How premium is calculated

Premium is calculated base on the follow factors

1) Age Group This is car owner's age. Most company has similar age group factor

18 to 21 - super expensive
21 to 25 - quite expensive
26 to 30 - a bit expensive
31 to 65 - safe zone

2) Driving Experience This refers to how long did you get your driving license and has nothing to actual driving experience. This is measured in number of years

0 to 1 - super super expensive
1 to 2 - super expensive
2 to 4 - quite expensive
more than 4 - safe zone (most insurance company charge lowest rate for 4 years of driving experience, though some company 3rd year will give the lowest rate - eg. OAC under Great Eastern)

3) Job occupation (Indoor/Outdoor) This refers to the nature of work, like desk bound or sales

Indoor - cheaper
Outdoor - more expensive
So far, heard of a company that charge the same rate for indoor and outdoor occupation as of Oct 2008. It's Mitsui Sumitomo.

4) NCB Discount No Claim Bonus discount, some may call it NCD (No claims Discount) You get 10% NCB every year if you do not have any accident. The maximum NCB that you can get 50%.

For example, your car insurance cost $2000 (before NCB) and you have 40% NCB, your premium would be $1284 {[2000 - (2000 * 40)] * 1.07} with GST. Hence the higher the NCB the lower your premium

5) NCB Protector This is application to people with 50% NCB, in the event of 1st accident in that policy year, your NCB will remain as 50%. After which, the 2nd accident will cause your NCB to be reduce to 20% (50% - 30%) . If you super unlucky and have the 3rd accident in a year your NCB will be reduced to 0% (20% - 30%, you cant get -10% so it will be 0%)

It is important to note that NCB protector is only effective if renew your car insurance with the same insurance company. If my car insurance is with company A and my NCB is 50%, after the 1st accident (and it's my fault) , I still get 50% NCD as I got the NCB protector upon the renewal. However, instead of renewing my insurance with company A, I go with company B. I will only be entitled to 20% NCB.

6) Safe Driver Discount This is an additional 5% discount if you do not have any traffic offense or demerit point for the past 2 years. You only get this additional 5% when you have minimum 30% NCB.

For example, your car insurance cost $2000 (before NCB) and you have 30% NCB and safe driver discount, you premium would be $1423 {[2000 - (2000 * 30%)] * 0.95 * 1.07} with GST.

7) Engine Capacity (cc) This refers to your car engine in cc, the lower the cc the lower the premium

8) Year of Manufacture This generally means the year which your car is made/register. Generally, the older the car, the cheaper the premium

9) Body Type This general means the type of car like saloon, MPV, SUV. Some company will charge more for certain type of vehicle

10) Engine Type This usually refers to normal or turbo car engine, It's important to know that most car insurance company impose higher car insurance premium on turbo cars. Some insurance even reject cars with turbo engine.

11) Gender This is company dependent. Some company charge cheaper for male driver while some company charge female cheaper. Yet for some other company is the same rate. I think it's base on individual company statics.

11) OPC Car OPC also know as Off peak car (red plate). Some company give 5% discount for OPC (eg. NTUC) while other company gives same treatment.

Finding the cheapest car insurance

Please note that there is no generalization that which company gives the most competitive car insurance rate. This is because some company may specialist in Japanese car, some company may have better rates for smaller cc class.

Moreover, the rates of car insurance changes every 6 to 12 months, so it may happened that this year company A is cheap but next year renewal, company B is cheaper. Hence, my take on this just quote every year or you find someone you trust to quote several company for you every year.

Most of the time, you should get a decent good quotation after 5 companies. If you really really want to cheapest, then really have to quote all 20 over insurance company



aiomotorquotes.com

Why my NCB increase + and now I have 5% Safe Driver Discount, but my premium is still higher then last year?

This is especially true for this year especially when there's 2 raise in premium by almost all insurance company

Eg,
Year 2007, 40% NCB, Base premium $2000, the final premium for 2007 is $1284 {[2000 - (2000 * 40)] * 1.07} with GST.

Year 2008 50% NCB + 5% Safe Driver Discount, but the base premium is increase to $2800, the final premium for 2008 is $1348.20 {[2800 - (2800 *55)] * 1.07} with GST.

Hence you see higher renewal premium even though you have more NCB