The way insurers calculate the cost of your performance car insurance premiums relies on a basically simple and straight forward principle – the cost of the insurer’s outlay in settling any claims needs to be covered by the amount of money received through the insured’s payment of premiums. The principle is described in further detail by the industry’s own regulator, the Association of British Insurers (ABI).

Things then start to get somewhat more complicated since the calculation becomes one of assessing the risk of any such claim actually having to be settled by the insurer.

Naturally, a whole host of factors are taken into account when assessing that risk – including, for example, the make and model of the vehicle, its age and value, the insured’s age and driving record, even the part of the country in which the vehicle is registered.

One of the major factors in the scales used by the insurer is the potential performance of the vehicle – the higher the performance, goes the conventional wisdom, the greater the likelihood of an accident happening, a claim being made and the probability of that claim being higher than usual, to meet the higher costs typically involved in repairs to a high performance vehicle.

Difficulties finding high performance car insurance

So heavily does the risk weigh of an expensive claim being made, that some insurers may want nothing at all to do with insuring a high performance car, or to charge a considerable amount for doing so – either directly, through the cost of the premiums, or less directly by raising a significantly larger excess.

There are specialist insurers, however, who make it their business to arrange cover for high performance vehicles. These tend to have a keener appreciation of the characteristics of such motor cars, the needs and requirements of their owners and effective measures for assessing the risks involved in providing cover.

Here at GSI Insurance, we have close working relationships with a number of such specialist providers – helping to find you not only the cover you need for your high performance car insurance at a competitive price too.

Lightening the load

As with any other kind of insurance, moreover, the more you are able to share the risks with your insurer, the lower the premiums are likely to be – a logical implication of that principle that the cost of premiums needs to cover the risks taken on by the insurer.

An obvious way of sharing that risk is by your agreeing to accept an additional voluntary excess over and above any compulsory excess the insurer may impose.

Security of the vehicle is also an important concern – with high performance vehicles, in particular, likely to attract the unwelcome attention of thieves and vandals. Measures such as burglar alarms and immobilisation devices, therefore, may count a lot for your insurer and be reflected in a moderation of the premiums charged.

Similar concerns are likely to extend to the manner in which the vehicle is going to be parked – with parking in a securely locked garage, for instance, typically earning you greater credit than the car being parked in the street.