Car insurance is cheaper with 9 points than zero no claims
Motorists who are one step away from a driving ban could be paying less for their car insurance than drivers with zero no-claims discount, new research has revealed.
Insurances quotes were on average nearly 10 per cent cheaper for a typical UK driver with nine points on their license for speeding or other offences compared to those who have a no-claims discount, according to data from Vantage Leasing.
It also found that drivers with six penalty points were cheaper to insure than motorists who had one, two or three years' no-claims bonus.
The leasing specialist analysed which motorists are paying the least on their insurance through a number of factors including occupation, make of car and age.
New: The study found parking on the road was the cheapest due to rise in keyless car attacks
It conducted the research in April 2019 through multiple insurers, using a typical UK male and female driver profile with different variables analysed.
The firm created a typical UK driver profile then researched quotes for every parameter (points on licence, no-claims, occupation, where car is parked) through car insurance comparison websites.
The typical UK driver was found to be a male, 50 year old sales manager who is married and holds a full UK licence.
They rack up on average 15,000 miles per year and the base default was that the typical driver had three points on their licence and five years of no-claims.
The quick way and easy to save on car insurance
We list our ten tips to find the best car insurance deal below - but for a quick money-saver, you should use a comparison site.
If you've not done this before, it could save you hundreds of pounds on a renewal quote.
This is a simple and easy way to compare prices and while results will broadly be the same across most comparison sites, they may slightly differ, so it is worth checking a couple.
Our recommendations of those to try are
> Compare the Market
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Some insurers don't appear on comparison sites and are worth checking directly. The main two are Direct Line and Aviva.
Insurance costs for cars are broken down into car insurance groups, ranging from group one to group fifty with group one the cheapest to insure.
When reviewing their results, it also found that a Skoda Fabia was Britain's cheapest group one car to insure with owners paying an average annual quote of £413.67 a year.
This was followed closely by the Nissan Micra at £417.25 a year and the Seat Mii, which cost on average £459.03 for annual cover.
CHEAPEST CARS TO INSURE Car Average quote 1 SKODA Fabia Petrol 1.0 manual 5dr SE MPI 75 £413.67 2 Nissan Micra 2019 1.0L Manual 5dr VISIA Hatchback £417.25 3 SEAT Mii S 1.0 Manual 3dr S (60) Hatchback £459.03 4 Skoda Citigo Petrol 1.0L Manual 3dr S (60) Hatchback £464.94 5 VW UP Petrol 1.0L Manual 3dr TAKE UP! 60 Hatchback £473.37 6 Chevrolet Spark 1.0L annual 5dr LS Hatchback £489.41 7 Kia Rio 1.2L Manual 5dr 2 Hatchback £491.19 8 Smart FORFOUR PURE Petrol 1.0L £512.14 9 Ford Ka+ 1.2L Manual 5dr STUDIO TI-VCT 70 Hatchback £523.01 10 Hyundai I10 1.0 manual 5dr S Hatchback £567.65 Source: Vantage Leasing
A Skoda Fabia has been found as the cheapest car to insure by Vantage Leasing's study
Vantage Leasing also looked into common misconceptions about methods to reduce insurance costs, including that parking in a locked garage will give you cheaper premiums than leaving your car on the road or driveway.
It found that parking on the road was actually the cheapest option on average, costing nearly 10 per cent less for insurance when compared to leaving a vehicle in a locked garage.
Parking on the road was also found to be marginally cheaper than parking on the driveway.
Car thefts rose by nine per cent last year, a recent Office for National Statistics report revealed, with much of the rise blamed on the recent spike in keyless car theft tactics.
The sharp increase of these thefts, which often use 'transmitter relay' attacks that target cars who have keyless entry systems, could be to blame for lower insurance quotes for cars parked on surrounding roads.
A motorists occupation can also have some impact on insurance quotes with the riskiest jobs meaning quotes come in around 20 per cent more expensive than those that are considered safer.
Computer programmers are among the cheapest to insure, with their insurance costing on average £553.37 a year. This was closely followed by sales executives at £572.44 a year and bookkeepers also at £572.44.
CHEAPEST CAR INSURANCE BY OCCUPATION Occupation Average quote 1 Computer programmer (information technology) £553.37 2 Sales Executive (retailing) £572.44 3 Book-keeper (finance) £572.44 4 Admin officer (retail) £577.22 5 Teacher (education) £592.57 6 Sales assistant (Retail) £613.89 7 Cleaner (cleaning services) £614.46 8 Nurse (health authority) £635.99 9 Care worker (professional NHS) £658.17 10 Catering staff (food store) £659.27 Source: Vantage Leasing
However, catering staff are deemed to be among the riskiest, paying over £100 more a year than programmers at £659.27.
With regards to age, a typical young driver is impacted harder by driving convictions compared to an older driver with their occupation seeing quotes vary as much as 30 per cent.
The average cost of yearly insurance for a typical young driver, which Vantage worked out would be a 21 year old, with nine points is a massive £2,037 whilst for a typical driver, it is £801 - well over a thousand pounds cheaper.
Vantage Leasing Managing Director, Rob Walker, said: 'The research is eye-opening, dispelling common myths including that penalty points could spell disaster when it comes to insurance costs.
'We also see how the latest trends in car crime such as keyless theft can impact how insurers view risk – hence why parking on the road at night is often cheaper.
'While the research shows what a typical male or female driver can expect, it doesn't cover every eventuality, and some may find their circumstances produce different results.
'It does, however, provide some intriguing insights into the ever-evolving nature of vehicle insurance.'
Medical professionals are most at fault...
Another study by Go Compare found that medical professionals have the most at-fault claims.
The comparison site analysed over seven million car insurance quotes from its database across the previous 12 months for people with over 1400 professions.
It found that paediatricians have the highest rate of at-fault claims with 17 per cent having made one or more claim.
Psychiatrists were the second highest with 14 per cent having one or more claim whilst 12.2 per cent of both hospital consultants and surgeons also had one or more claims.
Other occupations in the top ten list included museum consultants, transcribers and vicars.
Go Compare also looked at the top ten occupations of people who have been found using a device when speeding. Psychoanalysts were the worst culprits with 4.3 per cent getting caught.
Dog breeders and pest control were the second and third most guilty parties with 2 per cent of people from both professions being caught in the act.
Lee Griffin, founding member of Go Compare, said: 'Your occupation is one of the key considerations used to calculate the cost of your premium. Ultimately, different professions are deemed riskier than others, so the chances are, if you're a footballer or a GP, you're likely to face higher premiums than a priest.'
