A Guide to Keeping Van Insurance Premiums Down

What You Need to Know

Be sure to shop around. Don’t simply accept your renewal quote, always compare the van insurance market.
Bear in mind that owning a van more powerful than you require will not only cost you more in fuel, the insurance premium will also be higher.
Making your van more secure by parking in a garage rather than on the street will have a significant impact on the premium you pay.
By offering to pay a higher excess in the event that you have to claim, you can reduce your premium considerably.
Taking advanced driving courses will make you appear like less of a risk to insurers and get you a lower premium.
In some cases you may find comprehensive cover is actually cheaper than a simple third party policy.
Paying your premium as a one off lump sum payment is cheaper overall than spreading the cost across the year.

If you want to drive a van on Britain’s roads, having insurance is a legal requirement, you absolutely have to have it. What you don’t need is to pay over the odds. Luckily, there are a few simple steps you can take to drive your van insurance premiums down. Here’s are guide on how to go about saving yourself a pretty penny;

Shop Around

Given that anyone watching TV for more than five minutes is likely to be harangued by advertisements telling them to compare insurance quotes, this may seem obvious, but a surprising number of people simply accept the renewal quote given to them by their current provider. If you put in the effort to compare van insurance quotes, you’ll very likely make a decent saving. Even if you don’t want to go through the hassle of actually switching to another provider, you can threaten to take your business elsewhere as a way of leveraging a better premium.

Own the Right Van

Make sure your van matches your needs. If you have a bigger, more powerful van than you need, you’ll pay more in fuel and, likewise, your insurance premium will be higher. You can also reduce your premium by switching to an older, less valuable model of van than you are currently using.

Up Your Security

The more secure your van is the lower your premium will be. A number of factors affect how an insurance company will judge how securely your van is kept. Two of the most important are where you keep it, and whether or not you have any additional security devices fitted to it. If you have access to a garage this will have a noticeable impact on your premium, as the risk of theft is significantly lower than for a vehicle parked in the open.

Choose a Higher Excess

Going for a higher excess is a great way to drive down your insurance premiums, especially as claiming for small amounts can lead to higher premiums in future and invalidate no-claims bonuses anyway.

This means you may have to shell out more of your own money in the event that you do need to make a major claim, however, it is a great way of spreading costs against the risk that you may never actually have to claim on your policy.

Make Yourself Less of a Risk

There are many things you can do to make yourself appear to be a more competent driver and a lower risk to insurers. The most basic is to avoid getting points on your license. Just two speeding convictions can ramp up your premium by as much 20%.

Going beyond that, you can take an advanced driving course, which will increase your ability to drive in testing conditions. Similarly, if you’re new to driving, you can take a Pass Plus qualification, which will help you avoid some of the high costs associated with insuring new drivers.

Alert Insurers to Changes in Circumstances

Even if you simply change address, you need to keep insurance companies abreast of changes to your circumstances. If you don’t you may end up invalidating your policy and could even end up being accused of making a fraudulent claim, the consequences of which could be far reaching.

Third Party Insurance

In some cases opting for a third party only policy may reduce your premium, however, this is not always the case and such a policy will leave you uncovered for accidental damage to your own vehicle.

For instance, if you are considered to be a low risk driver you may actually find that comprehensive cover is cheaper than a third party policy. This is because many insurance firms believe that drivers opting for third party options care less about their cars and are therefore more likely to drive recklessly.

Lump Sum Payments

If you can gather up the funds, you may find insurers will give you a lower premium if you are able to pay it all at once in a single lump sum, rather than spreading out payments in monthly instalments across the year.