Things to check when getting car insurance

March 11, 2024

Perhaps because it’s a legal requirement, arranging or renewing your car insurance can seem like a merely routine chore. In fact, the agreement between you and your insurer involves much more than that – essentially based on mutual trust. For that trust to work, you each rely on full disclosure of all the relevant information:

• you need to know exactly what risks the policy will cover; and

• for its part, the insurer must be given all the facts and figures relevant to your request for car insurance – or fleet insurance, if you are a business user.

Value

One of the most important pieces of information that you will need to give any insurer, for example, is the most accurate and up to date valuation of the vehicle.

Make and model

Equally important – in helping the insurer to identify exactly what vehicle you want covered – is the make and model of your car.

Mileage

Closely related to the value of this particular make and model of vehicle will be its mileage.

An unusually high mileage, for instance, will typically depress its value but might also make the cost of any repairs more expensive following an accident.

Number of (named) drivers on a personal car insurance policy

For personal car insurance cover (as opposed to fleet insurance), your insurer will need to know just who will be driving the insured motor car – some drivers might pose a greater risk, and this will be reflected in a higher premium.

That premium is likely to be highest if you want your car covered for any qualified driver to drive.

You are likely to earn a discount on the premiums, however, if you restrict drivers to named drivers only – you might get an even more attractive discount from those insurers that allow you to nominate just two named drivers – or settle for the cheapest available option by choosing cover for driving by the policyholder only.

Motoring offences and claims

In order to assess the risks inherent in any cover you may be offered, your insurer will need to know if you are a safe driver – according to your driving record and any history of motoring convictions.

Extras and optional cover

Practically any car insurance policy you are likely to consider will come with a range of potential extra or optional elements of cover. You might want to consider these carefully since their inclusion in your main policy might prove cheaper than arranging separate cover. Beware, however, that not all the extras you may be offered are likely to be necessary – or even suitable – for your particular needs and circumstances.

Motor fleet insurance considerations

Be sure to let any potential insurer know if you are a business owner or otherwise have more than two or three vehicles to insure – specially designed fleet insurance could prove a more efficient and cost-effective way of arranging motor insurance for a range of different vehicles that you own or operate.

Bringing cover for your fleet of vehicles under a single policy is invariably cheaper than insuring each one separately – and you have the further advantage of just one annual renewal date that keeps all the vehicles under your fleet insurance safely covered.

Accuracy … and honesty

Finally, it is important to stress the need for accuracy in providing this and any other information your insurer may request. If you fail to mention any material facts – or changes to those you have previously declared – your insurer may reject as invalid any subsequent insurance claim you make.

If you have responded to requests for information dishonestly, you might even be prosecuted for the serious crime of insurance fraud.

Further reading: How to save money on your fleet insurance and Car insurance – how to reduce your premiums.