Are you looking to save money now that the festive season is over. What would you say if we told you that you could save money on car insurance?

We know that all the TV adverts are saying they can save you money on your insurance - and they can. With a little bit of research, it can be done. And luckily for you, we’ve done that research.

With the European Union changing car insurance laws, preventing companies from pricing quotes based on people’s gender, surely it is more important than ever to find all the saving you can on your car insurance. We’ve found ten ways that might just help you do that.

Search

It may sound obvious, but research is a powerful ally in your battle against the monstrous car insurance companies. It may take a little bit more time, but look around at all the different companies out there. Renewing with the same company year after year may give you piece of mind, but it may not save you money. If you have a look at comparison websites, they will give quotes from hundreds of different companies, allowing you to see the full range of policies available to you.

That can be taken further by comparing the comparison sites with each other. For instance, out of five of the major ones we looked at, both Confused.com and Comparethemarket.com said the cheapest quote they could give was from LV.com. However, even they differed.

While Confused.com were willing to quote £535 to buy car insurance from Liverpool Victoria, Comparethemarket.com wanted to give the policy for almost a third more at £763.79. Whereas, the less well-known comparison site, Tiger.co.uk wanted £1071.92 for the same information from Hastings Direct. Surprisingly, Moneysupermarket.com gave its cheapest quote from the same company at £411.

So as we’ve seen, it really does pay to shop around and compare the market...

Going direct is not always the best policy

In other cases, it is better to compare the market of comparison sites to see what is out there and then go to the cheapest quote on there directly to see if you can save even more money. However, in this case, going to LV directly wasn’t beneficial. They offered £815.57 for the year. So, it is to your advantage to shop around.

However, the comparison sites don’t give you a quote for every single car insurance company out there - even some of the big ones. For example, Direct Line. As it advertises, 'we are not on comparison websites so come to us directly.'

Nevertheless, just watch out for this because by going directly to somewhere like Direct Line, can sting you badly. For the same information we gave the comparison sites, Direct Line said it would give us a policy for £2335 per year. You may not pay your insurance in full, but this is still nearly £200 a month more, whereas you could be paying more than half that by sifting through a few websites.

Nonetheless, never rule out going straight to the company themselves; they could be another money-saving source.

Get Your Own Back

Once you have found your cheapest car insurance quote - in this case £411 from Hastings Direct - you can get even more back by buying it normally through a cashback site. If you register with a cashback website, such Top Cashback, which is free to register and returns all the money that is commissioned to the website, straight into your bank account.

So, if you chose to buy the Hastings Direct quote through TopCashback.com, you would get £30 back, actually making the quote £381. You could also compare the cashback websites to see which one would give the most money back. But that’s another article altogether.

Make your job work you

As well as contrasting each car insurance company’s policy to get you the best deal, and getting money back from it, there could be something you have that you didn’t know could work in your favour to help you save money on insurance - your job.

Some money-saving occupations include those in the education profession, such as college professors and school teachers, who may be eligible for a discount with many car insurance companies. Scientists, engineers and military service personal qualify for the privilege of reduced insurance. Doctors, nurses, surgeons and other medical professionals are entitled to discounts too.

Emergency services workers such as police officers, firemen and other medical technicians are also able to acquire cheaper policies as they are on the roads all day but not always on the roads at peak times when most accidents happen. A 5 per cent discount is open to these life-savers.

With this in mind, we thought we would test this theory out. And, it is true. Paramedics get a dramatically reduced rate. Whereas a normal, nine-to-five office worker will be asked for anything ranging from £415 to £2335, someone who sits behind the wheel to earn money can pay as little as £535.

Wisdom Comes With Age?

According to the MoneySavingExpert.com, adding a more experienced, second driver to the policy of a driver who is under 25 can save money. The reasoning behind it is, that if you have got a more experienced driver with a good record tagged on as an additional driver on the car insurance document of a young driver, it can level out the risk that that he or she potentially carries in the insurers’ eyes. However, when we tried to see exactly how money we could save by doing this, the opposite happened - the prices rocketed.

