Where to buy car insurance

There are three basic ways of getting your car insured.

1. Go direct to an insurance company

You can, if you wish, go directly to a particular insurance company, either in person, by phone or on the internet. You may have been influenced by a particular company's advertising campaign on the television or the radio. Or you may have a friend who has had a particularly good experience of a certain company.

To be honest though, this is probably not the best way of obtaining insurance cover for your car. You are unlikely to get the cheapest deal and, if you talk to only one company, it is difficult to judge whether the other things they are offering are in line with other insurance providers or not.

2. Go to an insurance broker

The job of an insurance broker is to trawl the market on your behalf and come up with the policy that best suits your needs at the lowest possible cost. Brokers obviously charge a fee for their services, though this tends to get 'lost' in the insurance premium so it is often difficult to work out exactly what they are charging. The main advantage of using a broker is that they know the market extremely well and can save you an awful lot of time.

On balance, if your insurance needs are fairly standard you probably don't need to use a broker. The more complicated your needs, however, the more you probably do need one. For instance if you have a complex claims history or rather too many points on your license it's worth at least checking the situation with a broker first even if you don't go on to use them.

3. Go to the internet

Increasingly consumer insurance (ie the sort of insurance products sold to the man or woman in the street) is migrating onto the internet. Some think that in a few years time nearly all consumer insurance products - such as car insurance - will be purchased over the internet.

To a large extent the reason for this is that the insurance companies find it cheaper to transact business online than face to face or over the phone. And this trend is also good for the consumer - one of those rather rare 'win/win' situations. Insurance purchased over the internet tends to be cheaper than that purchased elsewhere since the company proving the cover can afford to pass on some of his cost savings to you, the consumer. Furthermore the internet also provides far greater transparency for consumers. At the click of a mouse you can compare a large number of competing products and decide on the best one for you. So unless there are unusual factors, it is nearly always advisable to review your options on the internet first, even if you subsequently go down one of the other routes mentioned above to make your purchase.

How to buy car insurance

Once you have selected the company or agent through which you wish to purchase your policy you will need to fill out an application form.

Typically you will be asked to provide information on:

Yourself
- personal information
- your occupation
- how long you have held your license for
- whether or not you have any existing no claims bonus
- whether there will be any additional drivers covered by the policy
- whether you have any driving convictions
- your claims history

Your vehicle
- registration number, make and model of car
- mileage of the vehicle
- whether the vehicle is fitted with an alarm or a tracking device
- what the vehicle is used for
- where you park the vehicle at night (this last point is crucial in terms of the cost of the policy)

Having assessed this information the broker or insurance company will then provide you with a quotation.

If you decide to accept the quotation you will then need to provide:

- evidence that you own the car (typically the vehicle registration document); and
- a valid MOT certificate if the vehicle is more than three years old

The insurance company will then send you something called a 'cover note'. This is effectively a temporary insurance policy which enables you to drive your car legally until the full certificate and policy documentation arrive. The insurance certificate is the piece of paper that proves that you are insured. The policy documents set out the detailed terms and conditions that apply to your policy - see 'Policy documents' for further information.