No, if you don’t use your car at all, and you’d rather not worry about having to insure it, you can declare it off-road with a Statutory Off Road Notice.

It’s worth considering that if you do declare your car off-road, you’ll stop accruing your no-claims discount. For this reason, you might prefer to take out temporary cover or reduce the expected mileage you give to your insurer, so you can keep building your no-claims bonus.

Telematics insurance, also known as black box insurance, is when your insurer uses GPS software or hardware to monitor your driving habits. This can be done with a black box, which is fitted under your dashboard, or with a plug-in device that goes into the cigarette lighter, or a mobile app using your phone’s location data.

Insurers use this to analyse things like your driving speed, braking and handling of corners – and they often put all of this information into a ‘driving score’ which you’ll be able to see yourself.

The better you drive the more likely you are to get cheaper premiums next time you compare quotes.

It’s usually a rule of thumb that your car insurance costs will be lower if you pay the full amount in an annual lump sum, rather than spreading the cost over 12 months. But it’s always good to compare quotes to make sure you know what’s on offer.

Fronting is an illegal practice where you lie about who the main driver of a policy is to get cheaper premiums. For example, if you are a student and you take out a car insurance policy on your own car, you’d expect to pay high premiums so by adding a more experienced parent or guardian as a named driver you could bring the cost down.

However, if you’re doing the bulk of the driving that would make you the ‘main’ driver. This is lying, and illegal, and could lead to punishment in court.

Yes, even if you’re a learner driver with aprovisional licence, you’ll need at least third-party insurance to drive on UK roads. If you’re taking private lessons it’s likely you’ll have to take your own cover out, but driving schools often provide their own insurance.

Insurers don’t usually offer special discounts for car insurance if you’re a student, and as youngsters generally face higher than average premiums, this makes it even more important to take steps to get cheaper cover.

If you’re living away from home while you study, you should use the address at which you keep your car for the most time. So if you spend more of the year at university than you do living at your home address, you should put your university’s address as yours.

Yes, it's possible to find cheaper car insurance as a student. Although students often face higher premiums due to their age and limited driving experience, there are several ways to reduce costs by comparing quotes, considering black box insurance and choosing a car in a lower insurance group.

Your car's make and model significantly influence your car insurance premium. This is primarily due to factors like:

• Insurance group: Each car is assigned an insurance group, ranging from 1 to 50. This group reflects the car's perceived risk, including factors like theft rates, repair costs, and safety features. A lower group typically means lower insurance premiums.

• Vehicle value: More expensive cars generally cost more to insure, as the potential cost of repairs or replacement is higher.

• Performance: High-performance cars often attract higher premiums due to their increased risk of accidents.

• Security features: Cars with advanced security features, such as alarms and immobilisers, may qualify for lower premiums.

Yes, modifying your car could increase your insurance premium, even if the changes are purely cosmetic. Modifications such as tinted windows, alloy wheels or engine upgrades can affect how insurers assess the risk of covering your car.

You should always tell your insurer about any modifications, as failing to declare them could invalidate your policy or affect a future claim. It's also worth checking how much a modification could increase your premium before making any changes.