Singapore Car Insurance - How Your Car Insurance Premium is Determined

In Singapore, car insurance premiums are priced according to the risk level insurers have to bear. As a consumer, knowing these factors help you navigate around potholes so you can get the most competitive motor insurance in the market -- every time.

In general, the following are major factors that insurers take into consideration:

1. Make and Model of Vehicle, Engine Capacity & Age of vehicle  

Generally the more visually attractive & higher-performing cars with high engine capacity will attract the highest car insurance premiums.

2. Nature of Vehicle Usage (private use/corporate use/commercial use/hire, etc.)  

Premiums change with different types of vehicle utilization. This is because the exposure to risk is higher for vehicles meant for commercial use or hire.

3. Age, Sex and Occupation of Driver

Insurers are biased – they tend to offer females better rates than males and prefer older drivers under seventy years old than young, inexperienced drivers. For the occupation of the driver, most insurers only classify them according to indoor or outdoor work.

4. Marital Status of Insured

Married drivers are charged less than single ones – sometimes this difference can be as much as 7%.

5. Driver experience (Number of Years)

Most insurers would not even bother to insure drivers who have less than one year’s driving experience and will slap drivers with only a year of driving experience with an exorbitant premium. With more than four years driving experience, you can enjoy better rates than drivers with less.

6. Claims History of Driver

Some insurers decline to quote drivers with a claims history of more than five thousand Singapore dollars. Driver with less than such claim amounts are often accepted, but they are often given very high rates.

7. Type of Cover (Third Party Only, Third Party Fire & Theft or Comprehensive)

The minimum requirement for vehicle insurance in Singapore is Third Party Only insurance, provided the finance company is able to accept this arrangement. This type of insurance costs the least, followed by Third Party Fire & Theft and Comprehensive Coverage Insurance. Generally, it is advisable to take up at least Third Party Fire & Theft coverage instead of just Third Party Only insurance so that you may not be in financial liability if your vehicle is destroyed by either fire or theft, assuming your vehicle is still under hire purchase.

Insurers will give each risk factor a weighting based on a range of statistics and past claims experience -- all these boils down to the business risk that car insurance companies have to take in order to maintain their insurance operation.

The good news is even if you do not understand how all these work, you can still benefit from market inconsistencies if you understand this fact:

Different insurers have different preference for particular brands or models, according to the claims experience in their company.

This is more apparent when insuring private vehicles, trucks and commercial vehicles than when it concerns motorcycles.

If you are able to get 6-7 quotes from different insurers, these inconsistencies become crystal clear. Even though their coverage may be the same, their premiums differ -- sometimes by as much as 79%.

Knowing this, you can grab at least six to seven quotes from reputable insurers in Singapore to compare quotes. Then grab the cheapest three to start comparing other features like windscreen coverage, loss of use benefit and workshop provision.

Finally, remember to ask for feedback on their customer service. It is really no use paying for dirt cheap insurance that takes many frustrating months to claim from. This can add undue psychological stress on top of the pressure that you have to cope with while dealing with the after-effects of an accident.