Save Money on Classic Car Insurance by Changing Your Lifestyle

Great money saving tips on how, if you make a few changes to the way you live, you could save a fortune each year on specialist car insurance!

Classic Car Insurance - Change Your Lifestyle and Save Money on your annual premiums
By Dave Healey

Change your lifestyle and you will be eligible to apply for all sorts of non standard specialist car insurance that is tailored to a particular genre or lifestyle group or club. The lifestyle factor is more predominant in the calculation and issuing of policies for classic cars than in any other form of specialist motor underwriting.

Classic car insurance policies are now based primarily upon usage limits and consequently tend to reflect the fact that classic cars are used differently than a normal everyday car, although the types of use social, domestic, pleasure, business and commuting, or for hire and racing, will still apply. Many a beloved classic motor will stay under wraps in the garage for many a month and is only brought out and paraded for special occasions and events.

The range, length and risk of these events will undoubtedly determine the level of price for a specialist classic car policy. Such events can be as innocuous as local classic car club meetings at predetermined destinations, fun runs, treasure hunts, vintage runs, air shows and displays, national classic rallies, film shoots, motor shows, trade shows or as extreme and heavy premium carrying as classic car racing or hill climbing.

Most specialist motor underwriters therefore appreciate that you may need a more tailored and flexible type of car insurance for a classic car, one that allows you to fit the policy around what is effectively your lifestyle risk. Your risk levels are calculated upon the way you use the classic car and the number of miles distance you cover in that car each year. These so called rating factors are adapted to play a much larger role in the calculation of a classic car insurance premium than the traditional factors that weigh heavily in standard car insurance premium calculation, such as Age or Gender.

Price has tended in the past not to be a large driver in the classic car insurance market, where quality of cover for cherished vehicles has always been seen as the primary marketing message. Underwriters have appreciated that the classic car is quite often considered as a 'baby' within the family unit and may in the past have taken advantage of the irrationality when considering price. However the introduction of many classic car insurance comparison websites on the Internet means that premium levels can no longer be ignored and that customers now rightly demand service and cover for their specialist car insurance lifestyle vagaries, at the right price.

It is now possible to obtain tailored online cover for even the most obscure car marque and the introduction of online underwriting has introduced a welcome level of competition into what had become a stagnant market. Group and affinity market buying power has also helped stimulate growth and push premium prices down through bulk buying power schemes. Whatever aspirations you may hold as a classic car owner it appears that with technology you are more increasingly likely to be judged financially by your lifestyle than its trappings that you must insure.

Dave Healey is a specialist motor underwiter who has been underwriting Classic Car Insurance polices at Lloyds for over thirty years.

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Comparing quotes for Classic Car Insurance online

Welcome to our new blog about specialist car insurance. We open with one of our guest writers who is a specialist in classic car insurance

How To Compare Classic Car Insurance Online

Author: Dave Healey

Comparing car insurance online can be a minefield for any people, with so many options available online at the click of a mouse, it is often confusing, a problem that is exacerbated if you own a classic car and require specialist car insurance.

So how do you choose firstly a website, then a company, then the policy, that is going to be right for your prized possession, your cherished classic car?

You could like the majority of people start off by visiting a large car insurance comparison site, such as the ones you will see advertising during virtually every commercial break on television. don't expect to find any bargains at these types of sites. They are designed around standard polices for standard vehicles, and although many of these sites willl now quote for classic cars, the premiums are often heavily loaded and more often far from competitive. Having spent time filling out the application form online it can be disappointing to find that most companies on the comparison panel are refusing to quote for your particular classic, or have loaded the premium as the do not want your business. For the majority of the large car insurance companies, classic cars mainly equate to expensive claims, and not profitable target business.

When comparing what can at first appear to be, cheap classic car insurance through one of thee large supermarket distribution outlets, be very careful to read all the wordings in the small print, paying particular close attention to the information regarding claims.

If you own a classic car you need to ascertain that in the event of an accident your classic car will be taken to a specialist or maker approved repairer and that only genuine replacement parts will be used on your car to repair it. Unfortunately you will find that most mainstream car insurers have a network of approved repairers nationwide, and will often insist that cars covered under their policy contracts must be repaired through these outlets. In situations such as this, what appeared to be a bargain cheap car insurance deal at source, could prove to be a very expensive mistake.

The solution to the problem is to approach a specialist car insurer or broker, in particular one who has experience in underwriting classic motors, and preferably has a large book of business of classic car insurance. Unlike in many other professions for example healthcare, a specialist in car insurance is often cheaper than the High Street names and offer better value quality cover that can be tailored to the requirements of your specific classic car make and model. By specialising in a particular market niche these car insurers have developed group schemes for virtually every type of classic. By joining one of these schemes you are joining a risk pool of like minded individuals and similar cars. The specialist car insurer is able to determine more accurate rates for a particular classic and you will also benefit from the power of group buying which delivers economies of scale in the form of shared risks and cheaper premiums.

About the Author:

With the demand for specialist car insurance rising, there are now many websites where you can compare car insurance online and specifically specialist schemes, covers, and rates for classic car insurance. When comparing both covers and premiums it is essential that you make comparisons on a like for like or similarity basis, including the arrangements for settling a claim.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - How To Compare Classic Car Insurance Online