Having a car as a student is a real bonus, but being a university student isn’t cheap, what with the tuition fees, accommodation costs and all those books you need to buy. Car insurance might not be very high up your list of priorities but if you’ve got a car, you are legally required to insure it. So to stretch your student loan as far as possible, here are 6 ways you could save money on your student car insurance.

1. Shop around for cheap student car insurance

When trying to cut costs as a student, chances are you’ll be looking for cheap car insurance. Unfortunately, as a young driver with less experience, your car insurance is likely to be more expensive but there are ways to help keep costs down.

The first place many people turn to is a car insurance comparison site. When comparing car insurance it’s tempting to look for the cheapest deal available but always remember to check what you’re covered for.

All policies with insurethebox are comprehensive and offer loads of extra benefits including:

  • A telematics box fitted at no extra cost
  • Theft recovery and Accident Alert
  • Rewards for safe driving

2. Check the insurance group when looking to buy a car

When you first start looking at cars it’s important to get some insurance quotes first. Each car is put into a car insurance group – usually the lower the group number, the less expensive the insurance. Checking the cost of insurance for a car before you buy it will help you to choose the right car for your budget.

3. Make your car as secure as possible

Student accommodation isn’t always in the best area of town. If you live in an area with a high crime rate it can affect your car insurance premium. It might be a good idea to look for a car that has an immobiliser and alarm, as this can help to lower your premium.

4. Choose low mileage car insurance

When getting a car insurance quote, you are asked for how many miles you drive in the year. This is because statistically the less you’re on the road, the less likely you are to make a claim. With insurethebox you choose how many Policy Miles you need: either 6,000, 8,000 or 10,000 miles. A low mileage car insurance policy could be a good option for you if you’re a student who may not drive very far, or very often.

5. Add a named driver

It can be cheaper to add an older, more experienced driver to your policy as a named driver. However, this is entirely different from driver “fronting”, which is when you are the main driver of the car, but you take out a car insurance policy with a more experienced driver as the main driver and you as the named driver in order to lower your premium. This is against the law and can leave the car uninsured in the event of an accident. This would expose the policyholder to the possibility of having to meet the costs of a claim themselves, as well as resulting in a motoring conviction.

6. Drive safely

At insurethebox, we reward safe drivers. The black box measures your driving behaviour, such as your speed, total mileage and how smoothly you drive. Driving positively could earn you up to 100 Bonus Miles each month, and collecting them throughout the year could save you money at renewal.

Fact: 72% of insurethebox customers aged 17-25 save more than £200 at renewal.*

But remember… always tell the truth

Driver fronting

As discussed in point 5, driver fronting is falsely registering an older driver (often a parent) as the main driver of the car. This is against the law and could invalidate your policy.

Address fronting

This is when the address listed on the policy is not where the car is usually kept. For example, a student policyholder might provide their parents’ address rather than their university address when they buy the policy to try and cut costs. This is also illegal and could invalidate the policy. And don’t forget – our black box can identify location so we can easily verify whether the address provided is correct.
*Source: insurethebox internal data, correct as of July 2015