Hot Topic: Is your car insurance affected if you park on the street?

Hot Topic: Is your car insurance affected if you park on the street?

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a garage or a driveway to park their vehicle on. But does where you park overnight affect the premium of your car insurance policy? Yes, is the answer, but more often than not, there is only a marginal difference in price. Here’s why.

The street in which the vehicle is parked overnight can have more of an impact on the premium, as some areas pose a higher risk of theft or vandalism than others. Many inner-city suburbs fall into this category, so in terms of where the car is parked, it depends more upon where you live than where exactly you park. Insurance companies assess this based on their data on your street’s postcode, such as the claim or crime rate. Some people have received hefty fines for lying about where their car is parked, such as the case of a man living in Slough who stated on his car insurance policy that he lived in Chichester, West Sussex to reduce the cost.

Parking on the street can indeed be cheaper in some parts of the UK. If you’ve had car key burglaries in the area and your car is an expensive one, insurers say that the burglars have less chance of figuring out which car belongs to which house. One downside to parking away from your home is that your car might not be in view of your property and you would be unable to see if your car is safe. If your car is alarmed and it goes off, you may not hear it and it is subsequently driven off by the thief.

One major drawback to parking on your driveway is the risk of ‘relay attack’, which is a common method of keyless car theft which involves manipulating the signal between the owner’s key fob and the vehicle.  If you leave your keys by the front door, the criminals are more likely get access to your vehicle, whereas moving your keys to the rear of the house or parking a few streets down will reduce the risk.

If you had a choice, what would you do?

Street parking

Pros

• Reduces the chance of 'relay attack' on vehicle

Cons

• More likely to be damage/vandalised
• Might not have any assigned parking spots and might be streets away
• Could be broken into
• May incur costs from council parking schemes
• Car alarm might go off and you don’t hear it

Driveway

Pros

• Less likely to get vandalised
• Less likely to get damages or have wing mirror clipped
• Less like to have home burgled - thieves assume someone is in the property
• Car visible from property

Cons

• Could be broken into
• Increases the chance of 'relay attack' on vehicle

So ultimately there are potentially more pros to parking in your driveway than on the street. If you have a choice, then it’s what you feel happiest and safest with. If parking on your driveway is slightly more expensive but less risky, then it’s a bit of an easy decision to make. Remember to park in the safest location as you do not want to risk losing your no claims bonus.

Example of sample quotes

Our car insurance team have checked a few different insurers to see the price differences between parking on the road and in the driveway.

We all want to make sure our property is protected, from our homes to our cars, so having insurance in place is the one way you can ensure that you are covered for theft or vandalism. Call our car and home insurance team on 01243 219333 and get a competitive quote.