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 young drivers are statistically more at risk of having an accident.

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.

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

Not necessarily. The insurance provider will only carry out a full credit check if you want to pay for your car insurance monthly.

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

To estimate your vehicle’s mileage:

• Work out how many miles you drive every week, then multiply by 52 to work out your annual use.

• You can also check your MOT certificate or car service record, which will show how many miles you’ve driven. You can 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.

It’s important to be as accurate as you can when estimating your annual mileage too. 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 such as the one from AutoTrader. Or look at used car listings to see the prices of models similar to yours for 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.

Yes, you can switch insurers mid-policy, but it can be expensive. 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, unless a fault claim has occurred.

If you cancel after the cooling-off period, you’ll likely need to pay a cancellation fee as well. You could get a refund, depending on the circumstances and whether you pay for your policy annually or monthly.

Bear in mind that you normally need to complete a full 12-month policy to earn your no-claims discount (NCD). So you'll likely lose any NCD for that policy year if you cancel early.

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, there are steps you can take to dispute a rejected 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 had an accident and didn’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.

The more claim-free years you have, the lower your car insurance premium. Drivers who have 10 years or more of claim-free years typically pay less than £373 for their car insurance. Someone who has between one and three claim-free years typically pays less than £822⁵.

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 insurance 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 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.

Sometimes. You’ll need to check the policy details to be sure that you’re covered to drive someone else’s car with a comprehensive policy.

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.

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

Taking a driving course, such as Pass Plus, might lower the cost of your premium, but this is entirely up to the individual provider.

Drivers with a Pass Plus qualification typically pay less than £484 for their car insurance, compared with £908 without an additional driving qualification⁵.

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.

And if the course makes you a safer driver, this should help keep down the cost of your car insurance in the longer term.