"Every year you should speak to your vehicle insurer or broker about how to best to save on your insurance premium without losing essential cover on your vehicle," says Gari Dombo, Managing Director, Alexander Forbes Insurance.

Ahead of this conversation, Dombo suggests that vehicle owners familiarise themselves with the ten best ways to save on car insurance in tough times:

• Find out what excesses you are carrying and then decide whether you could perhaps carry more.

• Purchasing a lower risk vehicle would most certainly guarantee a low monthly premium. High performance vehicles, sports cars and cars at greater risk of theft attract higher premiums.

• By nominating a specific driver (or drivers) you will attract a lower premium. You will not, however, be covered if you suffer a loss when someone else is driving.

• You also have the option of limiting your mileage and paying less. However, this option exposes you to the risk not being paid out if you exceed your mileage limit.

• Putting your older vehicles on third party fire and theft cover, and removing the own damage portion on your own vehicle, will also help reduce your monthly insurance bills. Take note, however, that doing so will leave you footing your own damage bills in the event of an accident.

• Having an accident free driving record will help to keep your premiums down.

• Consolidating your policies into one ? i.e. combining motor and non-motor risks and bringing all separately insured motor vehicles under one policy ? can help to reduce the cost.

• If you are retired, or are 65 or older, your insurer may give a discount on your policy.

• Attending an advanced driver training course lowers your risk profile. Many insurance companies offer discounts to drivers who have passed advanced driver training courses.

• Upgrading the security level of your car lowers your car?s risk profile. For example, insurers provide discounts for extra security like vehicle tracking.

This list is by no means exhaustive. Simply put, "if you make the effort to improve your risk profile, that is make yourself less likely to suffer loss, your premium is likely to come down," adds Dombo.

There are many ways to do this. For example, says Dombo, "if your car is parked on the street or in your garden, building a lock up garage could reduce your monthly car premiums substantially."