Car insurance

Yes, your job title can affect the cost of your car insurance. If your job means you spend more time on the road, there’s more risk of you being involved in an accident. A courier, for example, may be considered a higher risk than an office administrator.

Jobs that tend to attract younger workers could also result in a higher premium. This is because statistically young drivers are more at risk of having an accident.

Yes, you can insure two cars at the same time. You can take out two separate policies. For example, if you have a classic car as well as your regular car, you might want a specialist policy to cover it.

Or you could take out multi-car insurance. This lets you insure two or more vehicles under one policy. It’s worth considering if you’re a family with more than one car as insurance providers typically offer a discount on each car added to the policy.

Unfortunately, Compare the Market doesn’t yet offer a comparison service for multi-car insurance.

Whether it’s better to pay for your premium annually or each month will depend on your circumstances.

Paying your car insurance annually, in a lump sum, is usually cheaper than paying monthly. A monthly payment plan could be more manageable for your budget, but you’re likely to pay more as you’re usually charged interest on the instalments.

The insurance provider will carry out a credit check if you want to pay for your car insurance monthly.

Providers will also look at your credit score (a soft search) when you compare car insurance quotes. This is just to check your details and won’t affect your score.

To estimate your mileage:

• Work out how many miles you drive every day or week, then add them up to work out your annual use.  
• Or check your MOT certificate or car service record, which will show how many miles you’ve driven. Use this as a basis to calculate your future mileage.

Mileage can affect your car insurance premium – the more you drive, the more of a risk providers consider you to be. Be as accurate as you can when you estimate your annual mileage.

If you underestimate, it could invalidate your policy. If you overestimate, you could end up paying more than you need to.

To work out your car’s value, you can use a free valuation tool like the one from Autotrader. Or look at used car listings to see the prices of models similar to yours in terms of age, condition and mileage.

When you compare car insurance quotes with us, we’ll give you a valuation figure based on the car’s current market value, where possible. You can change this if it doesn’t look right.

Some insurance quotes last as long as 60 days, but some can change at any point. Check your quote to see how long it’s valid for.

When you compare car insurance with us, you can save your searches. Remember, though, you won’t necessarily get the price that you saved when you come back to buy your policy.

If you cancel your car insurance policy within the 14-day cooling-off period, you might have to pay an admin fee. But you’ll get a refund minus the days the policy was active for.

If you cancel later on, you might have to pay a cancellation fee and admin fees. You may or may not get a refund, depending on the circumstances and whether you pay for your policy annually or monthly.

To make a claim on your car insurance:

1. Contact your insurance provider directly.
2. Get a crime reference number from the police if your car has been stolen or vandalised.
3. Gather the information you need to give to your insurance provider, including details of the other driver(s) and any witnesses.

You must always tell your insurance provider if you’ve had an accident – whether you claim or not. If you don’t tell them, you could invalidate your policy.

There are a few reasons why your insurance claim might be rejected. It could be that:

• You’re not covered for what you’re trying to claim for
• There’s a dispute over who’s at fault in an accident
• The provider believes you’ve invalidated your car insurance – for example, not telling them about something they should know.

If your claim is turned down and you don’t think it’s justified, you can dispute the refusal to pay your claim.

If you made a claim last year, you’re likely to pay more for your car insurance on renewal.

In fact, your premium may go up even if you have an accident and don’t make a claim. This is because the insurance provider might consider you a higher risk of having another accident. Even if it wasn’t your fault, an accident could affect your car insurance premium.

Your no-claims discount shouldn’t be affected if it’s protected, but your basic premium is still likely to go up.

If you share your car with one of your parents, having them on your policy as a named or additional driver could reduce your premium. But they mustn’t be on the policy as the main driver if they’re not. This is a type of fraud called fronting and it’s illegal.

You don’t need insurance if your car is off the road as long as you officially declare a SORN (Statutory Off Road Notification). However, this means your car won’t be covered if it’s damaged while it’s parked up.

And you won’t legally be able to park or drive the car on a public road until insurance is in place and the SORN has ended.

In January 2022, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) implemented new rules to remove the excessive price gap between new and existing policyholders. The changes mean that insurance providers are now required to offer renewing customers a price that’s no higher than what they’d pay as a new customer.

This could make car insurance more expensive for customers who shop around every year. But it means that loyal customers who stick with the same policy will no longer be paying more to subsidise those cheaper prices.

However, it’s still a good idea to shop around as prices among providers can vary widely.

You may or may not be covered to drive someone else’s car with a comprehensive policy. You’ll need to check the policy details to be sure.

If your policy doesn’t include this cover, you could be added as a named driver to the other person’s policy.

Alternatively, you could opt for temporary car insurance.

If you make alterations to your car insurance policy, such as adding a named driver, you may have to pay an admin fee. And you’ll usually need to pay a fee for cancelling your policy or missing a payment.

With a telematics policy, you might have to pay a fee if you go over the specified mileage.

Any fees will be set out in your policy documents. Fees can vary widely among providers. However, you may be able to avoid some of them if you make changes via your online account.

Driving courses like Pass Plus might lower the cost of your premium, but it’s up to the individual provider.

Based on their own claims experience, some insurance providers may assume that taking an advanced driving course may make you less likely to be involved in an accident. This will help keep down the cost of your car insurance in the longer term.