Car Insurance

The Internet is the cheapest and easiest way to buy car insurance. It has allowed insurers to cut their call-centre costs and pass on the savings to their customers. Almost car insurance sites now offer at least 10% discount when you buy your policy on line. Forget the telephone. Try the following web sites and see how much you could save when you buy your insurance on the Web.

Company	Description	Max NCB	Online Discount
Quotezone	Searches to find the cheapest price from over 25 websites and 50 insurers including AXA, Kwik-Fit, Swiftcover, Aviva, More Than, Quinn Direct, Swinton, Budget, and many more
gocompare.com	Insurance quote comparison site which will get you loads of quotes for your car insurance without you having to do all the hard work. All you need to do is enter your information once and they do the rest. Independent choice, no messing about.
Aviva	20% off your car insurance, that's 10 weeks' worth of cover free. This is available to new customers buying a year's policy, who have at least four years' no claims discount on their existing car insurance policy.		20%
Privilege	Excellent prices for drivers with four or more years of no claims.
Yes	Yes Insurance acts as a broker to over 30 leading car insurers. They are particularly strong for cars over 5 years old, low mileage drivers and 2nd cars. This means, in the event of a claim, yes customers don't have expensive new models to repair or replace. This keeps costs down, so yes can pass the savings on to the consumer as cheaper car insurance.
Diamond	Diamond is a girl's best friend! Car insurance for women. Free handbag and contents cover (up to £300) on comprehensive policies. Plus save up to 10% extra online at diamond.co.uk.		10%
Direct Line	The first major UK insurance company to give no claims discount to named drivers when they eventually take out their own policy. Extra 10% discount when you insure a second car and 5% discount every year thereafter.	75%	10%
Sheila's Wheels	Car insurance designed specifically for women at at excellent prices.	75%
MORE TH>N	Buy MORE TH>N car insurance and get a 10% discount in your 1st year. And, 20% discount in the 2nd year and every year after that, as long as you stay claim free. If you've built up 4 years or more No Claim Bonus you can protect it for the life of your policy with MORE TH>N. Plus, you'll get 50% off breakdown cover.
Budget	As BUDGET is an independent intermediary, rather than a direct insurance company, they search their panel of leading insurers to find the best quote for their customers.
Halifax	Comprehensive, third party only and third party fire and theft cover online.		10%
Churchill	Car and van insurance from Churchill, the one with the dog! Everything you need from a motor insurance company.	65%	10%
elephant.co.uk	Cheap online car insurance. Quotes in minutes and is fast and easy. Other benefits include free European cover for up to 90 days
Kwik-Fit	up to 15% online discount. Kwik Fit will search large panel of leading motor insurers.		15%
Young Driver Car Insurance	Recently passed your driving test? Then theyoungdriver car insurance could well be for you. Information and quotations available 24 hours a day online. Give us a try today.
Swinton Caravan Insurance	Swinton offer comprehensive insurance cover for all types of caravans, from static holiday homes to touring caravans and trailer tents. Discounts are available for additional security like wheel clamps and alarms. Cover is also available for caravans whilst they are abroad.
Swinton Motorcaravan Insurance	Swinton's Motorcaravan Insurance is provided by Safeguard, the Motorcaravan Insurance Specialists, at Safeguard all our advisors are specialists in providing you the cover you need. Apply online today.
Swinton Car Insurance	Swinton offer competitive online Car Insurance quotes from 16 of the UKs leading car insurers over the internet. Immediate cover 24 hours a day. Payment options available. Pay by debit card, credit card or convenient monthly payments.
Swinton Taxi Insurance	Swinton's specialist Taxi Division offers competitive rates with the option for payments by instalment, get the cover you need. Apply online today.

Which is best for me?

Unfortunately, there is no easy answer to the question "which is the cheapest?". It depends on numerous factors including your age, sex, type of car and where you live. In general however, we suggest the following:

Female drivers should check out Sheila's Wheels

If you drive a car in a low insurance group (1 to 8), Prudential is a good place to start and also have a look at Budget and Swiftcover.com.

