The accident wasn’t his fault, but this Kent motorist would have been on the line for an astonishing £750 increase in his car insurance if he hadn’t seen a TV show
Linden Ellis was minding his own business when a van cut across him in Maidstone town centre. A common enough occurrence, but this time the van clipped his car.
Linden’s Vauxhall Vectra was was damaged as a result, and the van driver denied responsibility. The consequences? Linden was about to lose two years worth of no-claims bonus.
“This may have only been a fairly minor accident, but losing your no claims bonus unjustly can have a huge and unfair effect on premiums,” said Gerry Bucke, general manager of Adrian Flux Insurance Services.
How big an effect? Linden’s premiums were set to rise £750.
How £16 saved him a small fortune
Fortunately for him, Linden saw a TV programme last year that featured dashcams.
These cameras cost as little as £10 and can save you up to 12.5% on your insurance.
And even if you don’t get a discount, pretty much all insurers now accept footage from them, meaning if you’re in an accident that’s not your fault you have a better chance of proving it.
Which is exactly what happened to Linden.
“He said it was not his fault, and without the video evidence it was his word against mine so it would have been almost impossible to prove,” he said.
“The camera has been a godsend … It’s saved me hundreds of pounds.”
Other ways to bring down your insurance costs
Dashcams aren’t the only technology that can save you serious money on your insurance.
Telematics can also bring down your premiums. This is a GPS box that monitors how, where and when you drive, and can send alerts out for bad or dangerous driving. Co-operative Insurance estimates adding a telematics box to your car saves young drivers £170 a year on their insurance.
There are also a string of ways to save when you renew whether you have any extra tech or not.
The first thing to do is compare car insurance quotes. This is what you need to know before comparing quotes.
Oh, and while you are comparing, there are some tricks to getting cheaper insurance without reducing your cover level, we’ve rounded up 6 of the best here.
If you can keep your car in a garage or off the road the premium falls again.
Oh, and once you know where’s cheapest, check to see if there’s cashback available. By using a cashback service like TopCashback or Quidco rather than using the comparison site directly you could get up to £120 back.
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