About motor insurance
It’s a legal requirement to insure your vehicle if it is driven or kept on a road or other public place. The minimum requirement is for third-party insurance, which covers you if someone is injured by or in your car, or if someone else's property is damaged by your vehicle.

You can also take out additional insurance to cover other eventualities, such as accidental damage to or theft of your car, and your medical expenses resulting from an accident.

When looking through a policy, check for excess charges. Under the terms of the policy, you may be required to pay the first portion of any claim. The insurer will pay the rest. Check that you can afford and would be willing to pay the excesses required. A cheap policy might have high excesses and it’s your decision whether you want this, or are prepared to pay a higher premium for lower or no excesses. Check also that the policy limit i.e. the maximum that the insurer will pay out in the event of a claim, is sufficient to cover your loss.

Check who the policy will cover to drive your car. This might be yourself only, or named drivers, or any insured person with your permission. Your policy is likely to provide only third-party cover to other drivers of your car, even if you have comprehensive insurance yourself.

Driving without insurance
Never forget that it is an offence to drive your car without third party insurance, or to allow an uninsured person to drive it. An uninsured driver can be fined an instant, fixed penalty of £200 plus 6 points on their licence. The maximum penalty is a £5,000 fine, plus 6-8 endorsements on the licence and possible disqualification.

Understand the No Claims Bonus system
Find out about No Claims Discounts on your insurance, and how they work.
ABI - No Claims information >

Latest Product News
Do you have news about products or services that might
interest ourreaders? We'd love to hear about it ... more