Compare Fully Comprehensive Car Insurance

Name: Car Insurance costs over time
Creator: MoneySuperMarket

Fully comprehensive car insurance is the highest level of cover you can get. If you choose another level of cover, you won’t be able to claim for costs related to your vehicle or yourself.

With comprehensive insurance you’re covered for a wide range of scenarios such as if you hit an animal in the road and your car is damaged.

💡Top tip: Comprehensive car insurance is also the cheapest option, on average.

Policy type	Average annual price
Fully comprehensive	£510.05^{^}
Third party, fire and theft	£609.25^{^}
Third party only	£850.47^{^}

^{This may not be the case for you personally. Premiums depend on factors such as age and driving history.}

Fully comprehensive insurance typically pays out for:

✔ Accidental damage to your vehicle or someone else’s

✔ Theft of your vehicle

✔ Vandalism to your vehicle

✔ Fire damage to your vehicle

✔ Storm damage to your vehicle - although there may be exclusions such as driving through flood water

✔ Injuries to you or someone else involved in an accident

✔ Accidental damage you cause to another person’s property

Use our tool to answer 3 quick and easy questions so we can help you find the right car insurance cover for you.

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How does it work?

If your car is damaged, stolen or vandalised, comprehensive insurance will cover the cost of repairs or replacement, up to the policy's limit.

To make a claim:

Contact your insurer and fill in a claims form, including details of any witnesses. You may be able to submit photographs or dash cam footage to support your claim.
Pay an excess which goes towards the cost of repairing your car with your insurer paying the remainder of the cost.
If you weren’t at fault, your insurer will try to recover the excess from the third party.

What is usually covered?
- Damage to your vehicle: You’ll be able to claim on your policy for damage done to your own car from an accident, fire, vandalism or a natural disaster such as storm damage, as well as a replacement vehicle if yours is stolen
- Third-party damage caused by your vehicle: You’ll be covered for damage you cause to a third-party, their vehicle or their property
- Legal costs: Fully comprehensive cover often includes motor legal protection, which pays out for legal costs you may face related to a claim
- Serious or fatal injuries: A personal accident policy offers compensation if you’re seriously or fatally injured in a road accident
- Windscreens: You’ll often be able to claim for a windscreen repair or replacement if you get a windscreen chip or a cracked windscreen
What isn't usually covered?
- Vehicles and drivers not named on your policy: Drivers that haven't been named on your policy and driving other cars is not covered
- Standard wear and tear: Fully comprehensive cover doesn't extend to normal wear and tear that's expected over time
- Accidents if you're under the influence: You won't be covered in the event of an accident while you're under the influence of alcohol or drugs
- Invalid driving licence: If you or another named driver are driving without a valid licence (e.g. if it's out of date), you won't be covered

Breakdown cover

If your car breaks down, breakdown cover provides assistance at the roadside to get your vehicle moving again. This may be particularly useful if you have an older vehicle which is more likely to suffer mechanical problems than a new one. You can sometimes get cheaper breakdown cover by combining it with your car insurance.

Courtesy car hire

Provides a replacement vehicle while yours is being repaired. This is Ideal if you rely on your car daily for commuting. Courtesy car cover is often included for free in comprehensive car insurance policies.

Driving abroad cover

Your insurance may cover you for driving abroad but it may be third-party only cover so you’ll need to speak to your insurer if you want to upgrade it to comprehensive cover.

No claims discount protection

Protects your no-claims discount by letting you make a certain number of claims within a year before it affects your premiums. Building a no-claims discount will reduce your premiums over time and if you’ve had no claims for several years you might want to protect it. But you’ll need to pay extra to do so.

How much does it cost to add breakdown cover?

£30^

It costs this amount on average to add breakdown cover to your policy

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Why is fully comprehensive often cheaper?

Fully comprehensive car insurance can be the cheapest option, even though it offers the most cover.

Previously, third-party cover was the cheapest option so it was often taken out by younger and higher-risk drivers looking to cut costs. This meant that more claims were made on third-party policies than other policy types.

However, what works out cheapest for someone else may not be the case for you.

What impacts my car insurance price?

Your car insurance premium is calculated using personal factors, including your age, job, car, mileage and location.

Your age

If you’re a young driver you’ll usually face much higher car insurance premiums than older, more experienced drivers as insurers recognise you’re at greater risk of having an accident.

Your driving history

If you’re built up a number of years without any incidents you’ll benefit from a no-claims bonus and you’re likely to face lower premiums than a driver who has penalty points on their driving licence or a history of accidents as they will have a higher risk profile.

Where you live

Insurers will use your postcode to determine if you live in an area where there are higher crime rates. This increases the chance of your car being stolen or vandalised and will therefore push up your premium.

Your job

Some jobs are statistically associated with a higher risk of accidents, leading to potentially higher insurance costs.

Your mileage

Insurers use your average annual mileage to help determine how likely you are to have an accident. Generally, the more miles you travel, the greater the risk. Find out more about how mileage impacts car insurance.

Your car

The make, model and value of your car impact the price of your car insurance as generally the more valuable your car is, the more you’ll pay for insurance.

Insurers noticed that third-party policy holders were statistically more likely to make a claim, so raised the premiums for this type of cover. Also, fewer insurers offer third-party policies, so there is less competition to offer cheaper prices.

Car Insurance costs over time

^{^}

Month	Average Premium-Third party, fire & theft	Average Premium-Third party only	Average Premium-Comprehensive
Nov 24	641	765	572
Dec 24	638	768	576
Jan 25	651	791	547
Feb 25	644	804	540
Mar 25	632	828	539
Apr 25	642	772	540
May 25	613	760	537
Jun 25	600	776	531
Jul 25	588	812	524
Aug 25	575	808	509
Sep 25	604	799	520
Oct 25	609	850	517

What's the cheapest price I could pay?

