Fully comprehensive
Fully comprehensive insurance protects you, your car and other motorists from any damage you cause. It also covers medical expenses, repairs, fire damage and theft of your vehicle
£ 1,637 per year*
Super save up to
£330
on your car insurance1
We compare dozens of the biggest insurance providers in the country, including:
151% of consumers could save up to £330.40 on their annual car insurance premiums. Consumer Intelligence, August 2022. UK only.
Once you’ve passed your driving test you’ll likely be itching to get on the road – and whether you’ve already found your first car or you’re still considering your options, now’s a good time to start thinking about your car insurance.
Whether you’re a new driver or have been on the road for years, if you own and drive a car, you are required by law to have at least third-party car insurance. If you are discovered using a vehicle without insurance, you could be fined, face court prosecution, or your car could be taken away or destroyed.
There are three main types of car insurance you can consider:
Fully comprehensive insurance protects you, your car and other motorists from any damage you cause. It also covers medical expenses, repairs, fire damage and theft of your vehicle
£ 1,637 per year*
Third-party, fire and theft policies cover repair costs for other people, their cars and their property, as well as your own vehicle if it’s stolen or damaged by fire
£1,974 per year*
The minimum legal requirement, third-party insurance will only cover any damage you cause to other cars and property
£2,276 per year*
*Average annual premiums for drivers holding a full UK licence for up to one year, where the main driver is the only driver. MoneySuperMarket data collected July – December 2021, accurate as of February 2022.
Telematics insurance is a good option for new (and young drivers), as - if you drive carefully - you can save money on your car insurance.
Your insurance provider will monitor your driving habits, through either a small black box installed under your dashboard, a plug-in device or an app on your smartphone. Things like your speed, acceleration and braking will be tracked, as well as your location and mileage. Your insurer will then use this information to adjust your premiums based on how you drive.
You can view your black box data on your insurance provider’s website or app, allowing you to adjust areas of your driving and potentially earn a lower premium.
Bases your premiums on when, how well and for how long you drive. Pay-as-you-go car insurance charges a flat rate while your car is parked, and another rate for the miles you drive
If you don’t intend to be driving year-round, an annual policy might not be the best option for you. It may be worth considering short-term car insurance for stretches of one to 30 days
The less time you spend on the road the lower the chances are you’ll be involved in an accident. If you can give a lower estimate of your mileage when taking out cover, you’ll likely save some money
Adding another more experienced driver to your policy can save money on your premium. It suggests to insurers that you won’t be the only person driving the car, therefore the assumed risk won’t be so high
There are a few ways new drivers can reduce the price of their car insurance:
Cutting down on how much you drive could save you money. Because you’re not on the road as much, you’re less likely to have an accident
A lump sum almost always works out cheaper than monthly payments because interest is factored into monthly direct debit payments
Smaller, less powerful cars are cheaper, safer to drive and less attractive to thieves and vandals
Parking your car in a locked garage keeps it safe from criminals, making it less likely you’ll need to claim for theft or vandalism
Volunteering a higher excess fee indicates you won’t make any frivolous claims on your policy
Insurers can monitor your driving habits with telematics hardware, so sensible drivers earn lower premiums
Adding an experienced driver to your policy tells insurers it won’t be just you driving, so they’ll reduce the price
As car insurers generally view advanced drivers as being less likely to have accidents, passing an advanced driving course can help cut car insurance costs
"Car insurance can be expensive, particularly for new drivers. Insurance premiums are based on risk and less experienced drivers are seen as a bigger risk. Thankfully, there are things you can do to help keep the cost down such as reducing your mileage and adding named drivers to your policy.
"
- Sara Newell, Motor and Van Insurance Lead
Our mission is to make finding cheap car insurance easier – and when you take out cover with MoneySuperMarket you can benefit from:
Everyone deserves to save money – in fact, almost a quarter of people comparing car insurance quotes with us received a MoneySuperMarket price cut in their results*
Our car monitor gives you reminders on your road tax and MOT, as well as showing your MOT history and car valuation – helping you stay up to date, so you never miss a renewal
Our live chat tool is there so our experts can guide you through the car insurance question set, offering tailored support during business hours to help you get the right policy for the right price
*24.43% of customers completing a quote through MoneySuperMarket received a price cut quote in their top 10 results. Based on MoneySuperMarket quotes between May 2021 and May 2022
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.
Car insurance is generally more expensive the less time you’ve been on the road – in fact, for those who’ve held their driving licence for less than a year, the average annual cost of car insurance was over £1,700.
This drops with every year you’re on the road – the average annual cost of cover for people who’ve had their licence for 3 years was just over £900, and this fell to less than £700 for people holding their licence for 7 years.*
Number of years with a driving licence | Average annual premiums* |
0 | £1,718 |
1 | £1,421 |
2 | £1,079 |
3 | £935 |
4 | £850 |
5 | £752 |
6 | £713 |
7 | £663 |
8 | £628 |
9 | £588 |
10 | £573 |
*Based on fully comprehensive car insurance policies with one driver holding a full UK driving licence. MoneySuperMarket data collected between January and March 2022, accurate as of April 2022.
When you take out car insurance as a new driver, be careful about the additional policies you choose – they do bolster your cover, but you’ll generally need to pay more for the extra protection. Depending on your provider, you’ll usually have the choice of:
Breakdown cover, which gives you access to roadside assistance if your car breaks down
Windscreen cover, which lets you claim for the cost of replacing a cracked or shattered windscreen
Legal cover, which will pay out for certain legal costs related to a claim by you or another party
Driving abroad cover, which insures you for taking your car overseas and driving in the EU
Courtesy car cover, which provides a replacement vehicle for you to use while yours is in repair
Multi-car cover, which lets you drive more than one car under a single policy
Personal accident cover, which pays out in the event that you’re injured or killed in a road accident
Replacement keys which covers the cost of replacing a set of keys if they’re lost, damaged or stolen
Wrong fuel, which pays for repair costs if you accidentally top up the tank with the wrong fuel
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.
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.
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 sometime 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.
You’ll generally be considered a young driver until you turn 25 years old. However your premiums should start to decrease every year from when you start driving, no matter what age – providing you don’t have any claims or convictions to your name.
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