For drivers who own several cars, or even groups of drivers, multi car insurance policies offer a way of amalgamating all of your existing policies into a single yearly policy and making a real saving at a time when a 10%+ discount could make a huge difference to you.

Why Multi Car Insurance can Work Out Cheaper

Multi car policies can offer a discount compared with single car policies because they mean more business for the insurer without the administrative costs of having several different customers. The logic is that simply owning two or more cars doesn’t necessarily mean you are more likely to be in an accident – after all, you can’t be in both simultaneously.

Most insurance companies offer an incentive to customers to insure all of their vehicles with them, so if you have several cars but they are currently insured by multiple companies it would be very worth your while to consider adding one or other vehicle to a multi car policy

More recently, companies such as Direct Line and Admiral Car Insurance have created tailor made multi car insurance policies which have even more flexibility, and the potential to save even more money. Under Admiral’s multi car insurance, for instance, you could receive a discount of up to 23% if you were to insure 5 cars.

OK, so not many of us own 5 cars, but here is where it gets really interesting. The best multi car insurance policies (such as Admiral’s) allow multiple drivers to insure all of their cars together, so long as they are registered at the same address. This could apply to a husband and wife insuring their cars along with their children’s, or several friends in a house-share for instance. In either case a substantial saving could be achieved in the cost of insuring your cars.

Multi car insurance policies can also save time by cutting the amount of admin you have to perform yourself – by having all the renewal dates for your different cars bundled together into a single, easy to remember policy.

So if you own several cars, or have several drivers living at the same address, 2011 could be a great time to take a look at the possibilities offered by a multi car insurance policy.

Before you take any decisions, why not take a look at our easy to follow guide:
5 Things To Remember When Choosing Multi Car Insurance
or check back with www.bestmulticarinsurance.com for all the latest multi car insurance advice.

The concept is not a new one. Insurance companies have offered second car discounts for ages and fleet insurance for commercial vehicles has been around for a very long time, but until recently these discounts have been available only to single drivers looking to insure multiple vehicles. Multi car insurance changes this however, allowing multiple drivers car insurance on several cars, as long as all the cars are registered at the same address. In this way, we could view multi car insurance as fleet insurance for the home.

Regardless of whether you are a single driver with multiple cars, or several drivers living at the same address, your priority is obviously to get the best deal. Multi car insurance may well be able to save you money compared with insuring your cars individually, but it is important to proceed carefully before signing up to any given policy. For example, most advertisements for multi car insurance will make claims of savings of 10% for a second car on a policy and even as much as 25% when insuring more than 5 cars.

However, the discounts these figures represent may only be in comparison with cost of insuring each of your cars separately with that particular insurer. In fact, neither of the two best known companies that offer multi car insurance – Direct Line and Admiral – partner themselves with online price comparison sites, so to get a complete picture of the market you need to do a little more research.

The best way to go about securing the cheapest insurance for your cars would be to use car insurance comparison sites to your advantage. Use several major comparison sites (gocompare and moneysupermarket compare about 2/3 of all UK insurers) to find the cheapest individual policies for each of your drivers. Now go to a multi car insurance provider’s website and check your best individual quotes against the multi car policies on offer.

By checking for the best individual policy prices before hand, using a car insurance comparison site, you can approach a multi car insurance policy with the full knowledge of what it would cost you as a group, and thereby see which is going to save you the most money. It is also worth looking at the flexibility of each option – for instance, whether adding another car/driver at a later date would be cheaper with multi car insurance policy.

It is important to look at all the details on any insurance policy before signing up, so if your struggling, why not check out our simple guide: 5 points to consider before buying multi car insurance

Multi Car Insurance

Recently however, things have started to change. With almost all insurance companies now offering some kind of multi-car discount for insuring a second or third car with them, and some even going so far as to introduce tailor-made ‘Multi-Car Insurance‘ policies, there has never been a better time to look at the savings you could make by switching to a multicar policy.

By cashing in on multi car discounts offered by your insurance company, you can often save 10-15% on each extra car you add to an existing policy. Most insurance companies are happy to offer such discounts on a second car as it means more business for them. Even if your insurance company does not explicitly offer a multi car discount, if pressed they will almost certainly do so to avoid losing your custom (and if they don’t, you should definitely be switching to one that does).

Some car insurance companies have taken things further by introducing a new ‘Multi Car Insurance‘ policy, tailored specifically to the needs of those who own multiple vehicles. While some multi car policies a single driver to insure multiple cars, others allow several drivers to insure several cars on one policy provided they all live at the same address. This can apply to both family or friends, so could provide a serious option for people living in a flat-share or as a way of insuring children once they reach driving age.

Multi-car insurance can be a way to make big savings – Admiral MultiCar offers discounts of up to 23% – but you should always proceed with a note of caution. Neither Admiral nor Direct Line partner with car insurance comparison websites, so while their multi car policies may well be able to save you money (and hassle), it doesn’t do any harm to make use of a comparison site to get quotes for your individual cars/drivers, before inquiring about a multi-car policy.

Once you have shopped around and decided that a multi car insurance policy is the right choice for you, their are just a few more things you need to bear in mind before parting with your cash. The devil is always in the details so before settling with a car insurance provider, you may want to consult our guide to getting the best multi car insurance to suit your needs:

Top 5 things to consider when choosing multi car insurance

Remember though, that the principle behind the multi-car discount is one of ‘you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours‘ in that the discount you receive is reflective of the extra business you are putting the insurance companies way. In many cases you can receive further discounts just for the asking if you already have existing policies with an insurer for other things such as home or life insurance. If you have several policies with an insurer you should be able to get a discount, and it certainly never hurts to ask.

