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As well as bringing you great car insurance deals, we also now offer discounts on some policies. We use our own money to bring the prices down on these policies, as a way of saying thank you.
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2At least 41% of customers will see a discounted policy in the top 10 results based on enquiries Jan 21 - Mar 21
Our mission is to make it effortless to find cheap car insurance quotes, so you can get on with enjoying the open road.
Just pop in a few details about yourself, your car, and the cover you need
We’ll do the legwork to find the cheapest car insurance that offers the cover you need – you could save up to £2351
With Car Monitor, we can remind you when your MOT and tax are due, so you never miss a renewal date
No two drivers are the same, so when you take out car insurance you’ll be able to choose between three basic levels of cover.
Fully comprehensive car insurance is the highest level of cover you can get. You’ll be protected against damage, repairs, medical expenses, fire damage, and theft. As well as damage to someone else, their car or property.
£623 on average3
Third-party, fire and theft policies offer cover for other people, their vehicles, and their property, as well as protection for your own car if it were to get stolen, or if it’s damaged by fire.
£909 on average3
Third-party only car insurance is the minimum legal requirement you need, and it’s also usually the most expensive type of cover. It covers injuries to other people, and damage to their vehicles and property.
£1,434 on average3
3Based on car insurance policies with one driver holding a full UK driving licence. MoneySuperMarket data, collected between January and March 2021, accurate as of April 2021
Car insurance is a legal requirement. If you own or drive a car in the UK, the law says you must have at least third-party only insurance. You must have insurance, even if you don’t drive your car, and you keep it parked on a road, driveway or in a garage. This applies to all drivers, and you can find car insurance for:
You should be able to find car insurance for most types of cars, but if your wheels are a little out of the ordinary, you might need to get more specialised cover.
Classic cars
HMRC defines a classic car as over 15 years old and valued over £15,000. Premiums are typically cheaper than standard policies (£416.16 on average4) because older vehicles have lower speed limits and classic car owners tend to keep their car well looked after, as well as being on the road less often
Sports cars
Cars built low and designed for performance and high speeds. Premiums tend to be more expensive than standard car insurance because sports cars have more powerful engines and can reach higher speeds, increasing the statistical likelihood of an accident
Imported cars
An imported car is a model you've bought and had delivered from abroad. They're often more difficult and expensive to insure because they usually cost more to repair, and are often higher-spec, with more powerful engines. They're sometimes modified to fit with UK regulations - all this leads to extra hassle and risk for insurers
Modified cars
Cars that have had modifications such as custom bodywork or paint jobs, engine upgrades or new wheels. Upgrading your car's appearance, performance, handling or function means that insurers classify it as a greater risk and charge more for your cover (£726.13 on average4)
Electric cars
Cars that run purely on battery power. Electric cars are fairly new to the market, and they use technology that isn’t as wide-spread as standard petrol cars – as such they can be more expensive to repair, and therefore also insure (£804.75 on average4)
Green cars
Cars that are fuel efficient, built with hybrid engines, or rely on alternative fuels. Premiums will depend on your policy, your car and how you drive. Some insurers do offer lower premiums and deals for green car insurance, so do your research before choosing a policy
4Based on car insurance policies with one driver holding a full UK driving licence. MoneySuperMarket data collected between January 2020 – January 2021, accurate as of April 2021.
We use our cars in different ways, so insurance companies provide specialist cover for some specific circumstances:
This covers you for driving your car in Europe or other countries
This type of cover insures you for using your car for work or business
This lets you take out temporary car insurance from anywhere between a day and a few months
This gives you the option of adding more than one car to your policy
This gives you a chance to bring your premiums down by installing a black box
This protects your excess payment if you need to make a claim
Lots of different things can affect the price of your car insurance, but in general your premiums usually tend to get cheaper as you get older. 20 – 24-year-olds, for example, pay £1,249 a year for fully comp cover, 30 – 39-year-olds pay £629, and 50 – 64-year-olds pay around £310.
That’s because insurance companies think younger drivers are more likely to make a claim, because they have less driving experience and a higher chance of being involved in an accident.
Fully comprehensive cover is usually the cheapest option, even though it offers the most cover out of the three options. It used to be the other way around, until insurers noticed they were getting more claims on third-party only policies, because younger or newer drivers would choose this as the cheapest option.
This pushed the price of third-party only policies up, so the trend reversed – and now, fully comprehensive cover is cheapest.
Insurers consider lots of things when they work out how risky you might be – and the more of a risk you pose, the higher the price of your car insurance will be. Considerations include:
Shopping around and comparing quotes is the easiest way to get a good deal on your car insurance. So, we help you compare prices from hundreds of the country’s biggest insurance companies.
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The car’s registration number if you know it. If not, the make and model is fine. We’ll also need the car’s age and any modifications you’ve made
Social, commuting or business, and how many miles you’ll do in a year. You’ll also need to say where you’ll keep the car at night for security
Including your job, age and your address - the same for any additional drivers you may have. We'll also need to know what type of licence you have, how long you've had it, your claims and driving history
Details of your no-claims discount will help lower the prices you get. Use our no-claims discount tool to find out how many years’ no-claims discount your insurer will honour
"It's tempting to stick with the same insurer each year but doing so could mean you end up paying more for your car insurance. When your renewal date comes around, compare car insurance options and you might find you can save money if you switch."
- Praksha Patel-Shah, head of car insurance
Unlike some of our competitors, MoneySuperMarket is not owned by an insurance company. So we can offer the best value, with savings delivered straight to you.
We combine independence, so we can negotiate the best prices, with excellent technology, to find the best value products and services.
That makes us, in our customers' opinions, the best price comparison website.
Good selection and range if quotes
David, Isle of wight 07 May 2021Easy to use
Paul, Cheshire 07 May 2021Good and easy site
V, Wareham 07 May 2021#
Anonymous, Anonymous 06 May 2021Sorry, review comments have not been provided
Marion, St Helens 06 May 2021Ability to save quotes and easily retrieve them
Arthur, Crieff 06 May 2021You got choices
Luis, London 06 May 2021Easy to use and within second I had the prices on screen.
Linda, Bt490sw 06 May 2021Savings made on my car insurance
Keith, Ruddington, Nottingham 06 May 2021Speed of responses
Susan, Wallasey 05 May 2021of our customers would buy again based on 64,771 reviews
See all reviewsHere are some things you can try to bring down the cost of your car insurance policy:
Build a no-claims discount
If you can avoid making claims for smaller things by paying for the repairs or replacements yourself, you can earn a discount on your premiums – the longer you go without claiming, the bigger the discount should be
Avoid modifications
Modifying your car can often mean more expensive repair costs, or needing spare parts that are harder to get, so you’ll likely pay more to cover these
Consider telematics
Telematics policies, sometimes known as black box car insurance, give younger and inexperienced drivers a chance to earn lower premiums by showing that they have sensible driving habits
Avoid auto-renewing
Your car insurance policy will likely be renewed automatically when the term ends, but you may be able to find a cheaper deal when you compare quotes online
Pay annually
Paying an annual lump sum for your car insurance policy may seem like a big initial outlay, but it would cost less overall than if you were to pay monthly instalments
Switch on your car monitor
Our car monitor keeps an eye on things for you, so you'll never need to overpay or miss a car insurance renewal - download the app
When you take out car insurance, you'll be able to find policies with the following features. But these will make your policy more expensive, so consider whether you really need them:
Pays for the cost of calling out a mechanic if your car breaks down
Gives you access to a replacement vehicle while yours is in for repair
Pays out a lump sum if you’re injured or killed in a road accident
Covers the legal fees you might face in relation to a road accident
Pays for the cost of repairing or replacing a cracked windscreen
Covers the cost of replacing your keys if they’re lost, damaged or stolen
Pays for the necessary repairs you'd need if you accidentally top your car up with the wrong type of fuel
Protects your belongings, which can be handy if you tend to leave them in your car
Protects your no-claims discount by letting you make a certain number of claims within a year before it affects your premiums
With the coronavirus pandemic causing travel restrictions and many of us staying home to work, most people have been spending less time in their cars. Because of this the government has announced some changes to the way things like MOTs, driving tests and other arrangements will be conducted. There could also be changes to your car insurance and breakdown cover. Read our coronavirus and car insurance guide to find out more.
Car insurance is a legal requirement for drivers in the UK, thanks to the continuous insurance enforcement rules brought in as part of the road safety act of 2006. This means that unless your car is registered as off the road with a SORN, or in the process of being bought or sold, you could be faced with a fine for not insuring your vehicle.
New drivers and young drivers alike generally pay much higher car insurance premiums as insurers see these groups as higher risks of being involved in a road accident – therefore more likely to claim on their insurance policy.
While driving courses such as Pass Plus or IAM make you a better driver, they won’t always save you money on your car insurance policy. In fact the average person won’t see any difference in premiums whether or not they have Pass Plus on their licence – but that doesn’t mean it can’t benefit anyone at all. Younger or inexperienced drivers might be able to save a few quid, but it’s better to shop around and compare options – this way if insurers do offer discounts you’ll be able to take advantage.
Telematics cover involves your insurer monitoring your driving habits and adjusting your premiums according to how you drive. They do this through one of three types of telematics tech – either a black box (the most common) installed under your dashboard, a plug-in device or an app on your smartphone.
This is particularly useful for sensible new drivers as it offers a way to get lower car insurance premiums as a reward for driving safely.
As a young or new driver, you might be able to knock a few quid off your premiums by adding another more experienced driver to your policy – in most cases this will be your parents. This suggests to insurers that you won’t be the only person driving the car, therefore the assumed risk won’t always quite so high.
While this can be a good way to get cheaper cover, people sometimes take advantage of this by declaring the older or more experienced driver as the ‘main driver’ – when in reality it’ll be the young or new driver using the car more frequently. This is known as ‘fronting’ and is illegal.
You’re likely to get a better deal on your car insurance policy if you pay an annual lump sum rather than in monthly instalments. This is largely because in a way monthly payments are similar to taking out credit – you’ll be covered in full, but without having paid the full amount yet.
Paying monthly can be useful as you’ll be able to spread the cost out, but you will end up paying a little extra overall.
Excess payments refer to the cost of making a claim – it’s essentially how much you’ll need to put towards the total claim cost before your insurer pays the rest. Volunteering a higher excess fee on top of the compulsory amount indicates to insurers you won’t bother making small and frivolous claims.
A no-claims bonus is what you earn when you go some time without claiming on your policy. The longer you’ve gone without claiming, the more your insurers will knock off your premiums as they’ll see you as less likely to make further claims in the future.
You might consider not claiming for an accident if the damage done to your car is minor and it would be more sensible to pay for the repairs yourself – let’s say the excess you’d need to pay was more than the overall repair costs. This way you’ll preserve your no-claims bonus as well as being better off financially.
If you’re involved in an accident and you decide not to make a claim, you should still inform your insurer. They’ll keep their records up to date, so they know what condition your vehicle is in and whether this will affect your likeliness of claiming some time in the future.
If you don’t keep your insurer updated, it’s possible this will void your insurance policy so you won’t be able to claim when you really need to.
Insurers look at a range of factors when deciding on your insurance premium, including your credit score. But they will also look at your age, your job and the car you drive, as well as where you live before they make a decision. If you have a bad credit score, it is still possible to get car insurance – you just may need to shop around.
One of the factors used to calculate your car insurance quote is the number of miles you drive on average per year. To calculate your own personal mileage, you can:
In most cases, the value you declare on your insurance policy documents will be the price you initially paid for the vehicle.
Be mindful though, that if you make a claim and your car has been written off your insurance provider will pay out the current market value of your car, not the initial price you declared on your insurance documents. This is because vehicle devaluation is also considered.
How long a quote is valid for is down to the insurance provider. Using our price comparison service you can save your searches, but there's no guarantee the price you saved will be the same as the price you get when you purchase.
Car insurers collect data about previous claims and use it to predict how likely it is that people in different occupations will make a claim in future. If the insurer judges your job to be higher risk than another one, you’ll likely pay more. Find out more about why your job affects your car insurance cost.
Even if you have comprehensive car insurance, you might not be insured to drive someone else’s car. Cover for driving others cars (DOC) used to be included in most comprehensive policies but this is no longer the case. You will often have to request it and pay for it as an extra.
Usually if you cancel your policy within the first 14 days, most insurance companies won’t charge a cancellation fee but check the small print because some will. If your policy has been active for longer than 2 weeks, you’re likely to have to pay a fee for cancelling plus the cost for the time you’ve been insured (pro-rata).
Even if it wasn’t your fault, making a claim will almost always lead to an increase in your car insurance premium. A non-fault claim won't affect it as much as an at-fault claim will though.
To make a car insurance claim, you’ll first need to notify the police. They will give you a crime reference number that you’ll then need to give your insurer.
You usually have to call your insurer to make a claim, though you may also be able to claim online or by filling out a form and sending it by post.
There are a several reasons as to why a claim could be rejected:
Some car insurance policies will give you cover for driving someone else’s car, however it depends on what cover you've got and how much driving experience you have. Some comprehensive car insurance policies will cover you, however you’re likely to only get third-party insurance. It’s very rare to be covered if you’ve got third-party or third-party, fire and theft cover. And young or unexperienced drivers are often written out of policies.
You don’t need car insurance when your car is off the road, as long as you’ve made a Statutory Off-Road Notification (SORN).
This tells the DVLA your car is not in use and means you don’t need to pay vehicle tax or buy car insurance – as long as it’s kept off the road.
You shouldn’t need to pay any admin fees unless you make any changes to your policy or need replacement documents. You may be charged an adjustment fee if you needed to change something on your policy like your address, car, registration or adding a named driver, for example.
Charges vary between providers, and some will let you make small charges online for free. Keep an eye out for admin fees when comparing policies.
MoneySuperMarket's definitive car insurance guides
Compare car insurance for learner drivers with a provisional licence
Car insurance guides - Car insurance articles - Car insurance providers
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