Car Insurance Policy Types

Car Insurance

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Broadly speaking, there are three types of car insurance available in the UK. These are:

• Third party only
• Third party, fire and theft
• Fully comprehensive

Fully comprehensive car insurance

The term fully comprehensive car insurance, or fully comp car insurance, is actually misleading. You may expect that with a description like 'fully comprehensive', you would be covered against absolutely everything that could go wrong with your car. However, that is rarely the case.

The reality is that fully comprehensive insurance covers all damage to third parties as with TPFT insurance, but also covers loss or damage to your own car whether it is caused by an accident, a fire, a theft, vandalism or even yourself. While it is not strictly fully comprehensive, it is the most complete form of car insurance available.

If you have fully comp insurance and are involved in an accident your insurance company will either repair the car for you or write the vehicle off and pay its market value, after deducting any excesses. Due to disputes about market value, some insurers prefer to offer a like-for-like replacement.

Although comprehensive insurance doesn't include absolutely everything, there are optional extras you can choose to add on. These include:

• Breakdown cover - some policies may even offer European coverage.
• Courtesy cars - a replacement vehicle while yours is repaired (some comprehensive policies do include this as standard).
• Driving abroad - you will automatically receive a Green Card for driving in the EU which gives you third party coverage. However, some fully comp policies will match the cover you have in the UK while driving in Europe.
• Legal expenses - a solicitor to recover losses.
• Third party insurance to drive other cars.

Each insurer's standard and optional features can vary massively so shop around and consider not only which insurer offers the cheapest deal, but which one offers the right features and covers you against more eventualities. As well as enabling you to compare premiums, moneysupermarket.com's price comparison tool also lets you compare the details of up to five policies so you can see exactly what is and isn't covered as part of the quoted price.