Car Insurance article hub for all people.

When it comes to reducing your car insurance premiums you can do a lot to help yourself. However one of the biggest ways in which you can make savings is by choosing to look around for your car insurance. Not only should you shop around, but the best place to look for your car insurance is by doing so online.

Reducing your car insurance premiums isn’t really all that hard just type in the words “car insurance” on any popular search engine and it will give you a huge range to choose from. Of course while this is the best place to look when it comes to purchasing your car insurance, there are some factors that you should have given some thought to beforehand.

To begin with when it comes to reducing your car insurance some thought should be given as to the type of car that you should get. The smaller the car, the less your car insurance will cost you, if you choose a car with a bigger engine then your premiums will be a lot higher. Another factor to take into consideration when it comes to choosing your car is to avoid buying one which is imported, this is usually because the cost to repair them is more expensive.

The more security features that you install on your car, then the safer it is classed, and as such this can help to bring down your premiums. Many insurers will have listings giving you information on the brands and types of security features that they class as being better than others, simply by installing these you can reduce your car insurance premiums.

One of the biggest ways you can make savings is by having a clean driving record; if you have points on your record then this will boost up the amount that you are quoted for your premium, however when applying for your insurance online it is essential that you be totally honest if you do have points. Read the rest of this entry »

Why Do You need Life Insurance Cover?

Who needs it?

Life Insurance cover provides either a lump sum or an income on the untimely death of an individual. Therefore, anyone who’s death would create a financial loss to another has a need for life insurance cover. This could/should include the following: -

Parties to a Mortgage or indeed a loan (mortgage life insurance cover)

Anyone with dependents (whilst a parent may not work, surely there would be a financial loss if anything were to happen whilst there are young children to be cared for)

Key Individuals. Where a business would suffer financial loss on the death of an essential employee.

In essence any situation where monetary loss would be incurred could possibly have a need for life insurance cover.

630,000 people in the UK will die this year* *source:National Statistics, Winter 2002

Types of Cover

Term Life Insurance

Term life insurance is as it suggests taken out for a specified number of years at outset. With this type of policy you are merely paying for the cover provided based on your age, health and the term. Therefore, it is important to obtain the most competitive Read the rest of this entry »

The life insurance industry is becoming tougher on smokers and those of us who are overweight.

When an insurance company calculates its premiums, it has to work out the risk of you dying whilst the policy is in force. (Or with Critical Illness Insurance, the risk that you will become critically or seriously ill during the policy’s term.) In this context, smoking and obesity have become increasingly important issues.

The life insurance industry pointedly ignores the views of some Pro Smoking Pressure Groups which argue that smokers under the age of 40 have around the same probability of dieing as non smokers. David Pickett, Life Insurance Manager at Sainsbury’s spoke for the insurance industry when he confirmed “Health risks associated with smoking can have a big effect on life cover costs. It is vital for those who have kicked the habit to review their policies”.

Just how big an effect smoking has on life insurance costs was highlighted in a recent snapshot study by www.express-life-insurance.co.uk. This found that the average smoker paid 56% more than a non-smoker. The study was based on nine of the UK’s top insurance companies and examined the premiums quoted for two men aged 30 asking for ?100,000 cover over 25 years. The only difference between the application details was that one was a smoker and the other wasn’t.

The life insurance industry has also recently tightened its belt on the overweight members of society. Previously, only people with a Body Mass Index of 33 or more were considered as overweight. This level has now been reduced by 16%. Now anyone with a BMI of 28 or more is likely to face premiums loaded by 50%. If you’re anxious to know whether that includes you, you’ll need a calculator! BMI is calculated by dividing your weight in kilos by your height in meters and the result squared.

So if you’re intending to apply for life insurance is may be as well to loose a few pounds first – oops kilos - and they’re much harder to lose than pounds!

It’s not quite so straightforward for smokers. To qualify as a non-smoker, most insurance companies insist that you must not have “smoked or otherwise consumed any form of nicotine products during the previous 12 months.” Indeed, some companies go further and extend the qualifying period to 5 years! Read the rest of this entry »

More and more people are buying life insurance online and the numbers seem to be doubling every two years. The reasons are clear. Prices are lower on the Internet and life insurance is fundamentally a simple insurance product.

