Car Parts: Backbone of Any Car

One of the vehicles that are hugely liked world over is cars. Perfect utility machines, they contribute handsomely and eradicate quite a few troubles from one's life. Indeed, there cannot be two thoughts about the fact that cars indeed are a multi-utility phenomenon. Not only does it eradicates one's commuting troubles but also adds handsomely to one's status symbol as well. It is extremely surprising and ironical, therefore, that people don't give as much attention to car parts or car accessory that they should be giving. No wonder then that most of the people start complaining about the bad performance of their cars almost as soon as they purchase them.

A few examples would explain the whole point pretty easily. Take the case of car mats. In spite of the fact that they provide extremely important service to the cars yet they are not taken that seriously by people. Imagine a part of the car that saves it from dust and rain and provides cushion to feet thereby making the journey comfortable is not given its rightful due. Nothing can be as baffling!

Similar is the case with spare parts. Such integral car parts but again not given as much attention as is their right. There are times on several occasions when you cannot get the proper silencer or combustion pipes etc. and have to wait for days for them to arrive to get the short coming fixed. Had a careful attention been given to these essential components then situation would not have deteriorated that much.

These points should communicate the point pretty nicely that a careful observation to car accessories or car parts while purchasing cars would go a long way in helping people combat such critical times. All that you need to do is to pay slight attention to these essential components to give that edge to your car.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/cars-articles/car-parts-backbone-of-any-car-326130.html

Get Your Car Insurance On eBay

From antiques to video games you can find just about anything on eBay, the world’s largest online auction site.

Now it seems we can add car insurance to the ever-growing list of services offered by the UK’s most successful online marketplace.

eBay have teamed up with insurancewide.com to offer a car insurance quote comparison service on their eBayMotors section – a site visited by more than three million of us each month and where a car is sold every two minutes.

For those who use eBayMotors the opportunity to compare car prices and car insurance in the same place should be greeting as an extremely convenient set-up.

After all, how many times have you set your heart on a car only to realise you can’t afford the insurance. Checking the costs alongside each other has the potential to make the buying process run much more smoothly.

Insurancewide.com and eBay are combining to offer a service that should be commended. If you should ever find yourself surfing for a car on eBay why not try their new insurance service too and drop us a comment to let us know your thoughts.

Young Driver Car Insurance – All Is Not Lost

You may recently have read one of the many articles published announcing that several leading motor insurance providers have taken the decision to refuse quotes to young drivers.

Leading brands such as Swiftcover, More Th>n and Esure have apparently decided that young drivers are more trouble than they’re worth.

And when you look at some of the statistics being thrown around you can see where they are coming from:

• An eighteen year old is three times as likely as his/her parents to have an accident whilst driving.

• 17-25 year olds hold just 10% of all driving licenses but cause more than 20% of car accidents.

• One in three young male drivers will write off a car in their first year of driving.

• 25% of the convictions for causing death by dangerous driving are for drivers under 20

You can read even more of these “alarming” statistics here and here.

Other car insurance companies to take this step include; Sheilas' Wheels, Marks & Spencer and AXA and with more providers likely to follow suit this isn’t a small problem than can simply be ignored.

Now why these articles and stats make for good reading the truth is there are many young drivers out there, who drive responsibly and safely, who are suffering higher car insurance premiums due to actions of the minority.

Car insurance premiums for young drivers have historically always been high and this latest development will only make it more difficult to secure a reasonably priced policy.

But as the title says, all is not lost; there are many steps young drivers can take to help lower the cost of their insurance, such as:

• Avoiding modifications

• Driving a car with a smaller engine

• Going on your own insurance and building up no claims bonus

• Taking the Pass Plus course

• Offering a higher voluntary excess

• Shopping around online

• Limiting your mileage

• Looking for rapid bonus schemes to build no claims bonus more quickly

• Paying upfront rather than monthly

• Improving security

• Looking for worthwhile cash back offers

• Considering specialist insurance companies

• Insuring Third-Party Only if the car is relatively cheap

All these options are covered in greater detail in our ultimate guide to young driver car insurance.

