Car Insurance Groups When it comes to choosing a car, you may have a particular make or model in mind, but what you may not realise is that the type of car you choose can have a big impact on the car insurance premium you end up paying. Put simply, it will cost you far more to cover a Porsche than it will to cover a Vauxhall.

This is because insurers base premiums on statistical risk - and because the driver of the Porsche is statistically more likely to claim on his or her policy than the owner of the Vauxhall.

Before signing on the dotted line, it's worth checking which car insurance group your chosen vehicle falls into as this will have an impact on the price you pay for your policy.

If you're looking to save money, you'll want to opt for a car that is cheap to cover. There are 50 car insurance groups in total, with cars falling into the highest car insurance groups costing the most to insure, while those assigned to the lowest groups costing the least.

Car insurance groups explained

Every passenger car built to UK specifications is assigned to a car insurance group decided upon by the Group Rating Panel; this is made up of representatives of the insurance industry, and includes members of the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and Lloyds Market Association.

Cars are placed into groups on a car insurance groups list labelled between one and fifty, using research conducted by the Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre (Thatcham).

The way that cars are assigned to the car insurance groups table is worked out based on a number of factors, including repairs, the cost of spare parts, the performance of the vehicle, safety features, and the price of a new model.

Repairs are an important factor for insurers to consider when giving a car a rating, not least because the cost of repairs accounts for more than half of the amount paid out in motor insurance claims, according to the ABI.

If you choose a car which has longer repair times and costly spare parts, the vehicle will get bumped up into a higher insurance group - and therefore cost more to insure.

Similarly, insurers will consider performance when giving a car its insurance rating, as a vehicle which can accelerate rapidly and reach high speeds is a “higher risk” car which is likely to generate more expensive claims; once again, this will push it into a higher insurance group.

In addition, insurers will also consider the security features which come as standard with the car, such as an alarm, immobiliser, glass etching and a visible Vehicle Identification number (VIN), as all these will improve the car's security - reducing the chances of it being stolen; this, in turn, means the car will be placed in a lower insurance group, so will be cheaper to insure.

How do the car insurance groups work?

Generally speaking, cars allocated to “insurance group one” of the car insurance groups table are the cheapest to insure. However, you need to bear in mind that car insurance groups are purely there to act as an advisory service to insurers when calculating premiums.

Insurance firms will also take into account the cost of repairs, the overall value of the vehicle, and the statistical likelihood of owners of that type of vehicle making a claim.

That said the insurance group that a car is placed into can still have a significant impact on the premium offered to you, the customer. This means that if you're looking to pay a lower premium, it's still worth focusing on cars which are in a “low” insurance group.

Which cars fall into which categories?

Looking at some of the most popular cars, the cheapest ones to insure are those vehicles which tend to be less expensive, low-specification models with smaller engines.

For example, the Vauxhall Corsa Hatchback could be in group 3, the Ford Fiesta could be in group 8, the Vauxhall Astra Hatchback could be in group 9, the Ford Focus could be in group 11, the Volkswagen Golf could be in group 13, and the Renault Clio 1.2 Campus 2007 3d could be in group 5.
Each car is categorised based on its performance (engine size), as well as the security features it offers.

To take two extremes, the Vauxhall Corsa 1.0 ecoFlex is in insurance group one, which should make this one of the cheapest vehicles to ensure. By contrast, the Audi R8 Spyder falls into insurance group 50, which means it will be significantly more expensive to insure.

Given that the cost of cover can range so widely from one group to the next, it's vital that you take the time to check which insurance group the car you're planning to buy falls into before handing over any money - or you could be in for a costly shock when you come to purchasing insurance. For more information, visit Thatcham's website.

How to cut the cost of car insurance

If you already own a set of wheels which falls into one of the more expensive car insurance groups, there are still plenty of steps you can take to keep a lid on costs.

One of the simplest ways to bring costs down is by adding security-enhancing systems, such as recognised and approved immobilisers and alarms.

By adding these features, you can reduce the premium levied by your insurer, as the insurance firm will factor in the lower statistical likelihood of you making a claim, as you have made the vehicle safer and more secure.