For higher insurance groups, Swiftcover.com, Budget and MORE TH>N offer good value.

Brokers versus direct insurers

Most of the car insurance sites listed on DontShopAlone.co.uk are brokers rather than direct insurers. If you are a young driver, a broker will often find you the best deal, because most of the direct insurers prefer to play safe and insure experienced drivers. Brokers are however middlemen and as such, take a share of insurance premium. A direct insurer can potentially therefore, offer lower prices.

If you are in a hurry, using a broker can save time as they will compare several companies for lowest prices. Don't imagine however that any broker is going to look a the entire market. Each broker will only have agencies with a limited panel of insurers. If you have time, we suggest that you try more than one of the insurers in our list before buying.

Things to consider when buying car insurance

Not all insurance is equal and the cheapest quote is not always the best. Always consider the following when comparing car insurance quotes:

"Excess" is the part of any claim that you will have to pay yourself. The higher the excess, the less likely it is that you will bother to claims and policies with a high excess can therefore be significantly cheaper. You will sometimes be asked to choose the level of "voluntary excess". This may be additional to the standard excess or it may be instead of the standard excess. Check the terms carefully. If you rarely make claims, taking a higher level of excess can make your insurance significantly cheaper. If an accident is not your fault, you will generally be able to recover the excess from the third party.

Does the policy always provide a courtesy car? Not all policies provide a courtesy car in the event of a claim and even those that do will generally not give you an equivalent vehicle. Courtesy cars are sometimes only offered for a limited period and are often an "extra" on your policy. Even if your own policy does not offer a courtesy car, you may be able to recover the costs from the third party if an accident is not your fault.

Legal Protection Cover

Motor insurers will offer you a "legal protection" option (sometimes called uninsured loss recovery). This can be useful if you have an accident that is not your fault. If this happens, it is generally your responsibility to claim against the third party and unless you have legal protection cover, this process can be quite time-consuming. Legal protection will provide you with a claim recovery service that will do most of the work for you and will often speed-up the process considerably.

Protected No Claims Bonus

If you already have several years of no claims bonus, you can usually protect this by taking a "Protected NCB" option. You will then keep your full NCB even if you make a claim. Generally however, this only applies to your first claim in any year.

Even without this option however, you will often not lose all your NCB in the event of a claim. Typically, you might lose two or three years NCB for each claim.

Business Use

Most insurance policies will cover you for commuting to and from your normal place of work. If you need to use your car for business trips however, you will need to ensure that you have business cover. This is generally a chargeable extra.

Payment Options

Almost all car insurance sites now allow you to pay by debit or credit card. Many also allow you to pay by monthly direct debit installment although you will generally have to pay slightly more if you choose this method.

Can I drive other people's cars under my own insurance?

Many fully comprehensive policies allow the policyholder to drive cars that do not belong to them and are not hired to them under a hire purchase agreement, subject to the owner's permission. Note however that the cover is Third Party only cover which does not cover damage to the car they are driving. It only covers liability for damage and injury to third parties. This cover operates only whilst the Policyholder is driving (i.e. other named drivers are not covered) and is designed to be used in emergency situations only.

Recently, some insurers have stopped offering this cover. If you choose one of these insurers, it means that you are only insured to drive vehicles clearly identified on either your Certificate of Motor Insurance or your Insurance Schedule. If you want to add an additional temporary car or an additional driver to your insurance however this can usually be arranged if you contact the insurer.

If you need to be added to a family or friends vehicle in order to be able to drive it, ask them to contact their insurer who should be able to arrange this for them.

Driving Abroad

If you need to drive abroad, you will often need to contact your insurer to have this cover added to your policy. There will often be a charge although some insurers provide cover within Europe as standard. While driving abroad, the terms of cover may be different and breakdown cover or a free courtesy car will often not be provided.