How to Get Cheaper Car Insurance in 2025 - 21 Tips for Lowering Your Premiums

Ever wondered how to get cheaper car insurance? We're here to help. Our 20 top tips will help you to get a car insurance policy that suits your budget without sacrificing cover.

In This Guide:

• 21 ways to get cheaper car insurance
• Use Money Expert to find cheap UK car insurance in 2025

21 ways to get cheaper car insurance

If you're struggling to get affordable car insurance quotes, there are plenty of things you can do to bring insurance costs down. Here are 21 suggestions to help you find the perfect insurance premium for your needs and budget:

1. Shop around 

Whether you’re taking out a new policy or thinking of switching insurers, it’s a good idea to shop around. Every insurer will try and persuade you that they’ve got the perfect policy for you, so the only way to get cover that fits your budget is to do some research and comparison.

Using a comparison service is the fastest, easiest, and most reliable way to do your car insurance research. Answer a few questions, explain the kind of cover you’re looking for, and get a range of quotes to compare within minutes. 

Make sure that you go through each potential policy properly. Look for things like hidden costs and extras such as breakdown services, cancellation fees, and so on. All of these could have an impact on how useful the car insurance cover is for you and how much it could cost you in the future.

2. Check interest rates

Interest rates could hit your wallet hard if you opt for a monthly payment plan. As a general rule, it makes your car insurance cheaper in the long run if you pay annually. But not everyone has big chunks of cash for upfront payments. 

To make sure that you’re not paying way more than you need to with a monthly payment plan, look carefully at the figures when working out how to pay for your new policy.

3. Pick your car carefully

The kind of car you drive is a big factor in finding cheap car insurance. Cars that are seen as less of a risk are cheaper to insure. And by ‘a risk’, insurers mean ‘value’. 

So, while expensive cars might wow your friends and look flashy, they will ultimately cost you a lot more in insurance fees than a cheap, reliable runaround. 

4. Be careful with modifications 

While some modifications (extra security features, for example - more on that in a bit) are seen as making your car less of a risk, others are associated with higher insurance premiums. 

If a modification makes your car more dangerous to drive and/or more attractive to thieves, insurance companies may increase the cost of your premium.

5. Drive carefully

Your driving history works like a credit score for car insurers. If you have committed past driving offences and have points on your licence (or even past disqualifications), insurers will perceive you as more of a risk and raise your car insurance policy quotes. So the more safe and careful you are as a driver, the lower your premiums will be. Maintaining a clean and claim-free driving record is one of the most failsafe ways of getting cheaper car insurance.

6. Take an advanced driver’s course

Building up a clean driving history can take years. What if you need cheaper car insurance right now and you don’t have a clean licence?

Well, taking advanced driving and road safety courses would be a great start. These will both improve your motoring skills (making you less ‘risky’) and prove to insurance companies that you’re serious about careful driving. 

7. Lower your mileage

From the point of view of an insurer, a car that’s not being driven very often is a lower-risk. Every minute that your car is on the road increases the risk of being involved in an accident. So for lower premiums, keep your mileage as low as possible.

The problem with this is that the amount of driving we do can vary massively depending on circumstances. If you suddenly have to drop everything and drive to the other end of the country to help out a relative, that will have an impact on your mileage even if you usually only use the car to nip round the shops once a week. 

For this reason, most car insurance companies will accept estimates of average annual mileage. However, it is important to be honest when making your estimate. If you need to make a claim and your mileage estimate is found to be way out, you risk having your claim refused.

8. Add security features to your car

The more secure your car is, the less of a risk it will be for insurers. So, to bring your car insurance costs down, add security features such as:

• A car alarm
• GPS tracking
• Electric immobilisers
• A steering wheel lock
• Blind spot monitoring
• Tyre locks

Being consistent with basic security precautions, such as always closing and locking doors and windows will also help over time, as it foils attempted theft. This can help you to build up a no-claims bonus. 

9. Consider black box insurance

Black box car insurance uses a device to monitor your driving. It’s a good way to quickly establish that you are a careful, safe driver who’s not lying about their mileage. Black box insurance can be very helpful for new drivers without an established driving history.

Black box monitoring can be done through a physical device or via an app. Your black box will monitor things like your average speed, acceleration, braking, cornering, mileage, and so on. The ‘safer’ your black box metrics are, the lower your premium will be.

10. Raise your credit score

Your vehicle and driving history aren’t the only things that represent a risk to car insurance companies. Your financial history plays a part, too.

If your insurer thinks you’re more likely to make a car insurance claim, they will view you as more of a risk and raise your premiums accordingly. Insurers may take your credit score into account when making this decision, so a good credit score can be very helpful in getting the best car insurance quotes.

Quick ways of improving your credit score include paying your debts regularly and on time, registering on the electoral roll, having a stable home and income, and staying well within your credit limits.

11. Increase your voluntary excess

Increasing your voluntary excess may result in you having to pay more in the event of an accident. But if you have a safe and secure year of driving, increasing your voluntary excess could save you a lot of money in the long run.