Safety Or Savings? - Striking The Right Balance

Looking back on a previous TCIB post urging people to bin their renewal to save money on car insurance it seems consumer lethargy is still a huge problem for UK motor insurance customers.

Research from Tesco Finance has found that just under one in three motorists moved their car insurance to a new provider in the last 12 months.

Even more worrying was the statistic announcing that 10% of drivers had either never switched their car insurance premium or had stayed loyal to the same insurer for over 10 years.

Those who have switched put price as one of the most important factors when choosing a car insurance quote while those who had stayed with the same provider said price was less important compared to the features and level of cover offered by their policy.

These figures create a split market, those who are concerned with saving money and those who feel prepared to pay more for the safety of ‘knowing’ they have the right policy.

Both sides make very good points. After all a motor insurance policy is there to provide protection so obtaining the right cover is hugely important.

However with the huge range of insurers now offering policies the opportunity to make a saving on your premium should not be overlooked; especially in the current climate of rising mortgage repayments and utility bills.

In my opinion a mix of the two is the ideal mentality when shopping for car insurance.

Make sure your policy has all the features you need but don’t restrict yourself to one insurer and one quote.

Loyalty is rarely rewarded in today’s market and with comparison sites such as confused.com you can easily find motor insurance policies that match your needs on both policy features and price.

So, if you currently care more about price double check that your policy offers the protection you need; the consequences of not doing so could be potentially disastrous. AND, if you haven’t switched your car insurance for a while be sure to have a look at the options available, you can easily lower your premium without compromising on quality.

How To Get Your Vehicle Ready For A Trip On The Road

If you're going on a trip and driving your vehicle, keep in mind there are some preliminary things that should be done, especially if you're driving several hundreds of miles. This will help you to escape the problems that arise if you don't get your vehicle checked out beforehand.

Take your vehicle to your mechanic to find out what may need to be done. You should start this at least a month to two months prior to your trip. This is when any major repairs should be taken care of. Having this done a month or two before time gives you a chance to correct any additional issues related to the repair(s).

Make sure your tires are inflated properly and that they have enough pressure. Your tires can blow out while you're driving if they don't have enough pressure in them. Checking the tire treads is important. This is another way your tires can experience a blowout.

The way to check this is to put a penny between the tire's grooves. On the penny, the head of Abraham Lincoln should be pointing downward. If the space above Lincoln's head is visible or you can see the words "In God We Trust", new tires are needed. Your spare tire should be inflated and the tools should be available in the event you'll need to use it.

The vehicle's manual should be in the glove compartment. You will need that in the event the vehicle experiences trouble on the road. If you don't have one, check the manufacturer's website to see if they have one in PDF format. With technology as it is, it wouldn't be surprising if they did. At least you wouldn't have to wait weeks to get a replacement.

Any minor maintenance such as oil changes can be done a week prior to your trip. You should also check your tires again for pressure and tread efficiency. If there are any abnormalities that weren't there before, take it to your mechanic for a look.

You should have a clean air filter in your vehicles. If it's not clean, it will affect your vehicle's mileage and suck up gas. This means you will have to stop for gas more often for your vehicle. You will definitely need to change the filter if it's been in the vehicle over 12,000 miles.

Remove any items from your vehicle that you won't need for the trip. This will give more room to the items that you will need or are planning to take. You should have a clean vehicle before you leave. Take an hour or two to clean and vacuum the inside.

Have a map or if you have a newer vehicle, consider getting a GPS (Global Positioning System). This will help you get to your destination without getting lost. It would be advantageous for you to fill up the tank before you leave. When you get on the road, nine times out of ten, you will pay more for gas outside of your area.

Make sure that you have packed everything you need for your trip. More importantly, make sure you have your toiletries and prescribed medicines. Check through your suitcases and garment bags. It's not good to overload your vehicle with a lot of stuff.

Doing all these things will help you have an enjoyable trip.

Your Car Insurance in 2008

For most of us the hassle of managing our finances gets more difficult every year; food bills, petrol prices, council tax, utility bills and mortgages repayments are set to rise in 2008.

