Car insurance deals and online discounts

One of the most common types of car insurance deals you’ll see in-market are premium discounts, either in the form of a percentage discount or a specified dollar value discount.

However, it’s important to note that these deals often only apply to your first year’s premium, meaning from the second year of the policy onwards, you’ll be paying the full cost of your car insurance – and your premiums may have gone up to boot.

Some insurers may also stipulate a minimum premium required to be eligible for their discount offers or may only offer them on some of their car insurance products.

Some car insurance providers will offer rewards points as a sign-up incentive to new customers. These types of offers usually come from providers which either operate or are linked to a rewards program; for example, a frequent flyer rewards program or grocery rewards program.

These offers may either provide rewards points when you take out the policy or each time you pay your car insurance premiums – or in some cases, both.

Many car insurance providers offer multi-policy discounts to customers who either have multiple cars insured with the same provider or hold multiple different types of insurance with the same provider. For example, if you hold car and home insurance with the same provider, you could save money on both of these policies as a result.

You may also find a variety of miscellaneous sign-up deals on offer, including grocery discounts, online gift cards and discounts on roadside assistance. These are less common than premium discounts or rewards point offers but could be as valuable to you depending on your circumstances.

Based on your driving history and whether you’ve made a car insurance claim in recent years, you may be eligible for a no claim bonus (also known as a no claim discount) on your policy premium.

Some insurers might award you their lowest no claim bonus after your first claim-free year and ramp up your discount with every consecutive claim-free year until you reach their maximum no claim discount.

This is usually capped at around or just over 50%, so while it may take you several years of safe driving to build up the maximum no claim bonus, it may be a nice added benefit for careful drivers beyond keeping themselves safe!

Many car insurance companies offer a motor insurance product typically referred to as ‘drive less, pay less’ car insurance. Under these types of policies, you may pay a reduced premium in exchange for guaranteeing that you’ll drive under a certain number of kilometres per year.

These policies operate on the assumption that by reducing the time you’re spending on the roads, you’ll also reduce your chances of accidental damage happening to your vehicle. So, if you don’t drive all that much, this type of policy could be an easy way to save on your car insurance.

If you’re looking at taking out comprehensive car insurance but you think it might be a little out of your price range, consider your insurance needs and whether you could afford to step down to a more affordable type of car insurance.

For example, if the level of cover provided by Third Party Property Damage policies (cover for damage you cause to other people’s property) is satisfactory to you, you may save a considerable amount by choosing that over comprehensive car insurance.

However, you should also consider whether you’d like cover for things like roadside assistance, towing or a hire car in the event that your car needs repairs following an accident. Don’t choose a certain level of cover just because it’s cheap – choose the level of cover you need.

Reading the Target Market Determination (TMD) of any policy you’re looking at can help you decide whether the product is suitable to your needs and situation.

If you need a certain level of cover and it’s still looking a bit pricey for your liking, you could consider lowering your premiums by opting to pay a higher car insurance excess if you need to make a claim.

While this means you’ll need to pay more out-of-pocket if you’re at fault in an accident and need to lodge a claim, your annual car insurance premium will be lower than if you had a lower excess on the same policy.

You may want to check the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) to see what excess options are available on a given policy.