What determines my car insurance rate?

When you purchase car insurance, you are agreeing to a set of rules and regulations as set out by the insurer you choose to go with. Insurance companies use these rules to determine their rates and by understanding what determines those rates it might help you to find ways to reduce your premium. Another reason to educate yourself in this manner is because it will allow you to shop around for the best and fairest policies on the market. 

 

Insurance companies have, in the past been known to use factors like gender and age to determine rates. Some experts and critics argue that this is a necessary evil as valid statistics have shown that these factors do accurately portray risk. However these factors can no longer legally be used as a determination of rates due to a 2011 European Court of Justice ruling. This stated that under the EU Gender Directive insurers could not consider gender when calculating insurance premium rates.

This infographic covers the area where perhaps you can achieve some headway in reducing your premium by outlining all the factors that come into play in premium calculation. Some of these factors can appear simplistic but even small amendments can affect a premium calculation. Apart from better understanding about how car insurance premiums are calculated, this info-graphic explains the factors which determine the car insurance rates.

The infographic highlights some interesting facts about penalty points in Ireland, speed statistics worldwide, car ownership in Ireland and the cost of insuring high powered and luxury cars. Finally the infographic also has a helpful section which gives some tips on how best to attempt to reduce your car insurance premium. Knowing these factors will help you in your quest to get the best value for money in terms of your car insurance while also crucially staying informed as to what exactly you are covered for.

Infographic: What determines your car insurance rate

Source: Zurich Insurance plc

Vehicle location influences the cost of auto insurance