skip to Main Content
Call our team today01288 353 999Opening hours: Mon-Fri 9-5 Sat 9-12
Second Car Insurance

Let Us Arrange Your Second Car Insurance

Arranging Insurance For Your Second Car

You or your partner already own one car, but you’re buying a second car. Do you know you can’t use your earned No Claims Bonus on another vehicle at the same time? You have to build up No Claims Bonus on each vehicle.

We have an alternative. We have insurers who will mirror and give you similar No Claims Discounts you are earning on your first car.

Some terms and conditions will apply, it needs to be a sensible car, and the insurers generally like drivers over the age of 40, with long clean UK licences to get the discounts.

As an independent insurance broker we search from a large panel of the UK insurance company’s to bring you the best and latest deals available. Some of the well known brands you would have heard of that we use include, AXA, Aviva, Ageas Insurance, KGM, LV, Sabre, Zurich Insurance amongst many others. For second cars the panel is smaller.

For your free second car insurance quotation just click on the appropriate button below, complete the quick online quote form (takes about 5 minutes) and we will come back to you with our recommended second car insurance quotation as soon as possible.

Alternatively you can call our Bude office on 01288 353999 where a fully trained member of staff will be able to take the information over the phone and provide an instant quotation and give full advice to you.

Car Insurance Explained
With Tips and Tricks On How To Reduce Your Costs!!

Unfortunately (or fortunately for us) everyone in the UK who owns a private car must have insurance, and to someone who is fairly inexperienced to motor insurance the task of finding the most appropriate policy can be daunting.

How To Obtain Insurance Cover.
There are more and more ways of obtaining motor insurance, through an insurance broker, directly with an insurance company, through online comparison sites, even through a supermarket, but which is the best way to obtain insurance?

By going direct to an insurance company like Direct Line for example, they say they can reduce costs by cutting out the the middleman, this may be so, but they can only ever quote themselves and in most instances they are not going to be the cheapest option anyway.

Comparison or aggregator sites work in a similar way to insurance brokers in the fact that they compare quotes through a panel of insurance companies. That’s about where the similarities end. With comparison sites YOU are responsible that the information you input is correct. The sites check for the cheapest policies, but the cheapest policies are often inadequate or have various restrictions or clauses like higher excesses, young driver additional excess’s, maybe no courtesy car or legal expenses cover, limited mileage restrictions, or no European cover, these sites should clearly show you all these clauses, but they are often in the small print which is basically down to you to check and ensure the policy is adequate, most times you wont know about these restrictions until you come to make a claim and suddenly you find you’re not paid out for it or are out of pocket. You will also find they have large mid-term alteration administration charges and will bombard you with their own junk mail or sell your information to other company’s who will email or contact you trying to sell other stuff.

Insurance brokers will search a large panel of selected insurance companies and although they will look to find the cheapest policy for you, more importantly they will explain any restrictions a policy may have like full policy excesses etc or clauses to ensure you are aware of them and that the policy quoted is right for your needs as a motorist. If you have any problems or need to make a claim you can speak to someone in the UK and a broker will be able to provide you with advice on mid-term changes or claims, with often a lot lower admin charges. At the renewal time a decent insurance broker will automatically search the market again for you to ensure your current insurers are still the most suitable option for you. A direct company or aggregator site will not provide this level of service.

So our advice, use an insurance broker, for peace of mind, a fair deal, and great service!!!

The Right Level Of Cover

Basically speaking there are 3 levels of cover you can choose from:

    1. Third Party Only.   This is the basic minimum level of cover you can have for car insurance. In the event of an accident this policy will pay for any damage to someone else’s property, or injuries to others, including passengers. You will have no cover for damage caused to your own car, although if you are in the right in the accident this damage can normally be recovered from the third parties insurers. Very few company’s offer this cover nowadays.
    2. Third Party Fire & Theft.   This is the same as third party only cover, but includes cover for theft or attempted theft of your car, or if the car is damaged by fire.
    3. Comprehensive.   Also know as ‘fully comprehensive’ or ‘fully comp’ this cover will provide the same cover as per third party fire & theft and will also pay for any damage caused to your own car irrespective of whom was to blame. This cover will also include cover for windscreen or window damage and also damage to personal effects in the car (to a set limit). A courtesy car will normally be included and given to you as well whilst your vehicle is being repaired.

A current rule of thumb at present is to not bother looking for Third Party Only insurance quotes, vehicles up to a value of £1,500 probably just Third Party Fire & Theft cover will be adequate, and over £1,500 Comprehensive cover. You could possibly still look at Third Party Fire & Theft for higher value vehicles but you will probably find that Comprehensive cover is cheaper.

We would say if you would struggle to replace a car of similar condition if you went out, hit a hedge and wrote the car off, then insure it Comprehensive.

Tips.

You’re better off getting a quotations on both Third Party Fire & Theft and Comprehensive covers as quite often third party fire & theft cover is cheaper than third party only as there are more insurance companies doing this cover more often than not comprehensive can work out cheaper than third party fire & theft as certain discounts like age of vehicle, age of driver etc, can reduce the premium. Just ask!!

Why Does Car Insurance Cost So Much

These are some of the things which an insurance company will take in to account when working out the price of your insurance and why some people are more expensive than others.

