Driving Articles

Different Car Insurance Types & Why They Matter

Car insurance is one of those things in life that doesn’t leave you with much choice. There’s only so much you can do since it’s legally necessary, and because of that, it’s a good idea to learn what your options are. There are three main car insurance types to choose from after all.

It’s not a big subject to talk about since there are only 3 different kinds. They’re all pretty popular and they all get the job done; that’s for sure. One thing that does, however, is how covered you are. You’ll be pretty glad you know this stuff if you ever need it. Understanding market value.

Third-Party Insurance

The first thing that people need to look at is third party insurance. This is *usually* the cheapest option for you out there, and that’s for good reason. It’s the most basic legal cover that you can get, and because of that, it’s not the most beneficial of insurance to have… for you at least.

The third-party car insurance types literally mean that the 3rd party that’s involved is covered by your insurance. Sadly, that’s not you. If you have an accident and it’s your fault, your insurance will cover the other party that was involved in the collision. If it was anything other than that, no one gets anything Even if you write off your car, there’s no pay-out to you.

Third-Party Fire and Theft

The second-best (or second-worst) car insurance type for you to choose from is third party again, but this time, you guessed it, with fire and theft. This still means that any other parties that are involved in a collision with you are covered by your insurance but on top of that, you actually get something out of this one too.

If your car is subject to theft, for example, your insurance company can actually help you out of a tight spot. Rather than you being left high and dry, you’re actually a lot safer, since you’ll get a pay-out for what your car is deemed to be worth. The same goes for if your car is subject to fire damage too. Generally speaking, whether it’s accident or arson you should be covered to get a payout to compensate for your loss.

Fully Comprehensive

Finally, we have the full package, and that’s fully comprehensive. This is a different type of car insurance than the other two in every possible sense. This way, no matter what happens to your car, even if it’s your fault (to an extent), it’s covered and you should get some value back from your car.

Whether you write the full thing off to the point it becomes a class A, or you just have a scratch on a brand new car, your insurance should be liable to pay the costs to get you back to the perfect state. It’s so fully covered in fact, that a lot of the time when your insurance is full comp that eve other peoples vehicles are covered too when you drive them. No matter whose car you drive, as long as you have permission from the owner, your insurance should still cover you!

Optional Excess

With all of this talk on car insurance types though, there is one huge point that we need to look at before you make up your mind about how much you want to spend on your insurance and what your car is worth insuring for. That’s optional excess. It’s not a different type of insurance but it is a big player in what it’s going to cost to insure your car, and that’s often the biggest part of what a car really costs.

Optional excess is a little feature that goes into your insurance that dictates how much you’d like to personally put toward the cost of an insurance repair if need be. It sounds ridiculous, but more often than not, especially for new drivers, it saves you a tonne of money since your car is probably not worth that much (but that’s a first car stereotype!).

At the end of the day, every policy is different, and usually, the more you spend, the more you are covered. Premiums change every year, so always make sure you do the leg work to try and find which is going to be the cheapest for you to get in the long run.

Check out the benefit they have to offer you since some even have free breakdown and contents cover! Safe driving, and let’s hope you never need it!

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