Car Insurance Premium, Insurance Policy

Age and Experience: If you're a newly qualified driver, under the age of 25, or both, you are deemed to be of a higher risk than other motorists by insurance companies, and as such you will have to pay more for the same cover. The younger and therefore less experienced you are, the more you should expect to pay; this also applies to any policies you are added to as a named driver.

No-claims history: It's simple: the less you cost your insurance company, the less they charge you. Most companies will give you a discount for every year you don't make a claim, usually up to a maximum of five - and this is transferrable across insures as well if you decide to switch.

Occupation: Your profession can alter the cost of your car insurance as well; for example a teacher will generally find cover to be cheaper than a taxi driver as the insurance company makes an assumption based on previous statistics as to how well that person will drive. Journalists, for example, will struggle to get cheap car insurance as it is assumed that their driving style will not be as safe as others.

Excess: This is how much your car insurance provider will expect you to pay before they will contribute to your repair bill. As a rule, the more money you're prepared to stump up yourself, the lower your premium - although there is a 'tipping point' where increasing your excess will not affect the premium.
Ways you can lower your car insurance premium

It is always worth checking how different insurers deal with no-claims discounts; most offer 30% discount for a year's no claims, increasing to around 65% after four to five years, but some will offer bigger discounts early on, or offer a larger discount for a clean five-year record.

Attending a special course such as the Pass Plus or Institute of Advanced Motoring course can save you money on your cover, as well as making you a better driver. Although these courses can be quite expensive, the saving made in premiums over the years more than makes them worth the initial outlay.

It is also worth shopping around for your cover each year; you can potentially save hundreds of pounds by changing insurers rather than automatically renewing with your current car insurance provider.