He’re at BestMultiCarInsurance.com we’ve put together a little guide to help customers understand the ins and outs of multicar insurance, and give you some idea of how they could help you get cheaper car insurance quotes.

Traditionally, if you owned two cars and wanted insurance cover for both, you would have to insure each one individually on a separate policy, increasing the paperwork for all concerned and often leading to unnecessary costs. The idea of insuring multiple cars on one policy negates the administrative costs to the insurance company, while putting new business their way, so naturally the companies can offer a discounted rate on your car insurance costs. This is the essence of a multicar insurance policy.

So if you own two cars and are thinking of upgrading your insurance then considering a multi car insurance policy might be the best way forward. On top of the multicar discount you are likely to receive as an incentive for insuring your second car this way, you’ll also benefit from not having to keep track of differing policy renewal dates for each of your cars.

Got three or more cars? Even better! Multicar discounts generally increase the more cars you add to the policy, so if you have several vehicles why not start receiving the discounts available to you – after all, its not like you’re any more likely to crash or damage multiple cars, so why pay insurance premiums like you could.

What if my cars aren’t all at the same address? Still not to worry. Many multi car insurance policies allow you to insure all your vehicles regardless of which address they are at, often making multicar insurance cheaper than insuring a second car separately when one of them is going to be garaged or off road for some reason.

Another neat feature of the best multi car insurance policies, such as Admiral multicar, and that offered by Direct Line, is the ability to insure multiple drivers on multiple cars when all the drivers are registered as living at the same address. This kind of multicar policy opens up all sorts of possibilities for family car insurance – for instance, if you needed to insure a commercial vehicle alongside your personal car at home.

For more detailed information on how to get cheaper car insurance through multicar insurance policies follow this link to our article on the subject.

• Is this multi car insurance policy right for me? First of all, check the details on the policy to make sure of what you are getting.  Check whether the policy provides cover for multiple named drivers, or only multiple cars – now consider your circumstances.  If you own 2 cars and are simply looking to consolidate your payments into one policy then it doesn’t matter all that much, but if you’re a married couple looking to insure yourselves and the kids then you certainly need a multi-driver policy.
• The ‘No-Claims Bonus Question’ Here’s another very important point to consider, and a key factor in picking out the best multi car insurance policies – in the event of one driver having an accident, will all of you lose out on your no claims bonuses.  This varies between insurers, and although in most cases one may have to end up paying a little extra in premiums, most major companies offering these policies will not take away all named drivers’ no claims bonuses in the event of an accident involving one.  Make sure your multi car insurance policy protects no claims bonuses.
• Adding More Cars Later Again this is a question of individual circumstances.  Do you see yourself buying another car in the near future? Is there a reason why you may wish to add another driver to your policy?  With most multi car insurance policies adding another car is never a problem – many companies will offer extra discounts for you to do just that – sometimes as much as an extra 10% off for each new car added to an existing policy.  One should always check that there are no clauses related to this – for example adding a high-performance or luxury car may incur extra costs in some multi car insurance policies.
• What About Young Drivers? Another point to seriously focus on is how the cost of your multi car policy will be affected if one or more of your drivers are under 25.  If you are looking to include your children’s premiums in your own policy then it is important to consider this.  Many insurers will charge significantly higher rates for drivers under 25 with the lower the age the higher the premium, particularly in the case of young male drivers, so in some cases it may be cheaper to insure them separately.  This is worth looking closely at though, as you may still find multi car insurance which can provide for this and save you money.
• Renewal Dates It may seem an obvious point but not all multi car insurance policies allow you to bundle all of your renewal dates together.  Make sure you go with a provider who allows you to have a single renewal date for the policy. After all, while saving money may be the most important thing, if your going to the bother of upgrading your insurance to a multi car policy then you may as well save yourself the time and hassle of keeping track of your renewal dates later.

Although this is just a rough guide, and our advice as always is to read the small print before parting with your money, by keeping these 5 points in mind when you are searching for multi car insurance deals online, you should be able to find the best multi car insurance policy to suit you and your needs.

Why do multi car insurance policies mean cheaper car insurance?

Simple, instead of paying for each car individually you can register all of the drivers in one household, lowering administration costs to the insurance company and saving you money.  This is not limited to a single person at a single address – the best multi car insurance policies apply to multiple named drivers, so long as they are registered at the same address, opening up possibilities for those living in shared accommodation to save even more money by consolidating their costs with a multi car insurance policy and splitting the cost between them.

Just think about it a moment, if you own two cars then why have separate insurance policies for each, it’s not like you’re twice as likely to crash them, and you can’t be in both at the same time.  If this is the case for you then a multi car insurance policy might be worth taking a look at. You could well be able to save yourself not only the time and effort of keeping track of separate policies, but also get cheaper car insurance premiums as well.

To get the best multi car insurance policy available, the best advice is to shop around.  Sure, we’ve all seen Admiral’s TV ads, but don’t let that fool you into thinking that they are the only insurance company with a multi car policy.  Many other companies offer similar policies so as usual it’s a process of having a look at which suits you the best.

Our advice if you really want to get the best deal on your car insurance, is to get several quotes and compare them yourself – many insurers offering multi car insurance policies don’t advertise on price comparison sites.

Check out our guide to finding the cheapest multi car insurance policies that suit you: