With the cost of car insurance, road taxes, MOT and Petrol on the rise constantly the effect is that it gets more expensive to keep a car on the road. The expenses mentioned are constant for all of us in that to legally drive we all have to pay for them. Car insurance however is a very individual cost. With the growth and popularity of comparison websites it can be very simple to just stick in your details and be presented with hundreds of various quotes; the problem is that you still have to go through them before finding the best one for your circumstances.
Many of the comparison sites will only take into account the price you will have to pay for the insurance; the premium, they will not in most cases select the best cover in terms of your personal requirements (unless your only requirement is the cheapest monthly charge). This means that it is really important to closely check any of the policies that you may be interested by. Insurance providers are now starting to provide “budget” cover to remain competitive in the market and gain a better share.
These types of bare budget policies are designed to only provide cover for your vehicle and not much more. You will be unlikely to get a car to drive if yours is taken in for repairs. Another disadvantage of these policies is that your excess in the event of a claim will be higher than other policies. The only benefit to this is if you don’t make a claim, but this is unpredictable and the reason for having insurance in the first place. It could cost you a lot if you claim even though you have insurance cover.
An option that appeals to many individuals is to be able to construct a custom policy that includes things you need and leaves out things you don’t. So, rather than merely opting for a basic cheap policy or a considerably more expensive policy with all the extras, some insurers like ASDA Car Insurance for instance, allow you to add optional extras like legal protection, hire cars and a breakdown service.
Taking ASDA Car Insurance as an example then, on top of whatever you're paying for basic cover you could add £1.50/month for legal protection, including up to £50,000 in legal costs should you need it, for an extra £2.50/month will get you a hire car for up to 14 days and if you aren't already paying for such a service from The AA or RAC you can add a breakdown service to your policy starting at £6.30.
With so much competition in the market many insurers now try and target specific groups of drivers and provide them with quotes better than other companies offer for the same policies. When taking out a car insurance policy don’t just look at how much it will cost you but how it will affect you in the long run.