Add to that credit cards, loans, holidays, Christmas (yes I mentioned the “C” word in January) and 2008 is already shaping up to be an expensive and stressful year.

Insurance makes matters worse too; house, car, life, travel, pet the list goes on and on.

With all this to handle a little friendly advice can go along way so when it comes to car insurance we’re happy to start 2008 with an overview of what you can expect from your car insurance provider and how to get the best deal.

Lets start with the bottom line, money…

Cost

Car insurance in 2008 can be summed up in two words: HIGHER PREMIUMS

Nobody wants to pay them but this is what many of us will face in 2008 unless positive action is taken.

Insurance companies should exist to provide protection at a reasonable price. But many exist to make profit. All have expenses to cover and many have shareholders to please.

As a result they need to make more money. And where do they get this from? Us of course!!

Many insurance renewals this year will be sent out not with lower quotes to reward loyalty but with premium increases to take advantage of customer lethargy and improve revenue figures.

It’s not just existing drivers that will be targeted either; those who pass their tests in 2008 will face high motor insurance costs as companies use “high risk” drivers with no NCB to boost profits – young drivers, especially young make drivers (read “boy racer” in insurer’s eyes) will be ruthlessly targeted.

So how do we combat rising insurance costs in 2008? We start by confronting the insurance companies themselves…

Insurance Companies

As we’ve already said insurance companies exist to make profit BUT they also need to compete with each other to win our custom.

This is where we can push the advantage of “you need me more than I need you”.
When that renewal letter arrives odds are you will be looking at a rise in the cost of you car insurance premium.

Should this be the case call your insurer immediately and challenge the increase.

If you’ve made no claims during the year and built up more NCB then a rise in price is unfair and unacceptable. Insurers are banking on the chance you won’t fight back and in the majority of cases confronting your insurer will result in your premium being lowered in order for them to retain your business.

If you are getting insurance for the first time then shop around for quotes and play the insurers against each other, challenging them to beat the price offered by their competitors in order to win you as a valuable customer can lead to huge savings.

Remember insurance agents are under pressure to meet targets so use this to drive down the price.

Now that we’ve taken the first steps to avoiding higher car insurance costs we shouldn’t rest on our laurels. There are savings to be had if you’re prepared to spend a little time on the research.

Whether you want to switch from your current insurance company or you’re buying car insurance for the first time using price comparison sites can help…

Price Comparison Sites

Millions of people in the UK use price comparison sites every year to buy their car insurance online.

Using these sites you can search once and get quotes from around 50-60 insurance companies.

This is an excellent tool in helping to compare prices and unearth good deals, but how will they work in 2008?

Firstly there will be more of them, over the last few years the two main names were confused.com and moneysupermarket.com – in 2007 many others including gocompare.com, comparethemarket.com and tescocompare.com emerged.

In 2008 we can expect to see even more variations start up, trying to cash in by referring us to insurance providers

With more competition in the price comparison market our best bet is to use several of them to search for car insurance quotes, some will have better technology or exclusive offers so results will differ from site to site.

Nevertheless price comparison sites do take a lot of the hard work aware from getting quotes and if they can help us save money on our car insurance then they are certainly worth a few minutes of our time.

Armed with the knowledge that we can challenge our insurers over the cost of our policy and with a vast array of free comparison services at our disposal what is there to stop us making a saving on our car insurance in 2008?

Well in a word…

…us

One of the main factors in a customer paying high insurance premiums is the customer themselves…

Customers

Lets not mince words, we all hate insurance; it costs to much, takes time out of our lives to arrange and deep down we all think insurance companies are out to rob us.

The result of all these negative thoughts is we don’t link having to deal with insurance, we’d rather just push it to the back of our minds and forget about it.

But this is exactly what the insurance companies rely on when they send out your annual renewal (accompanied with a vicious price increase)

The onus is on you, me and all other customers to fight back and obtain a fair and competitive policy. Any remnants of being rewarding for your loyalty is fast evaporating from the insurance market.

Summary

There is no hiding away from it; 2008 is going to be hard on our finances and when it comes to car insurance we face the prospect of higher premiums

But all is not lost; we know we can use the competitive nature of the market against the insurance companies and that we can use price comparison tools to quickly compare a large number of quotes.

