Motor Insurance

Main Types of Motor Insurance

Private Car – This is the most common type of insurance required by Private Individuals who need cover for a single vehicle. Standard cover usually includes Social, Domestic & Pleasure Use, and can extend to include Commuting to and from work, and use in connection with your business. Roadside breakdown assistance is an optional additional product.

Business Motor – This type of policy covers business owned vehicles used for business uses & commercial travelling, including carriage of goods or samples.

Commercial Vehicles – This policy is designed for commercial vehicles, from small vans & pick up trucks up to Heavy Goods Vehicles, used primarily for carriage of goods in connection with a trade.

Fleet Insurance – As the name suggests, businesses with more than one vehicle can be covered by a fleet policy. This can be a small mini fleet, up to large fleets with a mixture of Cars, Vans, Goods Vehicles and special types. Some policies have breakdown cover available as an optional extra.

Motor Trade – For persons or businesses engaged in the Motor or associated trades, where cover is required to drive multiple vehicles, or those belonging to customers, a motor trade policy is the answer. Cover can be tailored to provide premises cover, tools, liabilities, and sales & service indemnity, plus engineering inspection for jacks, lifts, compressors etc.

Agricultural – As the name suggests, there are Farm motor policies to cover individual vehicles or fleets of agricultural vehicles., Cover extends to trailers and implements.

Special types – Policies are available to cover mobile plant, including Cranes, Compressors, Pumping & Mixing equipment, Forklifts, Dumptrucks and many, many more.

Basically there are three levels of cover available

Third Party

This is the basic form of motor insurance that covers claims made upon you for damage to other person’s vehicles or property, including injury.

Third Party Fire & Theft

In addition to the Third Party Cover above, this policy provides cover for your own vehicle for damage caused by fire, theft or attempted theft.

Comprehensive

This is the widest cover available. As well as the items above, it covers damage caused to your own vehicle(subject to policy limits), irrespective of blame. More importantly, your insurers will deal with the claim and take away some of the hassle associated with the claim. The policy would usually extend to cover broken glass, personal effects, tools, rugs, CD’s, tapes etc. carried in the car,(subject to policy limits). Some of the ‘direct dial’ types exclude these additional benefits.

Common Questions

Why do premiums vary so much?

Premiums vary considerably between insurers. One reason is that different insurers offer better terms to particular age groups, occupations, vehicle types and geographical locations. This is often influenced by their claims experience.

What determines the cost of the insurance?

There are many factors that determine the eventual cost. The main one is the claims experience; i.e., the more an insurer has paid out for claims, the more they will have to recoup in premiums. Other factors are the age and occupation of the drivers, the type of vehicle, the garaging and security arrangements, and the use of the vehicle.

Will it be cheaper if I go direct to an insurer?

Occasionally savings can be made. However, many insurers quote the same rate to direct customers as they do via brokers. The commission that would have been paid to the broker is retained to pay for the staff that operate their telesales operation and the advertising budget.

Should I try a broker?

Brokers vary considerably. There are small brokers that give very good service, but usually have a limited choice. There are larger brokers with a wide range of companies to quote from, but they often employ staff with no insurance experience, who simply input your data and quote the cheapest premium that appears on their screen. Very often, a few extra pounds could buy a far superior policy with many more benefits. We feel you should be given a choice, and the opportunity to discuss the choices with experienced staff.

Can I buy online and pay no commission?

Sure you can buy online now. But be wary of the slogans that boast no commission. We all know that nobody works for free, and many of these elaborate web sites are expensive to set up. Somebody has to pay for them. Most insurers will pay some form of commission to the site operator. The cost will ultimately be borne by you, the consumer

So why try Todd Price?

