Cutting back on car cover? Don’t get stung by a ‘scorpion' insurer

Your Cover, the new online-only insurance offering from Allianz, is asking the 1 in 10 motorists who intend to cut back on their car insurance cover in 2011 to check and see if they can keep the same level of cover AND save money!

A recent independent survey carried out for Your Cover revealed that in an effort to save money in these difficult financial times, 10 percent of motorists intend to cut back on their insurance expenditure in 2011. Car owners said they intended to:

Remove legal protection or courtesy cars from their policy
Increase their voluntary excess

In many cases, these additional extras are automatically included in insurance packages, so customers don't even get to choose whether they want to pay for them or not.

Your Cover is asking motorists to shop around to see how flexible some insurers can be with their products and who knows, they may be able to maintain their level of cover and save money at the same time, IF they choose the right provider. But beware the choices you make says Andy James, head of direct customer marketing. He said:

"We would advise motorists to think carefully about the kind of car insurance policy they want in terms of cover and to avoid insuring themeselves with a ‘Scorpion' insurer i.e there's a ‘sting in the tail'. For example, a policy may seem cheap, but there is a wide variation in the level of charges imposed by insurers for things like mid-term adjustments, cancellation fees and paying by direct debit. These can all make a policy much more expensive in the long-run.

"51% of the people in our survey said that shopping around online had made it easier to find cheaper insurance. Motor insurance is one area where it is possible to save money and there is

a lot of choice out there. What Your Cover does is allow motorists to build their policy themselves, adding on additional extras such as Legal expenses only if it suits their individual budget and lifestyle needs."