Other tips include opting to pay a higher excess, and paying your insurance premiums upfront, as most insurers charge interest on monthly payments.

Also think about whether you really need features, such as the use of a courtesy car, as your premium could reduce if you remove this.

As a driver, you now need to be aware of a new ruling from the European Court of Justice which came into effect on 21 December that states that insurers can no longer use gender when calculating premiums.

While young women used to get cheaper car insurance because they have fewer accidents than young men, this is no longer the case now that the directive has come into force - making it even more important to find other ways to curb rising premiums.

New drivers could consider black box insurance. This uses a satellite tracker to monitor when and how well, a car is being driven. By measuring speed, acceleration, and breaking, this technology gives insurers a more detailed picture of the risk a driver poses - meaning they can reward good drivers with lower premiums.

Other ways in which young motorists can cut costs include opting to add an experienced driver to their policy, and by taking the Pass Plus qualification. Equally, one of the best ways to find the best value premium for you is by shopping around to compare prices. The simplest way to do this is through an online car insurance comparison site such as MoneySupermarket.

For more ideas on how to reduce the cost of your car insurance premiums, visit our money saving tips page.

How to Get Cheap Health Insurance? - At recent years, the need for health insurance is in great demand by some people in big cities. The main reason why people need health insurance is because those who are unemployed, make a low-income and suffer from constant illnesses tend to need health insurance coverage. Some people may choose jobs based on whether or not health insurance is a part of the benefits package. The steps below will help you to find cheap health insurance that suit your need.

How to Get Cheap Health Insurance?

1. Inquire about Medicaid.
Medicaid is the common term to describe the insurance program provided through the United States federal government. The Medicaid program is managed by the government in which you reside. The Medicaid program is geared towards low-income wage earners and people who are unemployed. The Medicaid program is covers children, adults and senior citizens who qualify. So if you want get the cheap health insurance, you can contact your local Medicaid office for details.

"Don't automatically think that since you have a job you won't qualify for The Medicaid program. Medicaid will pay health care expenses for low-income families and individuals. Each state sets the eligibility requirements so qualifying for the program is state specific",

2. Visit a clinic.
To get health insurance, you can locate a public health clinic in where you reside. Clinics are a very good resource to inquire about cheap health care insurance plans. They may either send you to a patient services representative and give you brochures

3. Visit your local social services office.
The department of social services in United States provides an abundance of information to the community. You can ask a social services representative for information on cheap health insurance

4. Use an internet search.
To find cheap health insurance, you can use an internet service. Try to make sure that the Insurance websites you visit have specific information on the states that they service.

Assurance service is an independent professional service, typically provided by Chartered or Certified Public Accountants, with the goal of improving the information or the context of the information so that decision makers can make more informed, and presumably better, decisions. Assurance services provide independent and professional opinions that reduce the information risk (risk that comes from incorrect information)

Audits can be considered a type of assurance service. However, audits are only designed to test the validity of the financial statements. Under an assurance engagement, accountants can provide a variety of services ranging from information systems security reviews to customer satisfaction surveys. Unlike audit and attestation services that are often highly structured, assurance services tend to be customized and implemented when performed for a smaller group of decision makers within the firm. Often managers must make decisions on things they have incomplete or inaccurate data for, and decisions made on such data may be incorrect and increase the overall business risk. In this respect, assurance services can be very helpful in reducing such risk and help managers or decision makers make more confident decisions within a given firm. This is similar to audits in that investors will choose to invest in a firm that is publishing financial statements that have been audited by an independent firm.

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Assurance services can test financial and non-financial information; due to this assurance services can be classified as consulting services. However, assurance services are not considered consulting[citation needed] because in consulting services, an accountant generally uses their professional knowledge to make recommendations for a future event or a procedure, such as the design of an information system or accounting control system. In contrast, assurance services are designed to test the validity of past data of the business cycles. Although there is no boundary to what an accountant can test in assurance services, a practitioner is discouraged from accepting an assurance engagement in which his firm or previous experiences does not provide them with enough expertise to make a professional opinion on the given data