Car Insurance Quotes UK: Car Insurance Questions & Answers

You shouldn’t need too much thinking to answer this question. However, you might wish to know how age can affect the price of the insurance quote.

Young drivers between 17 and 25 are far more likely to have an accident, and insurance companies give higher quotes to this age group to reflect the higher risk.

Prices are at their lowest for drivers in their 30s and 40s but start to rise again and are more expensive for someone in their late 60s and 70s.

Your address can significantly impact your car insurance quote. Insurers look at statistics from your Postcode area to help them calculate how likely you are to make a car insurance claim. Areas with busy traffic levels, a higher crime rate even the average number of car insurance claims will attract dearer car insurance.

What should you do if you have more than one address?

You must inform your car insurance company if you spend more time at one address than another, such as a student spends most time at College or University but gives their home address. If you disclose incorrect information about where the vehicle is kept, your car insurance company may not pay out on car insurance claims.

Electoral Register

A final mention about your address! Most people like to pay their car insurance premiums monthly. However, you won’t be able to get credit and spread the cost of your car insurance if you are not on the electoral register.

Think twice before you answer this question. You must be honest about your job title but don’t fall into the trap of upgrading what you do. For example, if you’re an Office Clerk working for an Estate Agent, answer the question as “Office Clerk” Don’t make out you’re an Estate Agent. If you do, you’ll pay a higher annual premium.

There is no official car insurance job title list for the UK, and most types of work have no direct bearing on driving skills or the risk of being in a car accident. However, car insurance companies consider some jobs “Racier” and more accident-prone than others.

Unemployed Car Insurance

Unfortunately, when calculating car insurance quotes, insurance providers consider unemployment an additional risk and higher insurance costs.

Do Car Insurance Companies Check Occupations?

Usually, car insurance companies don’t request employment details, but they might, sometimes, when you make a claim. Like many of these car insurance questions, your insurer could invalidate your insurance policy if you aren’t honest about your job.

You are legally bound to answer these car insurance medical questions and inform DVLA of any health conditions affecting your driving.

Do you have a Restricted Driving Licence?

Car insurance companies cannot charge extra if you have a medical condition providing your driving licence does not have restrictions. However, If you hold a restricted driving licence, the insurance company can consider this when calculating your insurance.

The car insurance questions will include details about any driving convictions you have received in the previous five years.

You can view your driving licence details if you are unsure about your driving penalty points status. You’ll need your Driving Licence Number, National Insurance Number and Post Code.

Driving convictions mean higher insurance premiums

With penalty points on your driving licence, insurers will class you as a higher-risk driver, and your car insurance premium will cost more.

Car insurance companies each have their methods when accessing an endorsement on your driving licence. Still, an offence such as drink-driving will always be considered worse than minor speeding.

One of the trickiest car insurance FAQs to answer concerns claims you have made on car insurance policies over the previous five years (some insurers may go back as far as 7 or 10 years). Don’t worry. Only claims of five years or less can affect the price of your car insurance policy.

However, if you have claims going back several years, you may not instantly recall the details of the incident. It is worth getting all details of previous claims together before you start any application process. You’ll likely need to provide the date of the accident, who was at fault and the claim value.

Can Car Insurance companies check your past claims?

Yes. Insurance providers can check your claims history with CUE, which stores the information for six years.

Ensure you list all the relevant claims. Insurers will likely increase your premium for any undeclared claims. Worse, if you make a new claim during the policy and the insurer discovers an undeclared claim, they could invalidate your insurance and not pay out.

Can keeping claims down give me a Lower Car Insurance Premium?

Yes. The more claims you make, the higher this will impact the cost of your insurance quote. However, on the bright side, when you don’t claim on your policy, insurers reward you with an increase in your no-claims bonus, significantly reducing your insurance cost.

To answer this question on the application, you only need to enter the Car Registration.

Did you know? Your choice of car is usually the biggest single factor when insurers calculate the cost of your premium.

The Lower the Car Insurance Group, the Cheaper the Insurance Premium

Every car has an insurance group rating numbered between 1 and 50. The lower your car’s group rating, the less the insurance quote will be.

What are the most significant factors when evaluating a cars insurance group number:

• Repair and parts costs.
• Performance acceleration and top speed.
• Does the car have security such as an alarm, immobiliser and trackers?

A higher-value car will typically have higher repair costs and cost more to renew after an accident or theft, so you can expect a higher insurance premium.

However, the car’s value isn’t necessarily the most crucial detail of the vehicle for calculating the cost of car insurance quotes. Several factors, including the car type, repairs, performance and security, impact the cost of car insurance equally or more.

Because young drivers are deemed a higher risk statistically of being in a car accident and making an insurance claim, their age is more likely to affect the cost of their insurance premium than the value of their car.

The older you are, the more impact your car’s value may have on your premium. That’s because underwriters consider older drivers less of a risk until they reach a much older age.

Modifications to your car can look great and may even increase the car’s value. However, alterations, including alloy wheels, turbo/supercharging and exhaust changes, can affect the price of car insurance quotes.

Don’t take the question of car modification lightly. Insurance companies don’t like non-factory add-ons, and not declaring alterations to your car can be considered fraud. Your insurance policy could be void, and the claims you make are not paid.

The more security your car has, the less the theft risk, and you can expect a lower insurance quote.

You can likely get a cheaper insurance quote with an antitheft device fitted to the vehicle. We highlight the three options preferred by insurance companies. Car insurance discounts will vary on the type and model of the device.

Alarms

Car alarms can partially deter theft but are unreliable because many assume they have gone off by accident and ignore them. Some alarms are silent and will notify you that the vehicle is at risk but not the thief allowing you to contact and inform the police immediately.