Once you find the best deal for you it’s time to be ruthless and switch.

Let battle commence!

Was Moneysupermarket.com The Best For You?

A recent mystery shopper survey by independent research company Ipsos MORI has found price comparison giant Moneysupermarket.com to be the best comparison engine for people searching for cheaper car insurance.

When compared (pardon the pun) against its major rivals moneysupermarket.com was almost twice as likely to find the cheapest quote, battering its closest competitors including:

• Confused.com
• Gocompare.com
• Comparethemarket.com
• Uswitch.com
• Tescocompare.com
  

Moneysupermarket.com are certainly the dominant force in the UK price comparison industry with a total market share of more than 50% and their car insurance comparison tool retrieves quotes from more than 60 insurance companies.

But were they best for you? We’d wanted to know which comparison site you think is the best when it comes to buying car insurance. See the results of our poll.

Limit Your Mileage For Cheaper Car Insurance

Just a very quick post to highlight a very quick money saving tip:

If you’ve applied for car insurance before you’ll know the insurer/broker/comparison site always ask you’re expected annual mileage.

The answer you give has a direct impact on the cost of your car insurance premium.

However, you can use this to your advantage. Before you next apply for a car insurance policy work out how many miles you expect to drive in the next 12 months and if it’s lower than you normally say make sure you let your insurer know.

Driving fewer miles means less chance of having an accident, less chance of making a claim and, in the eyes of insurers, makes you less of a risk.

The result can be a nice little reduction in your car insurance quote. I’ve just tested this myself on moneysupermarket.com and I was able to cut my potential quote from £411 to £390, a saving of just over 5%

This is a great little saving that’s so easy to do, give it a try!

Confused.com Hit Back In Best Comparison Row

Following the announcement that Moneysupermarket.com has been named the best price comparison site for car insurance its major competitor has hit back labeling the claims biased.

Clearly not wanting to be out done Confused.com have claimed independent research by Consumer Intelligence found not only they but also Tescocompare.com were in fact cheaper than Moneysupermarket.com when in came to comparing car insurance online.

Confused.com, currently promoting a £1million pound give-away competition, slated the recent Ipsos MORI survey as being own-funded and contradictory to independent research.

So who really is the best?

As this argument rages on we want to know who you think is the top comparison site when shopping around for your car insurance. See the results of our poll.

Norwich Union’s Price Check Brings Price Comparison In-House

Following on from Norwich Union’s decision to withdraw from price comparison sites the Aviva company has now announced the launch of Price Check; it’s in-house car insurance comparison service.


If you request a car insurance quote from Norwich Union via its website or over the phone they will now provide you will alternative quote from other car insurance providers, even if they are cheaper than their own.

The move is certainly a unique one, there are very few businesses who will actively promote its competitors services.

The reactions seen in Norwich Union’s TV campaign to promote Happy’s Price Check reflect this extremely well.

Whether or not this offer strikes the right note with customers remains to be seen. It should also be interesting to see if any other insurers decide to follow suit and what impact (if any) this has on price comparison sites operating in the UK motor insurance market.

First reactions would suggest several price comparison sites are unimpressed with the Price Check service; gocompare.com, confused.com and insurancewide.com all had interesting views.

Will this move pay off for Norwich Union? Do price comparison sites have anything to fear or is this just some flash in the pan? We’d love to hear your thoughts about Happy’s Price Check.


We hope you enjoyed reading the car insurance blog. For updates on new posts grab our RSS feed.

Top Advantages to Buying Car Insurance Online

It is very important to research all of the many car insurance companies available to make sure that you get the best rates and best coverage. Car insurance is critical to keeping you and your family protected against injuries and accidents. In fact, now you can buy car insurance online.

