﻿ insurance buying guide | a simple guide to buying insurance

a simple guide to getting it right when buying insurance

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn

No Claims Discount Expires After 2 Years | Protected No Claims Discount Does Not Protect Your Premium | Manipulating Your Details to Gain a Better Price Could Invalidate Your Policy | You Don't Automatically Get Driving Other Cars With Comprehensive Cover | Should I Send Copies of Documents to My Broker/Insurer? Yes | Each Policy Earns It's Own No Claims Discount, You Can't Use It Twice | Insuring Your Child's Car In Your Name Is Called Fronting And Is Fraud! | Don't Assume Your Company Car No Claims Discount Will Be Accepted By Your New Insurer - Check First! | Counterpart Licences Abolished, You May Still Have To Provide a Code From DVLA to your Underwriters to Check Your Details | Motorbility Policies Do Not Earn a No Claims Discount | Motoring Endorsements Are Declarable For 5 Years

Okay, first things first, no one likes buying insurance, and further more no-one likes paying more than they have to for insurance.  However, when you start getting things wrong or think a question isn’t relevant, that’s when mistakes happen and that can be very costly!  If you think the insurers never find out, that’s your first mistake!

“I hate insurance!”, I hear you cry.  So why do people hate insurance?  Several reasons, those of us that are more mature, shall we say, will remember the scams in the 70’s when “brokers” and “insurers” were springing up, taking your money and then disappearing leaving customers high and dry.  Ghost broking still exists today and with access to buy policies online it’s even easier for them.  They “sell” you a policy for  £500 and provide you with a certificate of insurance, but they have basically entered your details on a comparison site and told a few lies to reduce the price say to £300.  They then pocket the difference and you are basically uninsured, because they have lied about your details to manipulate the price.

Some think that insurance is a scam and a con, but insurance is regulated, as much if not more than the banks.  You know those big long letters with all their terms and conditions you get when you buy or renew.  Or the statements they read out to you over the phone or the ones you said you read, but you didn’t read, remember you said you had when you ticked the confirmation to say you had?  Whether buying online, over the phone of Face to Face they’re all regulated.  The amount of information insurers and brokers have to provide is ridiculous, to the point that you don’t read the “small print” because it will take too long or you don’t understand it anyway.

Of course, not understanding something doesn’t help.  What you may have been told about insurance, by parents, friends etc could be hearsay.  You’re taking their word for it, because they’ve bought insurance before, they must know about it.  You don’t get taught insurance at school, so what you know, you’ve got from the “school of life”.  The problem with that is people outside of the insurance industry seldom actually understand it.  I have relatives asking me questions about their insurance and I give them my answer, but they still dispute it or don’t believe it.  Because they’ve been told one way for years, that’s what they believe.  The other problem is insurance evolves, it’s not the same as it used to be, the fundamentals generally are, but even some of those no longer apply.  

Insurance buying Guide is here to help you through the journey of buying insurance, we’re not here to patronise you or tell you off, we’re here to make sure you don’t get caught out or end up uninsured. Predominantly geared towards buying online, but there should be enough information here to help you understand insurance better.  You need to scrutinise what you enter online or tell someone to make sure it’s right.  Don’t assume anything, try and catch yourself out when checking your details, imagine you’re the insurer deciding whether to deal with a claim or not!  That’s essentially what it boils down to.  If you make stuff up or lie, why should they pay?  It’s not the risk they signed up for.

Just because you have bought insurance before does not mean you fully understand how it works and what you need to do for ensuring you are correctly insured.

People always think insurers are trying to get out of paying up when you need to claim, when in reality, they will pay providing you have paid the correct premium for your insurance.  Therefore, the reliance is on you to have entered your details correctly and truthfully when buying the policy.  Changing things to better you price may could change the accuracy of your policy, a question you may not think to be relevant probably is to an underwriter so making stuff up will only leave you to blame when they don’t pay.

Start on the “buying” tab to look for information you need, either specific to an insurance type or a particular question you want answering.

Having driven for 30 years, would make you understand insurance to an extent, but insurance is constantly evolving.  

It may be vastly different to what it was as little as 3 years ago…

Just because you have bought insurance before, does not necessarily mean you fully understand how insurance works…

Ex-Company Car Owners - Company Car Letters Are Not Accepted By All Insurers!

Comparison Sites Questions Are Designed For Speed, Not Accuracy! - That is your Responsibility!

Cancelling Your Motorcycle policy? - There’s Often No Refund After 6 Months Cover!

Are Your Tools Covered On Your Van Insurance?

Buying Insurance Doesn’t Have To Be A Chore…

…But It Will Be, If You Don’t Buy It Properly!!