At the top of the list for tips for cheaper car insurance is, shopping around. Comparing quotes from a range of providers, as opposed to just letting your current policy renew automatically, is the first piece of advice an insurance expert will give you. Head to an insurance price comparison website to compare a range of quotes in one go.

If you know your premium is coming up for renewal, try to save up so you can pay it off in one lump sum as paying off your premium month by month through a direct debit can add approximately 11% to the overall cost of your cover compared to paying outright at the start.

Increasing your voluntary excess is another way to help lower your insurance quote, however don’t be tempted to set your excess at too high a rate as if you are involved in an accident, this is the amount you will have to pay before your insurance covers the cost.

If you’re a young driver, consider adding an older driver to your policy as a named driver if they also use your car, or look into taking out a telematics insurance policy. These policies work by placing a box in the car which records data that is then used to calculate the cost of the driver’s policy. If you’re a careful driver and you don’t use your car at peak hours and rack up high mileage, you could benefit from lower premiums with these types of policies.

Follow our top tips to find the very best rates on annual car insurance.

Often claims for whiplash injuries are not being contested by the insurance company as diagnosis of this type of injury can be subjective, the recent study by the MPs found, which deters insurers from fighting the claim as it is hard to defend this type of case.

While the MPs behind the study say they support justice, and those who have been seriously affected as a result of an accident that wasn’t their fault should not be put off seeking compensation. However there was concern that victims who are not seriously hurt or have suffered lasting injury, are being railroaded into making claims from cold calling personal injury companies who persuade them to pursue a claim.

The report from the transport select committee found that the spiralling number of uncontested whiplash claims in the UK is having a negative impact on the cost of car insurance, with premiums rising at a staggering rate in order to fund the claims for compensation. Curbing the number of whiplash claims, would help bring the cost of insurance back under control, it recommends.

Aston Midshires targeted young drivers in particular, offering competitive prices on insurance policies for new drivers and learner drivers. However there are fears that thousands of drivers on UK road could be driving without any form of insurance as the policies sold by Aston Midshires have been brought into question after 30 complaints were received from drivers who’d discovered their policies were not legitimate.

The Financial Services Authority, the police and Trading Standards are all reported to be carrying out investigations into the insurance provider. So far, the authorities have discovered that the company is linked to a foreign address, however Aston Midshires have most recently pulled down their website and also stopped answering phone calls.

When the authorities visited the building listed as the UK address for the insurance company in Leicestershire, the owners of the building said they had no record of the company ever operating from the address.

The consequences for drivers who have invalid policies with Aston Midshires is far reaching as not only are they not covered should they have an accident in their vehicle, but the consequences will affect the other drivers if they have the misfortune to be involved in an accident with a driver who doesn’t have valid insurance.

In a case highlighted in The Mirror this week, 51-year-old Tony Costello revealed how his car insurance rocketed from £630 a year to £861 after he contacted his insurance company to inform them that he’d been made redundant.

After checking the small print on his insurance policy, Mr Costello found that his car insurer, Tesco, had stipulated that loss of employment can affect the cost of the premium.

The Association of British Insurers also reiterated this point, saying that many insurers increase the cost of cover after the policyholder loses their job as statistics there is an additional risk factor once a person becomes unemployed. There’s also an argument that the driver is likely to be on the road more as he or she is out looking for work and attending interviews.

The car insurance company in Tony’s case said that the additional £231 which had been added to the cost of his premium after he became unemployed would be refunded should he find work, although an admin cost of £15 would apply to each change made.

The brand new app from Moneysupermarket.com is free to download from the Apple App store and can be used on iPhones and iPads and many other compatible mobile devices. Once the app has been successfully downloaded, users will be able to access the full service offered by the price comparison site on their mobile, requesting quotes for car insurance, home or travel insurance and viewing their tailored quotes all through a few easy clicks.

The brains behind the launch of the new app at Moneysupermarket.com believe that other price comparison sites and insurance companies will follow suit and start developing their own apps in order to offer their customers the same level of convenience and ease of use. The price comparison site has described the new app as a “leap forward” saying their customers can now access great savings with just a few clicks of their mobile phone.

As well as browsing their quotes from a range of insurance providers, users of the new app will also be able to buy their insurance through the application, saving yet more time and taking the hassle out of tracking down a competitive deal on insurance.

Check out the new app from Moneysupermarket.com and let us know your thoughts on the mobile application.

The results of the GoCompare.com poll found that in December 2009, only 22% of drivers were shopping about and switching their car insurance company after finding a better deal, however that figure has risen to 34% according to the most recent statistics taken in October 2011, which indicates a 50% increase in the number of people moving providers in the space of two years.

