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To drive on the public road, you must, by law, have a suitable level of motor insurance cover.
The legal minimum type of cover is third party only. This insures you against injury to other people, including your passengers, as well as damage to other people's cars and property.
The two most popular types of policy are:
1. Third party, fire and theft comprehensive cover. This policy will also provide cover if your car is damaged by fire or if it is stolen. Car theft is common, so it makes sense to be insured against this particular risk. Fire damage is less common, but if your car does catch fire the odds are high that it will be a write-off, unless you are able to put the fire out immediately.
2. Comprehensive insurance includes the same cover provided by third party, fire and theft policies and adds protection against damage to your own car, even if the crash is your own fault.
Comprehensive insurance will include options for windscreen and glass damage. You may also be provided a courtesy car if your own car is not driveable after a crash. This type of policies will usually include a range of other benefits, such as vehicle breakdown and legal cover, protection against loss or damage to personal possessions and personal accident benefit. These benefits are limited and should not be considered a substitute for life, health or personal possessions insurance.
What else affects insurance costs?
The other factors that determine how high or low your insurance premiums will be include:
Type of car. The bigger the vehicle’s engine, the more costly it is likely to be to repair, making the car expensive to insure.
The car’s market value. The higher the value, the more expensive it will be to repair or replace
Where the car will be parked. You may pay less if you keep your car in a garage overnight as opposed to on the street.
Car usage habits. If the car is to be used for commuting, as well as social, domestic and pleasure purposes, the risk will be higher, so will be the premium
Driver’s age and sex. Young men normally pay more than women of the same age, as they are considered more of a risk. Older drivers generally pay less, although premiums may start to rise for the over 70s
Driver’s occupation. Motorists in low-risk jobs, such as teachers and civil servants usually pay less than those in high-risk occupations such as actors and pub landlords
The post code of the area in which you live. It is usually more expensive in urban areas than rural regions. If you own a car that is more likely to be stolen in the area where you live, this will also push costs up.
The number of drivers. The more drivers insured on a policy, the costlier it will be. It is cheaper to make people 'named drivers’ rather than choosing 'any driver' cover.
Previous claims and motoring convictions. Anyone with a bad claims record or previous driving convictions will face higher rates.
A number of insurers give discounts for cars fitted with tracking systems. They will expect alarms and immobilisers to be fitted as standard to newer cars.
Some policies charge extra for extending cover for driving in Europe. If you plan to drive abroad frequently, it could be worthwhile finding an insurer that will not charge extra.
Car Insurance Groups
Cars are grouped by motor insurers in 1-20 groups according to the insurance risk that they present. For example, a small car with a low capacity engine and readily available spare parts, such as a basic Ford Fiesta, will be in a low group and should be relatively cheap to insure. On the other hand, a large, powerful car, which could be costly to repair, such as a 5 series BMW, will be in a high group and will be much more expensive to insure. Do check the insurance grouping before you buy as some insurance companies won't insure drivers at all for certain cars, especially the more powerful models.
Insurance group ratings are purely advisory. Insurers are not required to follow the advisory group ratings and the full cost of insurance will depend entirely on the age and status of the policy holder.
Young Drivers
Young drivers do pay a lot more for their car insurance than any other age group. This may seem unfair if you are the young driver, but the reason is because they are involved in a largest percentage of serious crashes.
1 in 4 fatal accidents involved 17 to 25 year old young drivers
Males are three times more likely to be involved in a fatal accident than females. Men do drive more miles than women, however per mile travelled, they are twice as likely to be involved in a crash
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