There are a number of sources of motor insurance quotes. Here are the main ones:

* An “old-style” insurance broker. Brokers can be the people to go to if the type of policy you need is out of the ordinary, for example because it is a classic car, or a high-performance vehicle, or because you have a “spotty” driving history in terms of claims or convictions. They can research the market for you and offer a personal service. They also act on behalf of the client when it comes to making a claim.

Of course this costs money. Usually, though not always, a policy taken out through a broker may cost a lot more, largely because they receive a hefty commission for selling it.

There is also the option of online brokerages/intermediaries, who will have 10, 20, sometimes even more insurers on their books. When you obtain a quote from them, they will search for it from their “panel”. Bear in mind that not all insurers on a panel will offer competitive quotes for a given “risk” – that’s you. So the competitive deals on offer may still be restricted to a handful.

* Direct insurers. Here, you go to an individual company’s website and buy a motor insurance policy from them. The advantage is that of speed and convenience. And if you like the company, all is well and good. The potential downside is that you will pay too much. If you are shopping around, whether on the phone or over the internet, it also takes a lot of time to give your details to each insurer, or input them on their systems.

* Comparison websites like moneysupermarket.com. These will ask you a range of personal details and then use sophisticated software to get car insurance quotes on your behalf from every website they have access to. In our case, this covers up to 60 separate insurers and brokers. The benefits are that you get a far wider spread of the market in terms of potential quotes.

The car’s value and insurance category: cars are placed in specific insurance categories, with expensive or powerful performance cars being the most expensive to insure. For example, categories range from Group 1 for a Fiat Panda through to Group 20 for a Porsche 911.

Age and experience: newly qualified drivers – or drivers under 25 – are deemed more likely to have accidents than older, more experienced drivers.

This has important implications for parents: adding teenage drivers to a policy can significantly increase your premium.

TIP: It is sometimes cheaper to add a teenager on a temporary basis, for example during a holiday. Alternatively, if the child drives his or her own car, ask him/her to obtain a third party, fire and theft quote in their name. Bear in mind that in the event of an own-fault accident, they will have to pay for repairs to the vehicle.

Also, attending special courses, such as those by the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM), will often lead to a discount.

Claims history: the less you claim, the less you pay. Five-year no-claims discounts are best. If you have an own-fault accident, you typically lose up to two years’ bonus.

TIP: Not all insurers operate no-claims bonuses in the same way. You typically get a 30% discount after one year of claim-free driving, rising to 65% after four or five years. But companies vary. Some go up to a 70% maximum while others specialising in younger drivers will give higher discounts at an earlier stage. Again, it is important to shop around.

Occupation: your job may well determine the cost of your motor insurance. For example, a teacher might pay less than a pop star of the same age. A journalist will find it harder to get cheap insurance because of assumptions of how they drive and whom they may have as passengers in the car.

Excess: this is the amount of money you will have to pay yourself before the insurer then chips in for additional repairs. The more money you’re willing to pay out as excess, the lower your premium. The average excess is £200, but can be higher.

Others depend on the level of benefits you want from your motor insurance policy. Details of these – which you can pick and choose between and thereby influence the price you pay – are also detailed elsewhere.

But there are factors that you have little or no control over and depend on outside circumstances.

Here are some factors that influence how much you pay for your motor insurance.

1) The soaring cost of litigation: drivers are more likely nowadays to claim for personal injury, like a serious case of whiplash, and the amounts paid out for injuries are much higher than they used to be.

Insurers have attempted to intervene to control these costs. But courts that find in favour of claimants still make very significant awards in cases of serious injury or death. And from the point of view of claimants, this is a positive thing.

2) NHS costs: accident and emergency departments can now claim for cost of treatment from the insurance company. This includes ambulance costs.

If you are the blameless victim of an accident, the bill will be paid by the opposite party’s insurer. Conversely, if you are to blame, your insurer will have to pick up the tab. NHS bills can, perhaps surprisingly, be very expensive.

3) Uninsured drivers: official statistics say that one in 20 drivers is uninsured. But recent research carried out by pollsters Mori suggests that this figure is more like one in 10 drivers, albeit that the uninsured period in many cases may run to just a few days or a few weeks.

This is cold comfort to someone who is involved in an accident with an uninsured driver. This adds around £30 to the average annual premium.

Ironically, this can produce a Catch-22 situation: as premiums get higher it becomes even more tempting for some people not to take out car insurance.

4) Stock markets: few people realise that insurers try to “stockpile” funds so that they can pay out in the case of claims. This means money taken in premiums is often invested until it is then paid out.

This strategy is more obvious in the case of home insurance, where storms can lead to very large – and sudden – claims. But to a lesser extent it also applies in the case of motor insurance policies.

Inevitably, this is not much use if markets are plummeting. Again, the recovery in world stock markets since 2003 is what has helped keep premiums at “reasonable” levels.