Car Insurance: Quinn-direct Survey Shows How Bad Habits Can Drive Up Your Premiums

CAVAN, IRELAND, December 19, 2010 (Press-News.org) Today, many people are looking for the best deals available in car insurance.

It is worth keeping in mind, however, that one of the easiest ways to unintentionally drive up the cost of your insurance is to adopt bad driving habits, say car insurance specialist Quinn-direct. The company recently carried out research among Irish motorists, with some shocking revelations.

The survey commissioned by Quinn-direct found that an alarmingly high percentage (36%) of Irish people had been in a car driven by someone under the influence of drugs or alcohol. The relationship between a driver's use of alcohol or drugs and accidents is well known and long established.

The research also indicated that over 50% of Irish adult drivers have used their mobile phone whilst driving a motor vehicle. That is, without associated hands-free technology.

Adopting these and other related bad habits, not only puts the driver and their passengers at risk but also other motorists, pedestrians and members of the general public.

Virtually all car insurance providers see drivers with motoring offence convictions and penalty points as being higher risk than those with clean licences and no convictions. What this means, is that motor insurance providers typically expect motorists with convictions to pay more for their insurance.

In fact, in the case of some convictions such as drink driving, some insurers may refuse to offer car cover at all. It therefore makes simple economic sense to drive responsibly. If you do so, you may avoid convictions and penalty points - and that may mean that you are in a better position to obtain cheap car insurance premiums.

It's also advisable to avoid complacency and the "it could not happen to me syndrome". It may be easier to slip into bad driving habits than many of us believe. Today's mild speeding may be tomorrow's excessive speeding and that single under- the-limits-drink today may be tomorrow's over the limits excess, warns Quinn-direct.

Developing bad driving habits is something we all need to be on our guard against - at least if we wish to keep down the cost of our car insurance.

For more information please visit http://www.quinn-direct.com/.