Common Car Insurance Questions Answered
When you have car or vehicle insurance questions, there is nothing like taking a poll of all the available carriers. If possible, you must obtain a free quote online, and then ask each carrier the same set of questions.
We get asked a lot queries about car insurance. Some inquiries we get more than others.
To assist you in your pursuit to find the best and cheapest insurance, we have put together our top 17 most asked questions.
Q: If I am the policy holder of a multi car policy, can I drive all cars included in the policy?
A: You can only drive all cars included in the multi car policy if you are a named driver on all of the policies for each car included in the policy.
Q: Do I lose my No Claims in the event of a collision that was not my fault?
A: If you were not at fault, then you should not lose your No Claims Discount, but this is, of course, down to the opinion of the insurance company when deciding who the driver at fault was.
Q: I have canceled my car insurance policy. Is there anything else I should do?
A: If you have not started a new policy with another car insurance company, then you should declare your car SORN (Statutory Off-Road Notification).
This declaration does not cost anything. It is there simply to tell the officials who are insured and who is off-road, helping to flag up uninsured drivers.
Q: Will the Pass Plus scheme reduces my car insurance premium?
A: Some companies, such as Direct Line, offer a Pass Plus discount but not all insurance companies have the same offers. It is important to check their websites for available offers such as the Pass Plus discount.
Q: Do comparison sites have every car insurance organization listed?
A: No. Direct Line and Aviva are the two companies that have managed to avoid being placed next to other insurers on comparison websites such as Confused.com. It is worth getting a quote from these two insurers in addition to comparison sites.
Q: Can named drivers help to reduce my car insurance premium?
A: Generally, it varies depending upon the characteristics of the named driver. Often adding an older and more experienced driver to a policy reduces its cost considerably whereas adding a younger driver increases it because of the higher risk.
Adding a named driver can decrease the cost of a policy because insurers assume that the main driver will be sharing the driving time with the named driver, reducing the risk of that main driver making a claim.
Of course, this only works if the main driver is the riskier of the drivers from the standpoint of an insurance company.
Q: Does comprehensive cover allow me to drive other cars and still be insured?
A: The majority of fully comprehensive policies allow you to drive any car and still be fully insured for that vehicle, but it is essential to check your policy documents to confirm this as it is not always the case.
Q: I am a learner with my own car. I have L plates, so I am insured to drive it?
A: As a learner, you can only drive a car if it has valid insurance, displays visible L plates and only if you are accompanied by another driver who has had a minimum of three years driving experience since passing their test.
Otherwise, you will not be insured, having invalidated your policy requirements.
Q: Is there any way I can protect my No Claims Discount in the event of a collision?
A: Some companies offer a No Claims Discount protection which means that in the event of a collision, your No Claims will not be affected.
Your premium will probably increase, but the discount you receive will remain the same, saving you some money at least.
Q: I have managed to put diesel into a petrol car. Is there any way of insuring against this costly mistake?
A: Some car insurance companies do not obviously cover misfuelling, but it is actually covered under accidental damage.
Other companies do not cover misfuelling at all. It is important, again, to check your policy documents to find out if you are covered or not in the event of misfuelling.
Q: Can I use my car for business use?
A: There are four classes of motor vehicles when it comes to insuring them for business use. The first is the SDP class, which does not allow you to use the car for business reasons, only commuting, social, domestic and pleasure reasons.
Then there is Class S for cars that will be traveling between your home and a permanent place of business.
Class 1 is for cars that will be traveling between several places of employment, but this is only available to the policyholder and not Named Drivers (who can only use it for social, domestic and pleasure reasons).
Class 2 allows the policyholder to travel to multiple places of work. This also includes the Named Drivers if they are traveling in connection with the business of the policyholder.
Finally, Class 3 is for people such as salesmen, allowing the policyholder to travel to more than one place of work and includes commercial traveling.
Class 3 also allows Named Drivers, if working in connection with the policyholder’s business, to be covered as well. You should look at company car insurance offers online for quotes and what each individual policy may cover.
Q: My car was totaled, but my car insurance company did not pay for all the costs. Why is this?
A: Car Insurance companies go by the actual cash value of a vehicle in order to determine how much they need to pay, by looking at the market value of the car before the accident.
This is just an approximation, so may not adequately cover the costs. If this is the case for you, you should inform your insurer.
Q: Is a rented car, following an accident, automatically insured?
A: This depends. You should check your policy documents for information regarding rental cars to ensure that you have rental car coverage.
Q: Why is it harder to get insured with bad driving records?
A: Car insurance companies choose to insure someone based on risk. Someone with bad driving records presents a higher risk to companies than someone without.
As a result, you will either find they won’t insure you, or charge you much more than someone with clean driving records.
Of course, this is entirely dependent on what driving offences you have committed, and the severity will be reflected in the price or denial of your attempt to get car insurance.
Q: Will I get a refund after cancelling my car insurance policy?
A: Maybe, but this depends how long your policy has been active and how you pay for it. If you cancel within 14 days, you should generally find that you are not charged for anything or, if you are, it will be a small administration fee at the most.
The difficulty in getting refunded comes after this cooling off period You may suffer a cancellation fee as well as being faced with the money owed for however long you were insured for, but this may differ from case to case.
Q: If I print my car insurance certificate off from online, is it legal?
A: Yes, it is perfectly legal so long as you have printed in colour and have used decent quality paper. For insurers that only offer online policy documents, this is a given.
Q: What will I need to provide as proof of my No Claims Discount?
A: You will need to show a document from your insurer, usually, in order for your No Claims Discount to be validated, and this document must usually contain your insurer’s name, the expiry date of your policy, your policy number, your name and the number of years of NCD that you have accumulated.