There are many independent websites that can assist you in choosing the right coverage at an affordable rate. By using one of these companies, you know that you will get unbiased results because they do not partner with specific companies.
There are quite of few great websites on the web that give the user a friendly visit. They offer features such as compared rates to other insurance companies that can help you make your decision based on the lowest rates. They also will allow you the feature to purchasing them online
Others, you can submit a claim online, and they have a program that can help you quickly repair the damaged vehicle. With this program, you will be driving your car again in no time. By choosing one of their mechanic shops, they can speed up the repair time.
There are so many different companies that you can use to buy car insurance online. By receiving free quotes from several of these companies, you can do some easy comparison shopping to choose the company that is right for you. Comparison shopping is critical to finding a good reliable company.

The most important thing for a driver is to be insured. By insuring yourself, you protect you, your financial health, and those family and friends that are riding with you.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/cars-articles/top-advantages-to-buying-car-insurance-online-321650.html

Comparethemarket.com – A TCIB Review

Recently the blog received a comment from FrankPR who handle promotional campaigns for price comparison website comparethemarket.com. They were interested to know what I thought of the car insurance comparison service offered by their client.

Comparethemarket.com has been around for a couple of years now providing price comparison for a range of insurance products. The site recently underwent a facelift in preparation for a massive TV campaign to advertise their car insurance channel.

Always willing to please I made a visit to comparethemarket.com to test out their car insurance finder. Here’s what I thought…

First impressions...

…the first impression of the site is a very positive one, the layout is extremely user-friendly, taking care not to overload you with too much information, navigating to the car insurance comparison tool is simple enough even for the most novice user.

So, what about the comparison service itself...

The question set you have to fill in may well be interpreted by some as being ‘too long’. In truth I would prefer to call in thorough; the site says you can compare quotes in 4 minutes and that seems about right from the searches I performed.

One thing to remember when using price comparison websites is the more questions you answer the more accurate your quotes will be. If you want to use a service where the questions can be answered in seconds be ready to receive inaccurate questions based on many assumptions.

The comparethemarket.com question set strikes a good balance between the two. The questions are ones you would expect and there’s nothing you won’t be able to answer in your lunch hour.

On to the results...

Again the layout is easy on the eye and simple to understand. The quotes are understandably ordered by price with other primary information such as provider name and monthly cost also clearly visible. Clicking on the ‘more info’ link under each quote provides further policy details to help you make an informed decision.

Finishing your application...

The comparethemarket.com site has a promise ‘the price you see is the price you pay’. For a price comparison site this is a massive promise and one that can be very difficult to deliver.

Upon proceeding with my first application, which was a very straight forward process, the price was indeed the same as quoted, which was highly impressive given the number of accuracy complaints associated with the price comparison industry. Admittedly a few other quotes did deviate by a few pounds but overall the accuracy was commendable.

What else impressed...

A particular favourite of mine was an option on the results page to amend and recalculate your quote. You could change your cover type, excess and add/remove legal protection, breakdown cover and NCB protection and generate new quotes without having to take a backwards step. This is a great timesaver that I’m sure is well received by many customers.

The retrieve a quote option is also incredibly handy. If you don’t have time to complete your application, simply save it and return later on. One point on that, if you’ve already obtained a price you like make sure you return before the quote expiry date passes.

Areas for improvement...

When compared to the long established aggregators the number of quotes returned can be a little thin on the ground for more specialised insurance requirements. If they continue to grow I’ll be looking for comparethemarket.com to include as many providers and quotes as possible to persist in improving the service they provide.

Introducing some free guides and tips to help customers better understand their car insurance policy and the money saving options open to them would be a useful addition to the newsletter option currently offered. I would also like to see a forum introduced to increase customer interaction. As the car insurance comparison industry becomes evermore competitive customer retention will be vital to long-lasting success.

My overall opinion...

Comparethemarket.com is a welcome addition to the car insurance comparison arena. A well presented, easy to use site combined with accurate results makes for a very satisfying experience for the customer.

The site offers excellent possibilities for finding a cheaper motor insurance policy and has the potential to break the stranglehold enjoyed by the established aggregators.

Should you use it...

I would certainly add comparethemarket.com to your list of price comparison sites when searching for cheap car insurance quotes. The site is easy to use, offers a thorough comparison (for those prepared to answer the questions) and most importantly works to provide accuracy in its search results.

