What Is The Difference Between Comprehensive And Third-Party Motor Insurance?
When you’re shopping for car insurance you’ll come across two main types of cover: fully comprehensive and third-party only. There’s a big difference between comprehensive and third-party insurance and understanding it is important to make sure you have the right level of coverage for you. Avoid surprises by understanding the differences in these car insurance types.
Comprehensive vs Third-party insurance: the short answer
- Third-Party Only Car Insurance will pay out for damage to another person’s car or compensation for injury, but not for damage to or loss of your vehicle. It does not insure you against fire and theft, either.
- Comprehensive car Insurance covers accidental damage claims, fire and theft, as well as covering everything covered by third-party damage.
Third-Party Only Car Insurance
Third-Party Only (TPO) car insurance is the most basic level of insurance available and is a legal requirement for all drivers in the UK.
TPO covers damage done to someone else’s vehicle or property in an accident, but if your car is damaged and the accident was your fault, you will need to pay for repairs yourself.
Most people opt for a policy with better coverage, even if they are experienced drivers, as it can be cheaper than the cost of repairs.
Benefits of third-party-only car insurance
Third-party car insurance is the minimum level of cover legally required in the UK. Having TPO insurance protects you in case you accidentally hurt somebody while driving or damage someone else’s vehicle or property. Your policy will pay out for these events so you don’t have to.
Exclusions
- As the lowest level of coverage allowed by law, TPO car insurance excludes most things. This includes:
- Any repairs to your car due to an accident that was your fault.
- Repairs to damage from an accident where blame cannot be established
- Any repairs due to fire, flood, or malicious damage
- Replacement of the car and its contents after a theft
- Fully Comprehensive Car Insurance
- This is the highest level of coverage available for private drivers. An all-round policy for your car that includes third-party insurance, as well as covering you and your own car.
Benefits
Fully comp policies will pay for repairs and replacement of your car in any event, including fire, flooding and theft. As well, this kind of policy covers third-party property in any accident for which you are responsible. Fully comp car insurance can include any property left inside your car as well, so with this kind of policy you know you’re fully covered.
Disadvantages
For full coverage, you may find that the premiums are higher than other, less inclusive policies. This is especially true if you are inexperienced at driving or have points on your license.
How expensive are comprehensive and third-party insurance policies?
The price difference between comprehensive and third-party vehicle insurance is not always as wide as you might expect. Fully Comp has a much wider range of coverage, but the amount of risks is not the only factor in deciding insurance premiums.
A high proportion of car insurance claims are those covered by third-party policies, so the insurers see the risk of payout as higher than for the events covered by the other parts of a fully-comp policy. In some cases, a third-party policy can be more expensive than fully-comp, so it’s worth checking all the available options to get the greatest amount of quality coverage for the best possible price.
Should i upgrade to comprehensive car insurance?
With comprehensive insurance, you retain all of the coverage included in a third-party policy, but also get covered for damage to your own car in any incident. By looking at all of your insurance options, you might find that it is not too much more expensive to take out comprehensive car insurance, which would be well worth your while.
To discuss upgrading your car insurance, or to purchase your first policy, Nash Warren are here to help. We sort out all of the options from major insurance providers to broker the best deal for you. Contact Nash Warren today to start making the most of your car insurance.