Car insurance companies calculate premiums based on the ‘risk’ that they will have to pay out for any potential claims you make in the future. So by increasing your voluntary excess you not only reduce the amount that an insurer may have to pay in the event of a claim, you also show that you’re willing to take financial responsibility for your vehicle. That’s an attitude that insurers like to see.     

12. Add another driver

Fairly or unfairly, a lot of car insurance providers consider newly qualified and elderly drivers to be more of a risk. So, if you are under 25 or over 70, you may well find that it’s harder to get a cheap car insurance policy in the UK.

By adding another driver to your insurance (ideally someone over 25, under 70, and with a good claims history) you could mitigate that risk and help bring your premium down. But bear in mind that not all insurers operate like this, so if this is the tactic you choose be sure to shop around for the best deal.

13. Consider your job title

Your job title can make a big difference to your car insurance premium, especially if you utilise your own car for business use. Insurer data shows clear correlations between certain job titles and amount of claims made, and therefore consider drivers in some professions to be more of a risk than others (for example, a delivery driver who visits a wide range of locations with high-value goods in their car may be a higher security risk than a receptionist who uses their car for a simple daily commute).

So, while you should not lie about your job title (you risk invalidating your insurance if you do), you could benefit from avoiding certain keywords when describing your job. For example, rather than describing yourself as a 'delivery driver' you could accurately describe yourself as a 'courier' or as 'working in logistics'.

14. Build up a no-claims bonus

Insurers operate on the assumption that past behaviour is the best predictor of future behaviour. So, if your past is full of car insurance claims, your premiums are going to be higher. On the plus side, if you have a clean insurance history with no claims on your record you may become eligible for a no-claims bonus.

A no-claims bonus is a great thing to have, as it can save you a lot of money on car insurance payments. The only issue is that it takes time to build up.

If you think you’re eligible for a no-claims bonus, look into it with potential insurers. If you’re not eligible, work on building up a clean driving history in order to save money on car insurance in the future.

15. Get quotes 21 days before the renewal date

Insurance prices aren’t static. They are lower when insurers are competing for your attention, and get higher as renewal becomes more urgent. Research indicates that they tend to be at their lowest around 21 days (three weeks) before your car insurance renewal date when you have plenty of time to shop around but aren’t ‘just browsing’. 

So, don’t leave renewal until the last minute. Pounce on the cheapest car insurance policy quotes three weeks in advance.

16. Run the numbers

Don’t just consider the quote itself when working out how to get cheaper car insurance. Look into everything that’s offered, everything that’s not offered, how payment works, how claims work and so on. Then do some maths.

For example, a car insurance policy that offers additional breakdown cover may appear to be more expensive at first glance. But, in the long run, it could save you a lot of money. Similarly, as we mentioned above, the interest on monthly payments is worth factoring into your sums. 

To truly get the right car insurance for your needs, it’s worth delving a little deeper and running some numbers. 

17. Consider paying as you go

PAYG (Pay-As-You-Go) insurance can be a good option if you have very low mileage or are struggling to find budget-friendly car insurance. Different PAYG insurers operate in different ways, but it commonly works by agreeing to a set insurance rate per mile or per hour spent driving, and paying per mile that you drive. 

Black box car insurance sometimes operates on a PAYG basis, with payment amounts depending on the quality of your driving. 

18. Look for discounts

You may be eligible for discounts, depending on your circumstances. For example, if you have completed a government Pass Plus course, insurers may issue you a discount. Student discounts are also available for some insurers, as are multi-car discounts and occupational discounts (for example, for charity workers).

19. Bundle car insurance in with other policies

It can be cheaper to buy car insurance in a bundle with other policies from the same provider. For example, you might bundle your car insurance in with your homeowner or renter insurance. Many insurers will apply discounts on bundled policies to encourage you to stick with them for all your insurance needs.

20. Don’t pay for policies you don’t need

You can save money by making sure that you're only paying for what you need. For example, if you don't need comprehensive cover, eliminate comprehensive car insurance policies from your searches. If you only need temporary car insurance, carefully check each policy offered to make sure you're not paying beyond your needs.

It can be surprisingly easy to end up paying for more insurance than you need. So be careful with your quote searches, and do proper comparison research before you opt for anything.

21. Avoid automatic renewals

If you don't take steps to change your insurer or policy, most car insurers will automatically renew your policy each year. Sometimes, this can be a good thing, as certain insurers offer loyalty discounts (especially if you've built up a no-claims streak with them). But it's worth checking that auto-renewal is right for you every time your renewal date comes around, as sometimes you can get cheaper car insurance as a new customer with a new insurer.

Use Money Expert to find cheap UK car insurance in 2025

The first step to getting cheaper car insurance is to compare quotes using Money Expert. Simply tell us a few personal details and we'll compare quotes from over 100 insurers to find the best and cheapest options for you.

You could save up to £523 annually by comparing car insurance policies through Money Expert. Try it out today, and start 2025 with cheaper car insurance.