Comprehensive Car Insurance Explained

(applicable to the UK)

If you wish to insure your car for most eventualities, then it’s recommended that you take out comprehensive motor insurance. This will protect you in the event of damaging a vehicle belonging to another party, damage to property, or injury to a person and, crucially, with comprehensive insurance, you will be covered for damage to your own vehicle, even if the incident is considered to be your fault. This is one of the key differences between comprehensive and the other levels of cover.

It is worth noting, however, that you will be covered for most circumstances but not all. To this end, it is always advisable to familiarise yourself with terms, conditions and exclusions in your policy. You are likely to incur the highest costing premiums by taking out comprehensive insurance, however, as opposed to third party, fire & theft, or third party only.

It is important not to fall into the trap of saying it is the most expensive cover, as it is potentially considerably more expensive to find yourself involved in an incident which is considered to be your fault and the level of cover you’ve chosen does not cover the repairs to your car.

In the event of a claim, you may have to pay a certain amount of compulsory excess set by the insurer if you are considered to be at fault. You can also agree to a further voluntary excess, which will tend to drive the cost of your premium down, as you are shouldering more of the risk. Remember, you are responsible for the total excess so choose a voluntary value that you can afford.

When weighing up what level of motor cover to opt for, there are a few factors to consider.

The first is the value of your car. It is foolhardy to take out anything less than comprehensive cover for a car that is over ?5,000 in value.

In fact, it is prudent to take out comprehensive insurance for any car that you couldn’t afford to replace were it to be written off.

There are extra benefits which a motorist may get with comprehensive cover. For example, the insurer may provide you with a courtesy car in the event that your own has to be repaired due to an incident. This is not provided by all insurance companies however, so be sure to read the policy small print.

Insurance policies do not cover absolutely everything that can go wrong with your car. For example, regular maintenance and wear and tear to your car in the course of its general use will not be covered. So car insurance is not there to protect you from costs incurred in its upkeep. In theory, you may be covered for damaged caused by fortuitous events such as driving over a high kerb. However, it is worth getting an estimate for such work before making small claims, as the cost of fixing it may not even be as much as the level of your excess. Plus do bear in mind that the more claims you make, the more costly your premiums will be in future, due to the insurance company perceiving you to be a higher risk and the reduction in your No Claims Bonus.

The information contained herein is provided for information purposes only and cannot be construed as advice.

Article contributed by confused.com  

Copyright ? 2000-2020
Hints and Things
All Rights Reserved.



No portion of this site may be reproduced or redistributed without prior written permission from Hints and Things. All trademarks & copyrights throughout Hints and Things remain the property of their respective owners.

Hints and Things cannot be held responsible for any information given on this site nor do they necessarily agree with, or endorse, the views given by third parties.