12 Factors that have Impact on Your Car Insurance Premiums

1. Age Group – the car owner (driver) age. Please note that this is just an illustration and an estimate.
   Insurance companies may revise their age group premiums from time-to-time, without disclosing.
   18 to 21 – young drivers, very expensive
   21 to 25 – expensive
   26 to 30 – moderate
   31 to 65 – low
2. Driving Experience – this is defined from the time you have your driving license till your
   car insurance renewal application.
   0 to 1 – extremely expensive, usually bundled when you buy a new car
   1 to 2 – expensive
   2 to 3 – normal
   > 4 – varies. At this stage, most of us would have NCB (No Claim Bonus) discount lowering the premium further. If you have accidents, your premiums most probably are going to be jacked up by the car
   insurers.
3. Job Occupation Type (Indoor/Outdoor) This is pretty straightforward. It refers to the nature of work, like desk bound or indoor sales. If you are not sure, please check with the agent.Indoor – Lower risk of accidents = cheaper
   Outdoor – Higher risk of accident = more expensive
4. NCB – No Claim Bonus discount. You get additional 10% NCB for each year without accidents. The maximum NCB that you can accumulate is 50%. E.g. If you buy a car in Apr 2008, and renew your
   car insurance in Apr 2009, you’ll be eligible for 10% NCB discount upon renewal. If you are unlucky and get into an accident, NCB is 0%. You cannot get negative NCB.
   If you NCB accumulates to 40% and you were involved in an accident, the NCB reduces to 10%. If you don’t want to start from 10% or even zero%, then you should get the NCB Protector, see below.
5. NCB Protector – This is only available to people with 40% or 50% NCB. In the event of first accident within the policy year, your NCB will remain as 50%.The second accident will reduce your NCB to 20% (50% – 30%).
   The third accident and your NCB becomes 0%
   It is important to note that NCB protector is only effective if you renew your
   car insurance with the same insurance company. If your
   car insurance is with company A and your NCB is 50%, even after the first accident, your NCB remains at 50% when you do your next renewal.
   However, if you decide not to renew with Company A, and look for company B. You’ll only get 20% NCB.
6. Safe Driver Discount
   The Certificate of Merit (COM) entitles a driver to a 5% discount on vehicle insurance premium from participating
   insurance companies, over and above his No-Claim Bonus (NCB).
   A driver is eligible for a COM if, at the point of purchasing a
   car insurance coverage, he/she has maintained for the past 3 years, a continuous demerit-point-free driving record. This means that, if a driver has committed a traffic offence any day in the 3 years immediately before an insurance purchase that resulted in him/her being ‘awarded’ demerit points, he/she would no longer be eligible for a COM on the day that he/she purchases the insurance. The direct link is too long for me to post here. To find out your COM status, please use the direct link under Useful Links section.
7. Engine Capacity (cc) – This refers to your car engine in cc. Generally the lower the cc the lower the premium. Refer to your car log file if you are not sure.
8. Year of Manufacture – This generally means the year which your car is made/register. Generally, the older the car, the lower the premium
9. Body Type – the type of car e.g. saloon, MPV, SUV
10. Engine Type – normal or turbo engine, the latter costs much more.
11. Gender/Martial Status – this really depends on the insurance company. Not all use this to calculate the premium.
12. Off Peak Cars (OPC) – . dependent on insurance company