Despite the underlying simplicity of life insurance, most web sites channel their online clients through a telephone based help and advice service manned by experienced personnel. They represent your safety net so if a little technical knowledge is called for, help is at hand.

But it’s always a good idea to have a few Top Tips in your back pocket when you’re shopping online for life insurance. They’ll help you ask the right questions and find the best policy.

1. Always have your Life Insurance policy “Written in Trust”.

This means that in the event of a claim, the money goes directly and immediately to the person(s) you nominate when you first take the policy out. It also avoids all possibility of your estate having to pay Inheritance Tax on the proceeds of your policy and that could represent a 40% tax saving !

All you have to do is tell the online brokerage organising your policy that you want your policy “Written in Trust” and the names of the people who the life insurance company pay in the event of a claim. They will then sort it all out for you. The extra good news is that this service is invariably free of charge. So it’s a win win situation and there aren’t many of those around these days !

2. In the early years a Reviewable Life Insurance Policy will be cheaper but a Guaranteed Policy will work out a better buy in the longer term.

With a “Guaranteed Policy” the insurance company guarantees never to increase your policy’s premium.

With a “Reviewable Policy” you agree that your insurance company can review the cost of your policy at regular intervals. But don’t be kidded – in our experience a “review” is just another word for a price increase. After all, who’s ever heard of an insurance company passing up a chance to charge you more! The review intervals are usually between 2 to 5 years but this does vary between insurance companies. You will find the details of the review intervals on the documents sent to you before you accept the insurance – these are called The Key Features Documents.

So, comparing otherwise like for like policies, in the early years the premiums for a “Reviewable Policy” will undoubtedly be lower than the premiums for a “Guaranteed Policy”. Thereafter, the premiums for a Reviewable Policy increase eventually catching up with and overtaking, the premium for a “Guaranteed Policy”.

In our experience, you can expect the monthly premiums for a Reviewable Policy to exceed those of a Guaranteed policy in about 7 to 10 years and then within the following 10 years, more than double again. If your budget is currently tight then by all means choose a Reviewable Policy - after all your salary may increase in coming years and ease the strain. On the other hand, if the premiums for a Guaranteed Policy are affordable, we think they represent your best buy. Read the rest of this entry »

When you go to the bank to get a mortgage, you’ll inevitably be asked to take out mortgage insurance. The idea behind mortgage insurance is simply that if something happens to you or your spouse then your loan will be paid off which is good news for your family and the bank. Most financial institutions act like they are doing you a favor by offering you mortgage insurance through their own group plan, but are they?

The truth is that you could probably get a much better deal and at least an equal amount of protection by shopping around for your own insurance policy.

Essentially, mortgage insurance is no different than term-life insurance. With both, your policy only lasts for a specified period of time and pays its benefits if something happens to you or your spouse. The real difference comes down to how much control you’ll have over your policy and how much you’ll pay for it.

If you choose to use the mortgage insurance offered by the bank, you will not be able to customize a policy to fit your needs and you’ll be lumped together with other borrowers under a group plan. Because of this, you will only have limited control over your policy. For example, through a third party provider, you would be able to choose your own beneficiary, decide how to spend the proceeds if necessary, and cancel the policy at any time. You would not have these options with a lending institution.

Additionally, the bank maintains the right to not renew your policy and to cancel the policy when you sell the house. If you find your own insurance provider, you can make those decisions yourself.

The other big difference is cost. A third party insurance policy’s premiums will not go up, so you would pay the same premium today that you’d pay ten years from now. You won’t get that same guarantee from a bank which can and probably will increase your premiums during the life of the policy. In most cases, you’ll probably pay more through a bank anyway. In fact, you could pay as much as 40% more than you would if you shopped around and found your own insurance provider. Not to mention that the policy you take out through your bank will gradually decrease in value while a plan you select from an outside source will be worth the same amount during the entire policy period. Read the rest of this entry »