Car Insurance Information

Welcome to our Car Insurance page: The information below explains in plain english what car insurance means.

It is a criminal offence to drive without car insurance in the UK. As such it carries a maximum fine of £5,000 and six to eight points on your licence, or can even result in a ban from driving. In order to prove that you are legally covered to drive you can show your car insurance policy certificate so it is advisable to keep this in a safe place.

There are three different types of car insurance available: Comprehensive, Third Party, Fire and Theft or just Third Party. The lowest level of cover available is called Third Party this does not cover any damage to you or your car but solely insures against injury or damage to another person or their property caused by you in an accident. Third Party, Fire and Theft as the name suggests provides the cover Third Party but in addition will also pay if your car is damaged/destroyed by fire or stolen. Comprehensive then extends this further to cover any damage to your car which occurs as the result of an accident. It is a common misconception that fully comprehensive insurance entitles you to drive other cars, in fact unless stated in the car insurance policy you are not legally covered to drive any car apart from the one named in the insurance policy.

No Claims Discount (NCD) or No Claims Bonus (NCB) as it can also be called is one of the most important factors of your policy. For each year of driving without claiming on your car insurance you are awarded one years no claim bonus. The more years of NCB you have the cheaper your car insurance quote will be as by building up NCB you are proving yourself to be a safe driver and therefore a better risk. The amount of discount given for your NCB varies greatly from company to company to the extent that some companies may give you more than 50% discount for one years’ no claims bonus whereas others may be less than a 30% discount.

If you have a minimum of 4 years NCB you can limit the impact of a claim on your discount by paying extra for protected no-claims. With a protected no claims bonus one claim in the year will not have an affect and with some companies two claims in a twelve month period are allowed. If you were to crash without protected no claims most insurers have a system whereby you only lose part of the NCB you have built up not all of it, however if you only have one or two years than the most likely outcome is that you will lose it all in the event of a crash.

Some companies will give you one years’ NCB if you have a Pass Plus Certificate, the experienced driving test. Some insurers will also allow NCB for years driving company cars’, this will often need to be proved via a letter from your boss stating you have not been involved in any accidents. It is not possible to gain NCB as a named driver only the policy holder will generate NCB. If you do not drive for more than three years it is likely that a company will not take into account any NCB accrued before this time.

Some car insurance policies will have a compulsory excess. The excess is an amount of money the individual pays in the event of an insurance claim. The excess always makes up the first part of the claim so a £200 excess on a £700 claim would mean the individual pays the first £200 with the insurer compensating the remaining £500. It is mainly young drivers that face a compulsory excess whereas drivers over 25 usually do not have a compulsory excess. However in order to reduce the price of an insurance policy a voluntary excess can be added at the driver’s stipulation.

Car modifications need to be declared on any insurance policy, if you fail to do so and attempt to claim it is possible the company will void your policy. The additional insurance cost depends upon the modification so it is advisable to contact your insurance company for estimated cost prior to purchasing the modification. In most cases a modified part will only be replaced by the standard part in the event of a claim. The reason’s behind the increased premium for modifications is that performance modifications make the car faster so more likely to crash and aesthetic modifications make the vehicle more attractive to thieves and vandals. If you have a heavily modified vehicle it is a better idea to get insured with a specialist company.