An overview of getting your
car's insurance right
If
you're about to buy your car's insurance via a price comparison site,
you may want to consider some of the following issues first. At the
present time, given the current limitations of price comparison sites,
we would suggest holding them in reserve for finding your car
insurance, only using them where you are struggling to get an
acceptable price - taking account of quality of cover issues - direct
from a leading car insurance brand.
The exception to this - that is, when it's a good idea to go straight
to a price comparison service - is when you are likely to face costly
cover. This group includes the young driver, the new driver, anyone
without a no claims discount and where you have previous driving
convictions. In these circumstances, we would argue, there is room for
greater pragmatism in terms of must-have policy features. Practical
choices in this context are justified, given the otherwise high cost of
cover. For everyone else, getting a better level of cover is realistic
and wise. Indeed, we will now look at why price comparison services may
not be the best choice for this larger 'mainstream' group.
As hinted at above, the key point here is the issue of quality of
cover. There are some that will simply buy the cheapest policy
regardless of the cover. But most - indeed more than currently do so -
should aim to factor in the right level of cover for their curent
needs. Thus, while price is important, what you're getting needs to be
considered in some detail to make an informed choice.
No-one likes to imagine the worst case scenario such as, for example, a
serious accident leading to long-term disability and loss of earnings
but, in many cases, no frills policies will not adequately compensate
you for this sort of scenario. Of course you don't need to consider
such an extreme event to know that the more budget policies will leave
you footing the bill for some things you might have hoped to hae
included as standard, such as, for instance, arrangements for
alternative transport if your car is off the road.
If you're looking for good 'standard' cover - and we would suggest that
it is wise to do so for the kinds of reasons eluded to above - a price
comparison site is a cumbersome starting point given its focus on price
while providing limited policy information. Leading car insurance
providers, when you go direct, quickly hook you up with the sort of
cover that will work well on your behalf in an accident.
Price considerations when you go down this route are less of an issue
than most think. Yes, there are some price differences between
providers, even for similar cover, but the spread of prices, when you
compare like with like, is small. Better that you accept that you might
be paying a little bit more than if you'd used a rival company but that
you're getting the exact cover that you want. You could otherwise
spend a long time saving perhaps no more than a few pounds while
potentially compromising on policy features you would like to include.
For information and help to compare
car insurance from leading UK car insurance companies, we
can
recommend starting your search here. More..
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