Steps for Comparing Car Insurance

Comparing car insurance in Ireland starts by identifying the type of insurance coverage that you want on your car. Ireland contains three basic insurance policies that are made available to Irish residents by every major insurance company that has services in Ireland. Third party insurance coverage is the minimum policy required by law and is the cheapest policy to consider. The third party, fire and theft policy is the second most expensive policy and the comprehensive coverage policy is the most expensive in the Irish market. Make sure you only compare policies that are within the same category in order to make the right choice.

Car insurance companies in Ireland use a variety of factors to determine your estimated insurance rate. Factors include your age, gender, driving experience, profession, where you live, type of car, value of car and your accident history. Even though you may fill out the same information for five different car insurance quotes, the rates may all be different because each company calculates the rates slightly differently. Irish car insurance companies will usually offer standard discounts for an accident-free driving history but may offer different discounts for other factors such as where you live and what type of car you own.

Use the Internet to compare estimated car insurance quotes from multiple different Irish insurance companies. Insurance companies such as Aviva, 123, AXA, FDB and AA Ireland all operate websites where you can receive a car insurance quote estimate. Look for the level of coverage you prefer and the policy that offers you the greatest number of discounts. Pay attention to discounts based on your driving record, marital status and security features equipped in your car. Additionally, many Insurance companies in Ireland offer you a discount when you purchase car and home insurance from the same company. By carefully comparing insurance quotes from all of the premier Irish car insurance companies, you can make the right choice based on policy and discounts.

This may sound like scaremongering but the statistics back this up. It is facts, not some people trying to scare you in the name of making news. It is why you need to take control of your finances – and why you need to make savings and cut back anywhere that you can.

Tips to Save Money

As ever we like to be helpful. So, since we live to serve, we have collected this wonderful list of tips to help you save money.

· Assess your finances. It is amazing the amount of people that are paying out money that they don’t need to – and aren’t even aware of it. Old mobile phones they forgot to cancel, gym memberships they don’t use any more, book memberships that just go in the bin – anything you are paying monthly for but forgot about. You can save a lot of money on this.

· Look at your bills. Are you paying too much? Shopping around on everything from mobile phone contracts to your car insurance can end up saving you hundreds a month. And don’t be afraid to negotiate – it is amazing the deals some companies will give you if you suggest that you are going to move to a competitor.

· Trade down. Do you really need that expensive car, for example? If you have an expensive high ticket item like that (or even your home) you might be able to save considerable amounts of money by trading to a smaller one.

· Sell your junk. Ebay, car boot sales and the like are becoming more and more popular – and have a market of buyers who could well be interested in buying what you consider to be junk.

· Buy 2nd hand. Just as you can make good money at 2nd hand sales and websites so too can you buy bargains… so look around there and see if there isn’t something that you were going to pay full price for.

· Trade in on a skill. Right now people are trying to save money – they don’t want to pay massive garage fees when they could pay someone who can fix it for a lot less. They don’t want to pay full prices when they can bring in skilled amateur labour. Anything form tutoring to writing can be utilised by someone.

· Get freebies. Online there are a huge number of freebie sites – and it is amazing what you can get for free. But even if you don’t get lucky with these you can still look at using your local library to get free books, DVDs etc. Also look to the Internet to get you free music through legal applications such as Spotify.

Obviously you will be able to save a lot of money by other methods too – but this should get your brain thinking at the very least.

Here are 4 money-saving tips not just for the holidays but all year round as well:

1. Set aside a percentage of your monthly income as savings. It doesn’t really matter how much amount you save as long as you stash some of your savings in the bank. It will become handy in future emergencies. You’ll never know what will happen. But if you have some cash stashed somewhere, it will certainly give you a certain feeling of security and wellbeing.

2. Back to the basics. If you’re dead serious about cutting back or your overheads, then simplify your life. Cut back on expensive dinners, roaming in the malls, eating at fast food centers or watching movies at the video arcades. Limit your calls. Make do without cable TV. Buy classic dresses whirr never go out of style. If you have a compulsion to buy things which you do not need, control yourself Instead stash that one hundred dollar bill in a safe place in your wallet. You will have ended with nothing but more savings.

