The most thorough type of insurance cover you can get is comprehensive insurance. However, that’s not the only type of cover you can choose. Don’t worry, we’ll explain the different options that you can pick from and provide more info about insurance excesses and optional extras.
First thing’s first – what is cover?
Cover is the protection that your insurance provider pledges to give you in the event of an incident – such as accidents, theft, arson, and vandalism. There are three main types of cover that you can choose from:
- Comprehensive
- Third Party, Fire and Theft
- Third Party
Even though WiseDriving doesn’t offer Third Party cover, it’s still really useful to know what it is.
So, what is comprehensive cover?
Comprehensive insurance, covers you for a whole host of incidents that could involve your vehicle. Having comprehensive cover means that you can make a claim for damage caused to your own car, someone else’s car, or in the event that your car is vandalised or stolen. If you have comprehensive cover, in the event of an accident, you'll only need to pay your insurance excesses. The remaining cost of repairing the damage to your vehicle will be covered by your insurer.
What is an insurance excess?
An excess is the amount that you will have to pay if you make a claim on your policy.
There are two types of excess that will be applied to your policy: a compulsory excess and a voluntary excess. The compulsory excess is set by your insurer and will be higher for inexperienced drivers. You choose your voluntary excess. Picking a higher voluntary excess may lower your premium, but it will mean that you need to pay out more if you make a claim. These two types are added together to make the amount of excess you’ll have to pay if you make a claim.
Here’s an example:
You’ve made a valid insurance claim that’s worth £1,000. If you have a £200 compulsory excess and a £150 voluntary excess, the total excess you’ll need to pay will be £350. Your insurance company will pay the remaining £650.
What is Third Party cover?
Third party insurance is the lowest level of cover that you can get. It will only cover any damage to the other vehicle involved if the accident is your fault. It will cover the cost of repairs to their vehicle and their medical costs, but not your own. However, if you have an accident that is someone else’s fault, the other person’s insurance should pay you any compensation owed, but your insurance company won’t assist you in making this claim. Some companies don’t provide Third Party insurance, but it’s still useful to know what is included in this level of cover.
What is Third Party, Fire and Theft?
Purchasing a Third Party, Fire and Theft policy will give you all of the cover included within Third Party but will also allow you to make a claim if your car is stolen, fire damaged (either through arson or accidental fire), or damaged by someone breaking in. It may also be used to claim for replacements of items that may have been stolen (subject to limits that you’ll see written in your insurance policy).
But even the highest level of cover might not give you everything you need
While comprehensive cover is the highest level of protection, it may not provide all the cover you're looking for. That’s why most providers offer a range of ‘optional extras’ - these allow you to get additional protection where you need it. You can add things like breakdown cover, key cover, and more.
These optional extras will help to cover you for events that your normal insurance wouldn’t. For example, if your car breaks down or if you lose your keys. Sometimes an insurance provider might already include some additional benefits, so make sure that you check before adding them on.
Now that you know a bit more about the levels of cover, we hope you can get started on choosing the right insurance policy for you!
Correct at the time of publication. Information in this article has been gathered from various sources, therefore WiseDriving cannot be held responsible for any view or opinion expressed herein.
