Car Insurance Central

When you drive someone else’s car the 'driving other cars' extension in your insurance policy gives you the most basic insurance cover allowed by law. This is called Road Traffic Act cover, which is even less than third-party only insurance. The point is, if you have an expensive accident whilst driving someone else's car, you may end up being liable for part of the other party's claim!

Also, when you park a car driven on this extension and walk away, the car is no longer insured at all, which means you cannot claim for damage, fire or theft. At least, not until a named driver on the policy takes control of the vehicle again. Therefore you should use this extension as a last resort.

A general rule with car insurance is to never assume anything. Even though the three main types of car insurance are generally defined in the same way, there are lots of terms and conditions that vary from insurer to insurer. For example, even if you have comprehensive car insurance cover, you may not be:
o Covered for windscreen damage.
o Entitled to a courtesy car.
o Covered to drive in the EU automatically under your full policy conditions, even though you get Road Traffic Act cover automatically in the EU and a few other countries.

Or you may be:
o Limited to only one or two windscreen claims each year.
o Allowed a courtesy car for just fourteen days per claim.
o Entitled to just 30 days full cover in Europe over the whole year. Bear in mind that most insurers require that you give them advanced notice before driving abroad.

Read this checklist before you buy car insurance:
Is the car insurance comprehensive, third party, fire and theft, or third-party only?
What is the total policy excess in the event of claims? What about the excess for windscreen claims?
Does the insurance policy cover all the drivers I asked for?
Does the insurance cover include legal expenses and breakdown?
Does the insurance policy include a courtesy car? (Note that not all comprehensive policies include these by default.)
Can I make an unlimited number of windscreen claims?
How many windscreen claims can I make before it affects my no claims bonus?
Is the full car insurance cover extended to driving in Europe for the period I asked for?
Is the no claims bonus protected?