We promise to give you value for money. In this world, you generally get what you pay for. We are not always the cheapest, but aim to offer the best value for money. We have a wide range of contracts available from all the leading insurers, from the most comprehensive to the more basic. All of our staff have experience, and can discuss your requirements with you and match the right policy to suit your circumstances. We operate from various locations and can be contacted by phone, fax, email, internet. You can even walk in and buy over the counter – face to face.
You can’t get more direct than that – eh?
The premium we quote you is the premium you will pay – whichever method you choose. So why not try us, you have nothing to lose, maybe much to save, and we will not compromise on Service.

Other issues &Popular misconceptions

Explanation of No Claims Discount

This is an area that can cause many arguments. A no claims discount or no claims bonus, (as it was originally known) is a discount given by insurance companies, from the renewal premium for the coming year. To qualify you must have held insurance for a full year, be free of claim and have paid your premium in full. The first year usually attracts the biggest discount, usually about 30%. The next three years or so typically attract a further 10% each. The actual amount can vary between companies. The transferable amount is usually calculated in ‘years earnt’, with a maximum of 4 or 5 depending on the company. Each claim usually results in the loss of 2 years bonus. Some companies will allow you to protect your bonus for the payment of an additional premium. A major cause of heated discussions is when there has been an accident that was not your fault, but your no claims discount has been disallowed. This may be because your insurers have paid out for the damage to your car, but have been unable to recover the costs from the other driver or his insurers. If they are successful in recovering their outlay, they are likely to re-instate your discount and give you a refund.
Remember – it is a ‘no claim’ discount, not a ‘no blame’ discount

Driving other cars

We’ve probably heard more rubbish about this topic than any other. Conventional Insurance policies grant basic insurance cover for the policyholder in person to drive somebody else’s car irrespective of the level of cover held. This is a benefit of the policy intended to assist in an emergency or unforeseen circumstances. The cover granted is the minimum possible to comply with the road traffic act. There is no cover provided for damage to the borrowed car. Not all policies include this cover. This cover is usually only available on normal private car policies, and is not usually included in Commercial vehicle policies on small vans or pick ups. Younger drivers usually have this benefit excluded from their policies, and many of the policies offered by the ‘direct dial’ type companies exclude this cover and carry large accidental damage excess’s. If in doubt, check your certificate of Motor Insurance.

Carriage of Goods or Tools

Standard private motor policies do not automatically allow you to carry any goods, samples, or tools of trade. If you intend to use your vehicle for work, make sure your insurers are aware, and have issued your policy on this basis. If you have arranged to include this use, your policy will still not cover any loss or damage to your goods or tools. If cover is required, it will need to be arranged on a separate commercial or business policy – please ask us for details.

Excess

Be aware that there are several types of excess applicable to motor policies, Voluntary, Compulsory, Vehicle type, Policy, Young Driver, etc.
Make sure you establish the TOTAL excess applicable when obtaining quotes. Many online quotes only show the voluntary excess on the quote, the other excesses (which are in addition to this) are often buried in the small print, or shown on another page in a general disclaimer. We have seen many online quotes with excesses of more that £ 1,000

What do I do if I am involved in an accident?

If you are unfortunate enough to be involved in an accident, there are certain things you must do by law, and other things we would advise you to do.
If there are no persons injured – you must obtain the name, address and registration no of all parties involved, and provide your name, address and registration details to the other parties involved. Notify your insurers as soon as possible.
You should also obtain the details of any witnesses, the location of the accident, note down distances, road signs and markings, the damage to the other vehicles, the make, model & condition of all vehicles involved. Make a note of the date, time & weather conditions.
Take photos of the scene & the damage to both vehicles, and save any dash cam footage.
If there are any injuries – you must also report the incident to the police within 24 hours, and produce your documents within 5 days.

Should you have cause to complain, and you are not satisfied with our response to your complaint, you may be able to refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which can be contacted as follows: The Financial Ombudsman Service Exchange Tower, London, E14 9SR Tel: 0800 023 4567 or 0300 123 9 123 | http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk Consumers wishing to complain about a policy purchased from us online, can register the complaint using the Online Dispute Resolution platform (ODR) at https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr | Registered Address: 1053 London Road Leigh-on-Sea Essex SS9 3JP