Once a year we find ourselves in the situation of taking a decision regarding the type of the insurance to cover our vehicle for another year. And it is not easy. There are hundreds of companies out there and thousands of offers. A good decision can save us a lot of money, while a bad one… well, you know what I mean.
So what should we do?
The first step is to realize what we need. Let’s say I’m a bad driver and I have an expensive car. In that case, I may be interested in a car insurance to cover my own car, the passengers inside, that may be injured in case of an accident and, of course, the other car or any other type of property involved. Or, I am an experienced driver and I would like my insurance to cover only any third party involved, because the probability of an accident is minimum anyway (please, do not consider yourself experienced in the first 2-3 years after you took the driving license – this is the biggest mistakes you can make – check the statistics).
The next step is to consider the options. There are 3 types of insurance that are mostly used: third party, fire & theft and, the most complex one, comprehensive.
Let’s have a look at each of them.
1. Third party car insurance – it is usually the cheapest one. It covers any third party (other car, other property, passengers in your car or some other car involved in the accident, but not you and your vehicle).
2. Third party, fire and theft – it includes the previous one, plus your car in case of a fire incident or theft. The price difference between these two is not relevant.
3. Comprehensive – it covers almost everything: you, your vehicle, any third party, some brake-downs etc.. It also comes with some bonuses: the insurance company may offer you a courtesy car in case yours one has to be repaired due to an accident, you may be allowed to drive any other car (if there are two or more drivers on the same policy, usually only the first one is allowed to drive another car) and so on. You should read the policy carefully anyway so you will know what is exactly covered and what is not. This kind of car insurance is a little bit expensive compared to the first two, but it is the recommended one.
After you decided what type fits your needs better, start looking. Different companies have different offers. Some of them are specialized in van insurance for example and they won’t have a good offer for a small car, while others are concentrating on the drivers that have less than 3 years experience etc. The best thing you can do is comparing the offers.
Tags: car insurance, Clean Cars