£240^

10% of MoneySuperMarket customers paid this amount or less last month.

Pay annually

It usually works out cheaper to pay your car insurance premiums annually, compared to spreading the cost over 12 monthly payments as it avoids interest charges on monthly instalments
Pay a higher excess

One of the simplest ways to reduce your insurance cost is to increase your voluntary excess because your insurer has less to pay out. Be careful not to increase your excess so much that you can't afford it if you need to make an insurance claim
Improve your security

Having security features like factory-installed alarms and immobilisers on your car and storing your car in a locked garage reduces the risk of theft, and can also bring your insurance costs down
Choose a smaller car

Providers sort car makes and models into different insurance groups, based on factors like safety and performance – cars in lower groups are cheaper to insure
Avoid small claims

The longer you go without making a claim, the more you build up a no-claims bonus and the more no-claims you build up the bigger discount you get
Find cheaper deals

You could also look at combining insurance policies for discounts, such as multi-car insurance or combined home and car insurance deals
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Our expert says…

Don’t assume that fully comprehensive car insurance is the most expensive option just because it offers the highest level of cover. You might be surprised how affordable it can be, compared to the minimum third‑party cover. It’s always a good idea to compare quotes as insurance providers’ risk assessments and available deals vary widely. Your own risk factors, such as your age, claims history, postcode, car model, mileage, and occupation, will all play a part in determining your premium so the cheapest policy for someone else may not be the cheapest for you.

Sarah Tooze Car & Van Insurance Expert

Did you know?

If you plan on paying your car insurance monthly, then your insurance provider will perform a ‘hard’ credit check. A low credit score can drive up your premiums. You can keep an eye on your credit score with our Credit Score tool

Check your score

All car insurance guides

What are the different levels of car insurance cover?

The three main types of standard car insurance are:

Third-party only - the minimum level of cover required by law. It covers damages you cause to other people's property and injuries but does not protect you or your vehicle. While it offers the least protection, it can sometimes be the most expensive due to high claim rates
Third-party, fire, and theft - builds upon the third-party only cover by adding protection for your car in case of theft or fire damage. However, this type of insurance does not cover accidental damage to your car if you are at fault in an accident
Comprehensive - the most inclusive policy, which covers damage to your own car if you cause an accident, have your car stolen or damaged in a fire, as well as damage you cause to other people’s property and injuries.

Is there a difference between comprehensive and fully comprehensive car insurance?

No, there is no difference in the level of cover between comprehensive car insurance and fully comprehensive car insurance and no legal distinction between the two terms. Both terms refer to the same insurance tier - the highest level of standard car insurance.

‘Fully’ is a marketing term used by insurers to show that you’re getting a full level of cover, which includes cover for damage and theft of your own vehicle as well as damage to third parties, compared to mid-tier third-party fire and theft (which covers your car being damaged in a fire or stolen but not accident damage), and the lowest tier, third-party only (which covers the cost of any damage you cause to another vehicle but not your own and won’t cover you if your car is stolen or involved in a fire).

What affects the cost of fully comprehensive car insurance?

While there are ways you can reduce the cost of your car insurance, unfortunately there are some factors insurers consider that you won’t have much control over:

Your age: You’ll generally pay more for car insurance if you’re a young driver, owing to a lack of experience on the road that makes you a higher claim risk
Your driving history: If you’re got a history of accidents, claims or convictions, this also gives you a higher risk profile – so your insurance costs will likely be higher than average
Your location: Some areas in the UK are more prone to car theft or vandalism, or have a higher rate of road accidents – the increased risk means higher premiums for those who live or work in these areas
Your occupation: Some jobs also carry different risks to others, whether it’s because of equipment, location or commuting, so insurers also take this into account when setting premiums
Annual mileage: The more you drive, the more of a risk you are to insurers of getting into an accident therefore, the higher mileage can mean higher premium costs

Can I drive any car with fully comprehensive car insurance?

Your fully comprehensive car insurance policy won’t automatically cover you to drive other cars unless you’ve added them to your policy as an extra car with multi-car insurance – useful for households or individuals with two or more vehicles.

If you want to drive another car you don’t own, you could also ask the owner to add you to their existing policy as a named driver – this will likely increase their premiums, however.

Does fully comprehensive car insurance cover other people to drive my car?

No, a fully comprehensive car insurance policy won’t automatically cover other people to drive your car. Instead they’ll need to:

Be added as a named driver. You can do this by contacting your insurer or, if you’re taking out a new policy, during the quotation stage. Insurers will need to know their name, date of birth, occupation, driving licence details, and any previous claims or convictions. Be aware that adding a named driver could have a positive or negative impact on your premium. For example, if you’re a young driver then adding a more experienced, older driver could lower your premium but if you add a driver with a high number of points on their licence it’s likely to increase your premium
Take out temporary car insurance. This can provide short-term cover from one to 28 days or, in some instances, up to 90 days. So this might be a good option if you need to car share with someone for a short while

Do I need fully comprehensive car insurance?

Fully comprehensive cover isn’t a legal requirement – but having car insurance is. You will need to have third-party cover as a minimum to drive on UK roads, which is the lowest level of cover available.

Does comprehensive car insurance cover engine failure?

It depends on the cause. If the engine fails because of general wear and tear – for example, if you have an old car – this won't be covered.

On the other hand, if the engine failure is a direct result of a collision or fire damage, your comprehensive car insurance policy should cover the cost of repairing or replacing the engine.

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Yes, you can earn SuperSaveClub rewards when you buy car insurance through MoneySuperMarket.

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Comprehensive car insurance