depending on the price of the car.
There are some ways that can help you cut cost on your car insurance policy.
1. Keep a clean slate
The more road accidents an individual has, the higher his or her car insurance will be. If you are a careful driver and have never had an accident in your current car, you are entitled for a No Claim Discount (NCD), which can be as high as 55% off your policy price. It pays to drive safe.
According to PIAM (Persatuan Insurans Am Malaysia), there are different NCD rates for private and commercial vehicles. Here’s how NCD is calculated.
| Period of insurance (with no claims) | ||
| First year | ||
| 2 years | ||
| 3 years | ||
| 4 years | ||
| 5 years | ||
| After 5 years |
2. Be careful about under or over-insurance
Car insurance can be a confusing thing and most people just leave it to their insurance agent to get their car insurance. However, do you know you can adjust your insured amount based on the balance of your loan and the market value of your vehicle. If you would like to lower your premium, you can lower your insured amount to cover the loan balance.
However, remember that cheap doesn’t always mean good and lowering your insured amount too much isn’t always the wisest decision. If you under insure your vehicle, you may end up forking out money to pay for damages that cannot be covered by your policy in the event of an accident.
3. Select your vehicle carefully
Buying a brand new, luxurious car sounds great but insuring it can be a pain due to the expensive car price.
Sometimes, getting a second-hand car can help lower your car insurance premium significantly. For example, here’s an example of how the annual motor insurance premium of a car will decrease according to the car’s value over 5 years.
| Period of insurance (with no claims made) | Car value | Insurance premium |
|---|---|---|
| First year | RM56,469 (new) | RM1,261 (first year) |
| Second to fifth year | RM35,744 - RM21,490 (est) | RM2,573 (2nd to 5th year) |
4. Drop unnecessary coverage
When it comes to insurance, it is always a just-in-case scenario. Nobody can predict if or when an accident will occur. However, you can always opt to drop unnecessary coverage, such as collision protection if you are driving an old vehicle, or car accessories coverage.
Even though getting a car insurance is compulsory, more thoughts should be put into selecting the best insurance policy for your car at the lowest cost.
Looking for a comprehensive car insurance policy? Compare the best car insurances in Malaysia and renew now with our car insurance renewal tool.
This article was first published in October 2013 and has been updated for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
