Car Insurance FAQ
- Is it legal to drive without car insurance?
- What is an excess?
- What is a compulsory excess?
- What is a voluntary excess?
- What is a fault claim?
- What is no claims discount?
- What is protected no claims discount?
- What is a high risk group?
Is it legal to drive without car insurance?
No. Accidents do happen, and the law states that you must be able to compensate any person you injure or any damage you may cause. The cheapest form of car insurance is third party , which only covers any damage that you may cause. the most popular policy sold in the UK would be comprehensive cover , which will cover you for any damage to your own vehicle as well as anyone else.
An excess is the cost you will have to pay if you make a claim to your insurance company. A common amount for an excess charge would be around £100. However, if the claim was due to an accident which was not your fault then you may be able to claim this excess back. You will however have to pay the excess then try to claim the money back afterwards.
Some insurers may only insure you if you agree to drivers if they agree to a compulsory excess charge. This will usually be around £100 and is aimed at giving you a cheaper quote.
A voluntary excess is aimed at what insurance companies deem as higher risk drivers. drivers between the ages of 17 – 21 are generally seen to be the highest risk group and some insurers will only consider insuring people from this group if they agree to pay a larger excess fee which could be anything from £250 to £1000.
A fault claim is an insurance company’s way of saying that they can’t recover their costs of any claim that you make. This may be because you are at fault for an accident claim or maybe the person at fault is untraceable.
No Claims discount ( NCD) is a discount added to your policy for each year you do not make a claim. This can increase to a maximum discount of 60% for 5 years without claims. If you change insurance suppliers then you can take this no claims discount with you.
What is protected no claims discount?
If you do make a fault claim then you will be penalized when you attempt to renew your policy by a loss in your no claims discount. Protected no claims discount will allow you to make claims to your policy without losing any discount. Usually you will be able to make on average 2 claims in any 5 year period.
A high risk group is a section of the population that insurance companies will feel are most likely to make a claim due to statistics. If the insurance company puts you in this section then you will have to pay higher than average premiums and excesses. examples of high risk groups would be males aged 17 – 21, drivers with 6 or more penalty points or drivers who have made many claims.
Tags: insurance policy, larger excess fee, car insurance excess, law, Pound sterling
