The cost of car insurance has been rising – so it’s vital to shop around for a better deal

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The cost of car insurance is predicted to rise this year, but if we drive it’s our legal duty to have a valid policy.

Recent figures show the average cost of an insurance policy is now £511. This goes up to more than £900 a year for young drivers.

Firms say the rising cost of repairs is behind the higher prices, along with high inflation.

Since this is an expense no driver can avoid, it’s vital to get the best deal we can.

Car insurance explained

There are three main types of car insurance policy.

Third party is the minimum cover we need to have by law. It doesn’t cover our own car, only other people and their property.

Third party, fire and theft is similar to this. But it also covers us if our car is stolen or goes on fire.

Fully comprehensive is the most wide-ranging. It covers our own car (theft, fire or damage) as well as other people and their property.

Bringing the cost down

If we’re under 26 or over 70, the chances are we’ll pay more for car insurance.

Similarly, if we’ve made claims in the past or if we have a job that’s considered risky our premium will probably be higher.

Even our postcode can affect how much we pay.

Comparison sites like this one let us get quotes from different insurance firms.

We’ll probably need to provide our name, age, job and details of our driving licence and our car (make, model and registration).

We’ll also need to provide details of our no-claims discount, if we have one. That just means that insurers are likely to lower the price for us if we’ve never claimed on our insurance before.

Also, we’ll probably have to tell them how many miles we drive each year in our car, as well as the purpose of our journeys.

Image: Lukas Skoe / Unsplash