Insurance can be confusing, so we’re here to make things as simple as possible. In this article we will look at what the different levels of insurance cover are and what’s included in yours.
The highest level of insurance cover you can get is comprehensive insurance, or ‘fully comp’ as it’s sometimes called. However, that’s not the only type of cover you can choose from. Don’t worry, we’ll explain the different options that you can choose from, as well as providing you with more info about insurance excesses and optional extras.
First things 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 on cover that you can choose from: Comprehensive, Third Party, Fire and Theft or Third Party Only. Even though WiseDriving doesn’t offer Third Party Only cover, it’s still really useful to know what it is.
So, what is comprehensive cover?
Comprehensive insurance, or ‘fully comp’ as it’s sometimes called, will make sure you’re covered for a whole host of accidents that could happen to 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. Apart from paying for your insurance excess, you shouldn’t have to pay a penny more to fix the damage to your vehicle.
What is an insurance excess?
An excess is the amount that you will have to pay if you decide to make a claim on your policy. If your excess if £250, this means that of your £1000 claim, you will be required to pay the first £250 and your insurer will pay the rest. 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. Your voluntary excess is chosen by you – having a higher voluntary excess can lower the price of your insurance, 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.
For example, if you have a £200 compulsory excess and a £150 voluntary excess – the total excess you’ll need to pay if you make a claim will be £350.
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 person 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 Only 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, to repair any fire damage (either through arson or accidental fire), and to repair any damage caused by someone breaking into your car, or to replace 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
Comprehensive cover isn’t always enough…This is why most providers offer a range of ‘optional extras.’ You can add these onto your policy for an extra cost. 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 of them, 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 choosing the right insurance policy for you!