Immobilisers

Your car quote questionnaire will ask if the car has a factory-fitted immobiliser, which is very popular with car insurers because you cannot hotwire a vehicle with an immobiliser. You’ll need the car keys. However, be aware of keyless car theft; this is when thieves clone a car key fob technology to steal the vehicle.

Trackers

Car security system GPS tracking will not only stop your vehicle from being stolen but also help you get your vehicle returned and, if you get your car back undamaged, negate having to claim on your car insurance.

Most car insurance providers consider that where you park your car overnight influences the risk of it being stolen or damaged.

Parking your vehicle in your garage or the home’s driveway is the safest option and can lower the cost of your insurance premium. However, parking on the road or in a car park puts your vehicle at greater risk, leading to higher insurance.

The reason you use the vehicle can significantly affect the calculation of your car insurance quote.

Insurance providers typically ask you to choose one of the following options:

• Social, domestic & pleasure – day-to-day is driving, such as visiting family and friends, shopping or going on holiday in the UK.
• Social, Domestic, Pleasure and Commuting – covers social, domestic & pleasure PLUS driving to one fixed place of work and parking, such as at a railway station.
• Business use – Allows you to use the car for your work and drive to multiple places.
• Commercial travelling – Allows you to carry goods and use the car for things such as door-to-door sales.

Driving your car for any use above social, domestic and pleasure will increase the cost of any insurance quote. For example, you’ll receive a higher insurance quote if you use your car to commute or for business because driving extra miles will increase the risk to the insurer.

Why do insurance companies ask how many miles you drive?

The more miles you drive, the higher your chance of being involved in an accident. So, the higher your mileage, the more impact on your insurance quotation.

Don’t overestimate your mileage.

You should not underestimate your mileage to get a lower quote. Likewise, don’t make a mistake by overestimating the miles you drive. Finally, insurers consider drivers with a very low mileage likelier to have an accident.

The best advice is to give a correct assessment of your annual mileage.

What kind of car insurance coverage do you need?

There are three levels of insurance available – fully Comprehensive car insurance, Third-Party Fire and Theft or Third-Party to select from.

Third-party Car Insurance

Every driver must legally have at least third-party car insurance. If you damage someone else’s car or injure another person, this covers you. But it won’t cover any injuries or damage to your Vehicle.

Third-Party, Fire & Theft

TPFT insurance gives you everything you’d expect from a standard third-party policy and protects you if your car is stolen or damaged by fire. Fire damage includes deliberate acts, such as arson and accidental fires.

Fully Comprehensive Car Insurance

As the name suggests, the fully comprehensive policy cover gives you maximum protection as a driver. It will pay out damage to your car, your passengers, and the other party involved car and passengers, regardless of who is at fault. 

Fully Comprehensive Insurance is sometimes the Cheapest

Contrary to logical thinking, fully comp car insurance is often cheaper than third-party fire and theft car insurance. Why? Because TPFT insurance policies are associated with more high-risk drivers – and, therefore, more car insurance claims.

For younger and new drivers,  fully comp car insurance without a black box may be preferred, but add a black box device, and the premium cost will dive.

Are you Insuring a Car that is on Finance?

You might be financing a vehicle through an HP or PCP. In that case, you are not the car’s owner – it belongs to the finance company. The Vehicle isn’t yours until the end of the agreement. Your finance agreement will require you to take out fully comprehensive insurance for a car on finance.

Why might you add a named driver to your car insurance policy?

You could want to add someone else to your insurance allowing them to share the responsibility of driving the car long distances or perhaps sharing the vehicle with a family member or friend.

Might I reduce my Insurance Premiums by adding an Experienced Driver?

If you’re a new or young driver having a named driver on your car insurance policy who is older and a more experienced driver will likely give you cheaper car insurance.

Alternatively, you might want to add a young or new driver to give them extra driving practice between driving lessons. In this scenario, the insurance premium will likely increase with a less learner or inexperienced driver on the policy.

Your insurance policy will have a Compulsory Excess that you have to pay on a claim deemed your fault. And it is not negotiable.

You also have the opportunity to add a Voluntary Excess which is an additional amount you agree to pay for each claim in addition to the Compulsory Excess. A higher Voluntary Excess can significantly reduce the amount of your insurance premium. By choosing a lower Voluntary Excess, the premium is higher. You could decide not to pay any Voluntary Excess but expect a higher cost for your premium.

Is a legal cover worth the cost?

The legal Cover provides financial protection against any legal expenses you might incur after an accident that was not your fault and includes items such as lost earnings or personal injury.

Considering the relatively small additional cost, it makes financial sense that motor legal protection cover could save you many thousands of pounds on expensive legal expenses. If it’s a complicated legal case, the fees could be much higher, so it may be worth adding the Cover to your policy.

Car insurance benefits are extra to the standard items on the car insurance policy. All car insurance policies are different, and some offer more and various benefits as standard than other insurers.

If you are looking for car insurance cover, compare each policy carefully to check what standard benefits are and what you might need to pay extra. If you have an existing policy, check to see if you are missing any of the following features:

Typically these are the benefits that may be standard or available as an extra:

• Legal cover.
• Breakdown cover.
• No claims discount protection.
• Cover for driving abroad.
• Courtesy car cover.
• Personal accident cover.
• Protected no claims.
• Windscreen replacement.
• Replacement key cover.
• Audio equipment cover.
• Sat nav cover.
• Child car seat cover.
• Personal belongings cover.
• Medical expenses.
• Misfuelling.
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