From my experience most people prefer one comparison service over another depending on what they’re looking for as well as their level of expectation. The next time your comparing car insurance quotes give comparethemarket.com a try and see how they stack up to any others you may have used in the past.

To learn more about comparethemarket.com visit their site.

If anyone has used comparethemarket.com to search for car insurance please share your opinions with us, good or bad, in the comments.

Give Me Five Minutes and I’ll Give You Cheaper Car Insurance

Sounds like I’m promising the world on a stick doesn’t it? In reality I’m talking a couple of minutes to read this post and a couple more spent taking advantage of one of the easiest money saving opportunities available when it comes to car insurance.

All you have to do is SHOP AROUND! And better still you can search for car insurance quotes online almost instantly. I say almost because you will need to answer some questions but it beats answering the same questions over and over again.

Despite the ease of online comparison many people still ring round multiple insurers to find a quote or worse still accept their annual renewal which can be a big mistake. If you’ve got a classic of high performance car then fair enough you might need a specialist insurer but for the vast majority of us a price comparison of car insurance companies can be a great money saver.

Some you will have heard of, big names such as confused.com and moneysupermarket.com have been around for years. Now there is even more choice with sites such as gocompare.com and comparethemarket.com to mention but two.

A simple Google search for car insurance will open up a plethora of comparison services, some will be better than others but the four mentioned above would be a good place to start.

So how do these sites work? Simple, you fill in one form and their search multiple car insurance companies, again some are better than others but you should be looking to get between 30 and 50 quotes inside two minutes which you have to admit is one hell of a time saver.

Give it a go and see how far you can lower your motor insurance quote.

Why You Have To Bin That Car Insurance Renewal

If, like me, you recently received your car insurance renewal you may have been a little shocked, or even angered, to see the price of your premium has actually gone up.

You’ve made no claims on your cover, kept a clean record and successfully added another year to your NCB, so why has your premium gone up.

The reality is you should not be surprised this has happened; in fact you should have expected it.

Quite simply, car insurance companies increase premiums upon renewal in an attempt to increase profits. With the market being so competitive companies are forced to offer low quotes to attract new customers. They then bank on customer lethargy when renewal time cones around to cash in at your expense.

There has never been such a wide choice when it comes to renewing you motor insurance policy but many people still don’t take advantage of this, instead allowing themselves to be exploited by increased renewal costs.

My advice is when your renewal comes through hit the comparison sites. A quick Google search will find some great sites to compare car insurance quotes. You’ll find the established sites such as confused.com and moneysupermarket.com as well as other you may not be familiar with.

These sites work incredibly quickly so run searches on several of them to find the cheapest car insurance quotes on offer. Then contact your existing provider and challenge them to beat you best price on a like-for-like quote.

If they can, and you’re happy with them that’s great. If not, announce their renewal letter is now in the trash and you will take your business to a more competitive provider.

If your loyalty is not rewarded do not give it. After all, there’s plenty more insurers in the sea.

Mystery Surrounds Thecomparisons.com

Following the recent launch of tescocompare.com it appears another car insurance comparison site could be waiting in the wings.

Thecomparisons.com has been getting mentioned more and more in the last few weeks but we still have very little idea what the site will actually do. Although you have to admit this is a very clever way of generating buzz for a site before it’s even launched.

When first appearing on the radar, thecomparisons.com featured a
rather attractive logo of the “typical family” with a tag line promising to compare prices for the entire family.

While this has since been replaced with a more mundane “coming soon” message it has done little to dispel the intrigue surrounding the site.

With car insurance being one of the most lucrative areas of price comparison it would be a good bet that a facility to compare car insurance quotes will appear somewhere; of course we could be wrong about that.

However with one popular theory being that The AA is behind this mystery a facility to compare car insurance quotes seems a logic explanation.

So we wait in anticipation to see what thecomparisons.com has to offer, will they help people find cheaper car insurance? Or will they be another poor site in an already crowded market?

I guess we’ll have to wait and see. On a lighter note if it turns out we like thecomparisons.com then we can all be friends on their myspace page.

If anyone has any knowledge of what’s going on with thecomparisons.com please share it with us in the comments.