We had managed to reduce an annual policy right down to a few hundred pounds by using comparison websites coupled with cashback websites. But, by adding an apparently, low risk named driver into the mix (and by low risk, we mean having driven for a long time, with no convictions or claims), the quotes, strangely, increased dramatically. The lowest we could find was nearly £800 under Admiral on Confused.com. And, buying it through Top Cashback didn’t help either as they quoted nearly £1000. At least it wasn’t as expensive as Direct Line, who wanted double that at £2221.

All we can say about this particular ‘money-saving’ technique is give it a go. You may be able to save money somewhere.

Hold Your Horses

One bone fide way of saving money, or certainly not spending any more, is by using services such as the Post Office and Aviva to buy your car insurance. This is because they keep your quote locked for a certain amount of time. Aviva hold it for 90 days, while the Post Office secure your quote for 60 days.

So, that means it will not rise for the allocated time. However, it does almost mean that they cannot fall either, and considering both quotes were around £1500, you might not want them to hold it for you. It does give you piece of mind that you won’t lose it if you do find the cheapest quote on one of the websites but can’t pay for it there and then, or just simply want to do more research.

The Post Office do try and sweeten the deal slightly, by adding in complimentary Roadside and Recovery breakdown cover to clinch the deal.

Haggle

Like with anything to do with paying bills, it isn’t always wise to renew your policy with the same company without seeing what else is out there, as the differing results of the comparison sites showed. This was proven further when figures showed a 17 per cent increase in premiums in 2012. But, again, with a little of time and patience to troll through the internet and compare these prices with a few companies on the phone, you could make a massive saving.

A Diamond.co.uk policy-holder managed to get a renewal price of £500. On the other hand, a new customer was quoted less than £180 for the year, by going directly through the website. So, it may be yet another painstaking part of saving money on car insurance but if you can do it, you can save an awful lot of pounds. Surprisingly, the female-specific company couldn’t be matched against its competitors as it didn’t appear on any of the comparison sites.

Beat the Prices with a Black Box

It is a relatively new technology and isn’t just aimed at young drivers. Black boxes are there to try and save you money on your insurance. It might be a little bit off-putting initially to think that you’re being monitored while driving but if you are confident that you are a careful driver and should be rewarded with cheaper insurance policies, then a black box might be the answer to your money-saving prayers.

A little tracking gadget is fitted to the vehicle in order to pick up information not only the big things such as the amount of miles you cover, what time of day the car is being driven, your location and your driving style but also the more minute aspects of your driving. For example, it will register how rapidly or smoothly you accelerate, brake and take corners.

Despite the concept still being in its infancy, many companies, including the AA and Admiral have taken it on board. Unsurprisingly, insurance premiums plummetted even further to £280 from Liverpool Victoria through Confused.com. It may also be worth looking at the AA’s version of a 'black box' under their Drivesafe scheme as it works in exactly the same way as other telematics, as well as doubling up as a theft-tracker if your car gets stolen.

Don’t Be Broke, Go to a Broker

Not being in the typical bracket of driver can make it difficult to get a cheap car insurance quote. For example, being a young, inexperienced driver, having a classic car, or living in a location with a reputation of high crime, can all be factors which make insurers wary and hike their prices up. Therefore, it can sometimes work to your advantage to have a middle man - a broker

British Insurance Brokers’ Association (www.biba.org.uk) is yet another comparison site - but one with a difference. Instead of compiling prices from insurers, they find the nearest brokers to you, in order to get the cheapest quote they can. Although, from the sites we used, prices were still in the thousands of pounds bracket. Nevertheless, it another one of those tips that may still work for you.

Low Risk, Low Premium

While all the above tips will help you to save wads of wonga, it is best to start off on a good foot to begin with.

Keeping your risk, in the eyes of insurance companies, low before trying all the tricks and tips we’ve mentioned, is a great start. For example, if you don’t drive too many miles a year, keep your car in a secure place like a garage overnight and have an alarm and/or tracker fitted, all show the insurance company that you are a careful and considerate driver, who is less likely to have an accident. This will automatically decrease your quote before you’ve even thought about using comparison sites, brokers, cashback sites and telematics.

So, in conclusion, if you follow all, or even just some of these ten commandments of car insurance saving techniques, you will save money on your car insurance.