Insurance and Finance > Car Insurance

It is a legal requirement in the UK to have car insurance if you are driving on public roads, the minimum level of cover required is third-party. This only covers against injury caused to others and damage caused to their property, so in the case of an accident that is your fault you will only need to pay for the damages to your car, the insurance company will cover the costs for the others involved.

A car is an expensive commodity, and one that most people would not be able to easily afford to replace should it be stolen or destroyed by fire. Insurance companies offer a level of cover referred to as third-party fire and theft, which complies with the legal minimum of cover for others and adds cover against the car being stolen or damaged by a fire.

With both these forms of car insurance, you would still have to cover the cost of any repairs needed to your own car following an accident that was you fault, if you want to be covered for these costs of well then you need comprehensive insurance. The greater the level of cover that you opt for, the more expensive your insurance premiums will be, as the insurer is obviously taking on more of the risk.

The amount that your premium will cost you will depend on a number of factors, the main ones being the level of cover you want, your age, the number of years you have held a licence, the vehicle that you are insuring, where you live and if you have a clean license.

Of all these factors, the two that have the biggest influence are the car and your age, the younger you are and the higher the insurance group your car is the more you will have to pay.

The insurance group is a number given to a vehicle based on how fast it is, how difficult it is to steal, how much it costs and how much it costs to repair among other factors. This number ranges from group 1 for the slower, cheap models to group 17 for sports and expensive models. If you are looking to buy a car and want low insurance costs then you should look for one in the lower end of this range, if you already have a car and are looking to insure it then you do not need to know what group it falls into as the insurer will know this.

Having car insurance is not a luxury – it is something that you must have, however you can choose to increase the level of cover that you have in order to protect yourself against large costs should your car be stolen or damaged in an accident.