Most of us simply employ the services of a broker rather than ringing round ourselves or scouring the web for the best deals. This is fine if the broker is not charging you a commission for his time and efforts so make sure this is not coming out of your pocket unless you are happy with it.

The broker will no doubt make a commission from selling you insurance but this will be paid directly to him by the company providing the insurance. It is also worth checking that the insurance company would not offer a better deal if you went to them direct.

Although it is worth checking you will probably find that they will offer you the same premium as the broker could even taking into account they will be paying his fees. This may seem strange but you need to bear in mind the broker is in fact drumming up trade for the insurer so it would be wrong if they undercut the brokers offer.

Our priority when looking for insurance cover is normally to find the cheapest deal around. To be honest insurance policies do not make exhilarating reading and many of us would be found guilty of tucking our insurance policies in a drawer without so much as giving them a second glance.

As much as this is the case and however tedious you may find reading your policy to be, it is advisable to read them as many people fall foul to certain conditions contained in the policy when they are unfortunate enough to need to make a claim.

At this point people realize they have a large excess to pay towards their claim or worse still their particular claim is not covered under the terms and conditions of their insurance policy.

It is easy to adopt the ' it won't happen to me' attitude but the facts of the matter are there is a strong possibility it will or why bother to get insurance in the first place!

There are of course many ways to keep your insurance premiums low. Your house insurance premium will be affected by the area you live in, the crime rate, a history of subsidence and simple things like what types of locks are on your doors and windows and if the house is fitted with an alarm.

Your car insurance premium will be adjusted according to your age, accident history, the area you live, where the vehicle is parked and of course what type of vehicle you are insuring.

Any life insurance premium will be determined on your age, the job you do and of course your medical history.