An average two-car household could save $424-a-year by shopping around for vehicle insurance.

A survey of five cars, five owners, five different towns, and five compelling reasons for shopping around for car cover has been conducted.

Recent quotes sought by car owners in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Tauranga though the Quashed insurance comparison website show how much can be saved by shopping around.

On average, the five car owners could save $212 a year by switching insurer.

Quashed chief executive Justin Lim said as most households owned two or more cars, the actual effect on people's finances from shopping around was magnified.

'Average household savings on car insurance, based on two per household, is $424 a year or $4240 over a decade,” he said.

Photo: SunLive/File.

Savings can be higher, if people are able to pay in advance for their cover, and not pay monthly.

One annual contract costing $785.99 would have cost $863.64, if paid for through 12 monthly payments, each of which would be $71.97.

The practice of early payment discounts was banned in the power sector as being a disguised extra charge on poorer households.

Some insurers such as Protecta and Cove did not charge more to policyholders who paid monthly, Lim said.

That was about to change, as Cove's marketing manager Matt Giles said the insurer was about to bring in a 'discount” for people paying annually.

It had been under pressure to do so from richer motorists, who have become used to the idea of paying less for their insurance than people without the means to pay in a single instalment.

The things insurers take into account when calculating premiums include the make and age of the cars being insured, the gender of the driver, their age, and where they live.

2012 Mazda 3, North Shore, Auckland, insured for $13,000 by a male driver in his 20s: Quotes from major insurance companies ranged from $785.99 to $976.93 for policies paid in advance. The cheapest, and most expensive insurers did not charge extra for policyholders paying monthly.

2010 Honda Accord, Carterton, insured for $12,000 by a male in his 30s: Quotes ranged from $487.98 to $728.98 for policies paid in advance. The range for people paying monthly ran from $535.80 to $728.98.

2015 BMW 320i, Hei Hei in Christchurch, insured for $23,000 by a woman in her 30s: Annual quotes ranged from $843.89 to $1034.39.

Insuring cars is an expensive business, and quotes can vary widely between insurers. Damien O'Carroll/Stuff.

2018 Mitsubishi Outlander, Sawyers Bay, Dunedin, insured for $25,000 by a woman in her 40s: Annual quotes from $687.17 to $824.84.

2021 Toyota RAV4, Papamoa in Tauranga, insured for $47,000 by a 50-year old male: Annual quotes from $744.73 to $1048.70.

But Lim said Price was only one difference to look out for when comparing across policies, as policy cover could differ too.

'Not all covers are the same,” he said, and setting aside a couple of hours a year to shop around meant people kept track of the details of their cover, and what cover they could be getting elsewhere.

Most people using Quashed compared house and contents cover on offer at the same time as they were shopping for car insurance, he said.

The scope for savings were huge. The Insurance Council Te Kāhui Inihua o Aotearoa said between September 2020 and September 2021, vehicle owners paid premiums of $2.46 billion for vehicle insurance, though that included both household and business vehicles.

Rob Stock/Stuff.