When you are looking for your car insurance you first need to decide what level of cover you need, In the UK you can have third party insurance cover, third party, fire and theft cover and fully comprehensive cover. Once you have decided what type of policy is most appropriate for you then you can start looking around for a policy.
You need to do your research and compare prices and policies from a number of different auto insurance providers to make sure you get the policy that you need. Cover and price can vary from one insurance company to another. There are a number of things that you should be looking for in your policy.
You need to check through the policy and find out exactly what’s included in the policy and, perhaps more importantly, what isn’t included that you would like to be! Look for the amount of excess you will expected to pay in the event you need to make claim, whether legal cover is included and if you will be given a courtesy car if needed – if a courtesy car is included check how long you will be able to keep it for if your car is off the road being repaired.
You can change the amount of excess you are liable for. Upping the excess will generally lower your premiums, however, don’t set the excess so high that you will struggle to meet it in the event of you needing to make a claim.
Find out if breakdown cover is included. Some companies will add this onto your policy but check what out exactly what you’re getting for your money as you may be able to get the same level of cover or even better, directly from a breakdown company for the same price.
You also may want to find out if you can pay in monthly instalments. Most providers off this option now to make your annual premium more affordable, but you will pay a slightly higher premium for this as they will charge you a small amount of interest, and perhaps an administration fee too. Find out exactly how much your annual premium is and how much extra it’s going to cost you to pay it monthly before you sign up for anything.
Finally, it would also be worthwhile asking if you will get any discounts or bonuses by taking out other insurance cover from the same company. Many companies will offer you incentives to do so, such as cash back.
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