3. Become a handy woman. With all the sophisticated tools and paraphernalia that are available in the market, any woman can handle things that men normally do — like repairing the faucet, screwing things and repairing the car. Just because you’re a woman is no excuse for not doing men’s jobs. With the high costs of home repairs, it is but practical to do things yourself if you can help it. However you can refer the difficult things to the professionals.

4. Make a list of the things that you need to buy and stick to it. Sometimes we are tempted to buy things we do not need because of some promo sales like “buy one take one.” Do not give in to these sales talks. Hold on to your purse. Forget the urge.

5. Forced savings. Dream big. The best way to save money is to have some short-term and long term financial goals in sight like a down payment for a car or a house. It is much more motivating if you have a dream or goal to pursue.

Grooming with Paper
Paper grooming aids are today so plentiful that we may forget some of their wonder power. Here are reminders:
* Do you let your eyeglasses stay smudgy? So much so that you have to peer? Lens-polishing papers (they come in small folders) keep vision clear, and crystal-clear are eye-shiners too.
* Does your face itself fog up? Paper blotting tissue doesn’t disturb your make-up when you carefully blot away oil and moisture.
* Carry cleansing tissues for sniffles and other everyday cares, but keep your handbag neat by enclosing the tissues in a folder of their own.
*When putting polish on your toenails, wear folding cleansing tissue between toes to keep them separate; the polish then can dry without the toes rubbing it off.
*Scented paper liners for your bureau drawers keep underwear lightly and pleasantly scented.
*Other kinds of paper are an aid in keeping your handbag and your personality well-groomed. Have as purse accessories an appointment book, as well as an address and telephone book, and a small loose-leaf notebook for your shopping lists. Calling cards — engraved or printed with your name only —are useful as telephone number and address jotters and as ever-ready note paper when you need to leave a message. They also serve to bear your good wishes when you send a gift.

Time and Money Savers
* Adjust brakes at regular intervals so that no one tire is forced to do more work when slowing down than the other three.
* To remove wrinkles from plastic material, place a thick bath towel which has been slightly dampened over the plastic. Iron with a hot iron and the wrinkles will soon disappear.
* Before you paint, slip old socks over your shoes. This lets you wipe up paint splatters from your feet.
* Refrigerate your nail polish and you’ll be able to use it up entirely without getting thick.
* If you are moving, pack dishes with a towel between each one. Wash cloths can be used between saucers. This will save space and protect the dishes as well.
* Buy calculator to suit your needs. Check the display panel to make sure it’s easy to read. Make sure the keys are not too small to operate comfortably. Buy a brand from an established company. Find out how to use your calculator before you leave the store. Check the warranty.

Some people apply for bank accounts and end up getting turned down because something in their financial history has had an effect on their credit rating.

• In some cases, people have a poor credit rating because they simply failed to keep up with payments to one of their financial commitments, whether it was loan, a mortgage, a credit card debt or a utility bill.

• Other people may have a poor credit rating by no fault of their own – for example, they may have suffered a drop in their income, or their essential expenditure may have increased, which meant they couldn’t afford repayments.

Some bad credit bank accounts don’t require a check on people’s credit ratings, which means that anyone can get an account as long as they can prove their identity. This can be particularly useful for people who have been turned down elsewhere.

*Budgeting – protecting your credit rating*

If you are concerned about your credit rating, you could take steps now to make sure you avoid damaging it in the future. For example, you could improve your budgeting skills.

A budget is a detailed plan that shows how much money you earn/receive, and where your money goes, on a monthly basis.

In order to create a budget, you have to work out your total income (everything you receive/earn) and take away your total expenditure (the money you spend on essentials, such as food, utilities and mortgage/rent repayments) so you can calculate your disposable income.

Your disposable income is what you can use for payments towards your non-priority debts (unsecured loans, credit cards, store cards, etc.) and, if there is anything left, savings and non-essential expenditure.

By budgeting, you can ensure you have enough money set aside each month to make payments to all your financial commitments – thereby avoiding the risk of missing a payment and damaging your credit rating.

Adapted from Think Banking’s Bad Credit Bank Account section.