  • Driver Age. Young drivers and learner drivers are less experienced and are therefore considered more likely to be involved in an accident. A young driver who has just passed their driving test is even worse, as they can now take out their mates and show off and this is when the most accidents occur. Discounts will be given the older you get, but once you get to around 75+ your discounts will start to decrease. As you get older your reactions often start to slow and stats show an increase in accidents arises in this age group.
  • Insurance Car Group. Cars are given an insurance group between 1-50 (it used to be just 1-20). This will normally be based on the performance of the car and likely repair costs if that vehicle is involved in an accident. Prestige and performance related cars will normally be higher rated because of this.
  • Security. If the vehicle has a standard alarm or immobiliser, insurance companies will not normally give a discount for this as it’s normally included within the group of the car. If it has an aftermarket Thatcham Approved system then additional discounts can often be given. If the vehicle is kept in a locked garage or even off road in a driveway then again additional discounts can be given.
  • Where You Live. Being based in Cornwall we have one of the lowest rated areas in the country because of the low traffic density and lower theft risk. Larger cities are more expensive because the likeliness of having an accident is greater and normally have a higher crime rate. Move out to the country to reduce your premium.
  • Your History. If you have been involved in an accident or made a previous claim, fault or non fault, your insurers must know, stats show persons who have an accident are more likely to be involved in another one within 3 years. Motoring convictions will also increase your premium, even just one speeding conviction, so drive steadily.

How To Cut The Cost Of Your Car Insurance, Hints and Tips

Below we give you a few ideas on how you can reduce your premium without cutting your cover.

  • Young and Learner Drivers. Taking a ‘Pass Plus’ course can help to bring your insurance premium down by as much as 35%. Check with your insurers first as currently only a few companies give a discount and often their starting prices are much higher than the more competitive companies.
    Look at adding a parent to your policy as a named driver as most companies do give a discount if your mum or dad is named on the policy as well.
    If you are learning and looking to soon pass your test, check to see if the insurance company you are going to use increase the premium once you have passed your test, some do, some don’t.
  • Parking. If you have a garage and can fit your car in it, do so as you could save yourself up to 10%. Stipulations can be put in to force though with some companies, so if it’s left in the open even once, they may not pay a claim if it’s stolen from outside your home.
  • Mileage. If you only drive say 4,000 miles a year, make sure your insurers know, as again, big discounts can be given. Obviously if you are on the road less, there is less chance of you having an accident. If you don’t drive to work, tell your company, insurers give discounts if you don’t commute to and from work.
  • Marriage. If you want an excuse to get married, tell the other half you can make savings on your car insurance. Married drivers statistically have lower claims than single people so attract lower premiums.
  • Use Of Car. If you don’t drive to work, tell your company, insurers give discounts if you don’t commute to and from work. On the other hand if you drive to more than one place of work, make sure you have business use on the policy as standard Social, Domestic & Pleasure cover will NOT cover you.
  • Cover. Get quotes on all 3 types of cover as usually third party fire & theft cover can be cheaper than third party only and also comprehensive cover can be cheaper than third party fire & theft cover. Make sure you ask.
  • General Drivers. Normally the fewer drivers you have the cheaper the premium. Don’t have ‘Any Driver’ cover if there are only a couple of drivers who will ever drive it. If you are married though don’t just insure yourself, add your partner on as this will normally reduce the premium. For second car insurance to get the big introductory discounts, keep it to Insured Only or Insured and Partner at the most.
  • Excess. If you have to make a claim, this is the amount you will have to pay towards the damage to your own vehicle. Nearly all car insurance policies will have a ‘compulsory’ excess, usually starting from £100. In addition to this you can have a ‘voluntary’ excess on top, the higher you go, the more your premium will reduce. Be wary though, quite often increasing the excess by £200-£300 may only reduce the premium by a few pounds, so if you have an accident you will be a lot worse off. On top of this again you will find increased excesses for drivers under 25 and inexperienced drivers, so make sure you find out the ‘total’ excess before taking out a policy and check the small print.
  • No Claims Bonus & Protection. All insurers will give a discount for having a claim free driving experience, most insurers will give a 30% discount off for one year, followed by about 10% extra each year until you have about 60-70% discount. Some insurers give you discounts up to 9 years without claim. Once you get to 4 years it is worth paying a bit extra (normally about 10%) to protect the No Claims Bonus, so if you have to make a future claim you wont lose any of this bonus which you have built up. Most insurers will allow you up to 2 claims in a 3 or 5 year period before it starts to knock the bonus off.
  • Security. If you want to add an alarm or immobiliser to your vehicle make sure it is a Thatcham approved system. This is the only type of system insurers will give a discount for. Discounts can also be given for Tracker systems up to 10%.
  • Payment Of Insurance. If you can, you are better off paying for your insurance in a one-off payment. Nearly all insurers will charge up to 15% extra for paying your insurance monthly by direct debit. We can spread payment over the 1st month of a policy without any charge.
  • Be Accurate. Make sure all the information you give is accurate, if your correct name is Robert, don’t just say Rob or Bobby, insurers now do instant background and credit checks. If their searches find that your information doesn’t match up they will load the premium of your insurance. Also exact dates of accidents and claims, address’s can all make a difference to the premium if inaccurate. If your details all match up to company’s background checks you could well be in for further large discounts.

 Good Luck!!!!

For instant second car quotes over the phone from a panel of over 20 insurers, give our office a call on 01288 353999.

Cheap Second Car Insurance Cover Available Now

Back To Top