While more and more people seem to be getting the message that comparing providers can save you money on car insurance, the message doesn’t seem to be translating for other financial products with a third of Brits having never switched providers for any of the top 20 financial products such as their bank, energy supplier or their broadband.

Car insurance is by far the one financial product Brits are keen to shop around for, with 77% of us using a price comparison site in the last year to find a cheaper rate on our annual car insurance premium, followed closely by home insurance with 22% of homeowners comparing and then switching their policy in the last 12 months.

The experts who carried out the research at GoCompare.com say that people need to wake up to the savings that are available by comparing a range of providers for everything from their mortgage provider to their telecoms supplier.

According to GoCompare.com, people who use their comparison site to search for car insurance saved on average £393.67, and £125.33 on their home insurance and a massive £557.33 on their energy tariff, savings that are not to be sniffed at, especially in the current economic climate.

Ms Sansom relayed her story to a local newspaper in North Tyneside to warn others about the repercussions of altering a vehicle. Although the 27-year-old informed her insurance company, Tesco, of her plans to have her Citroen C3 sprayed pink and thereby altering it from its original colour of blue, after the change had been made, she found her policy had been withdrawn.

Although the call centre staff had informed Ms Sansom, after checking with a senior staff member, that it would be acceptable for the colour change to be made and that this would be noted on her policy as a modification, Tesco later told the policyholder that this information was incorrect as they don’t provide insurance for vehicles which have been painted a different colour to the original manufacturers colour.

According to the car insurance company, a pink car is more likely to be vandalised and attract attention because of its eye-catching colour, and for this reason, they refused to provide Ms Sansom with a policy.

Tesco admitted that a mistake had been made as Ms Sansom had been given the wrong information by call centre staff initially. She was given £50 to compensate for this, and a refund on the car insurance premium paid to date.

The 27-year-old motorist was able to find competitively priced cover for her pink car elsewhere, although her story serves as a cautionary tale for any other drivers contemplating a colour change for their car.

The recent ban on referral fees introduced by the government in an attempt to bring an end to the compensation culture in the UK has had a negative effect on many insurance companies, including Admiral. The dip in profits is reported to be linked to the amount of revenue referral fees bring in for the Wales based insurance company, and since these have now been scrapped, the effect is being felt in Admiral’s squeezed profit margin.

However despite the impact the ban on referral fees has had on the these insurers, Admiral has welcomed the move as they support the measures which are being taken to bring the compensation and personal injury claim culture under control in Britain.

There has also been much discussion in the insurance industry about how to tackle the rising number of fraudulent personal injury claims, many of which are being masterminded by large criminal gangs, it’s hoped the move to ban referral fees will go some way to tackling this issue.

As a result of their higher than average rate of personal injury claims received recently by Admiral, the company has predicted full year pre tax profits towards the lower end of the figure estimated by analysts.

The survey was carried out by car insurance price comparison website, GoCompare.com, which found that 20% of those who hadn’t taken their driving test revealed they hadn’t done so because they couldn’t afford to.

In figures released by the Department of Transport, between April and August of this year fewer than 640,000 driving tests were taken, signalling a significant fall of 5% in the number of driving tests being taken during this period compared to the exact time frame last year.

The huge rise in the cost of motoring, including spiralling fuel and car insurance costs, has been blamed for deterring drivers from taking their driving test. Young drivers are also being worst hit by the hike in car insurance with annual cover for a 20 year old male costing over £4,000 according to figures from the second quarter of 2011.

Car insurance price comparison website, GoCompare.com, described the practice of not taking a driving test as a “shocking new trend” with one in eight people estimated to know someone who is currently driving without a valid licence.

The study revealed that on average, the contents of a garage filled with junk had a value of £3,400, whereas the average car is worth £13,487 and more likely to be found sitting on a driveway or on the side of the road as opposed to safe and secure inside a locked garage.

Despite the obvious argument that protecting a car, which has a greater value than the random items most people store in their garage, should be a priority, car insurance companies also argue that drivers who keep their vehicle in a locked and secure garage overnight are more likely to benefit from reduced rates of insurance.

Despite 25% of the drivers who took part in the poll admitting they keep their vehicle on a driveway overnight, 41% also revealed that they worried about leaving the car outside where it could be targeted by thieves or vandals. Although drivers admit they worry about leaving their car outside on a driveway, 25.5% added that putting the car away in a garage every night was too much hassle.

25% of those questioned as part of the survey admitted to having garages stuffed full of junk and therefore there was no room to keep a car, but 9 out of 10 respondents said they had no plans to change this despite the benefits it could potentially offer in terms of vehicle safety and reducing car insurance premiums.