Do you need to treat new car insurance differently?

What is the best way to get new car insurance? Are there different approaches needed to if you were getting insurance for any other (second hand) car?

Basically, the principles of selecting the right cover for a new car are broadly the same as buying insurance for an older car. The following, however, may be pertinent considerations for the owner of a new car currently seeking insurance.

If this is your first car, then you will be starting out without any no claims discount. This, of course, means that comparing quotes is more important to keep down the price of your cover which, in reality, means that using a price comparison site to compare car insurance quotes for your new car is a reasonable choice.

Another reason to choose a price comparison site is where it is a young driver (under 25 years old) that currently needs new car insurance. Again, the high risk of insuring the younger driver merits a pragmatic approach to buying your cover online without electing to purchase the more inclusive cover associated with going direct to a leading insurer.

In most other situations, however, we would flag up going for direct car insurance as the best option. This is because if you've just invested in a new car, going for 'no frills' type cover, that is usual with the cheapest quotes identified by a car insurance comparison service, lays you open to significant financial losses in the event of an accident and your new car being written off. It really is a false economy to go for bargain basement car insurance prices with a new car.

The general principles that apply to any car insurance selection process are particularly important for the new car that, by definition, is of greater value. Foremost among these is the need to check over your new car insurance policy schedule regardless of the route by which you come to it.

While this is easy to do when you deal directly with the insurer, it should not be neglected when you go indirectly, via an aggregator price comparison system. In fact, the cheaper your quote, the more you need to know what's left out to keep that cost low.

Price comparison sites, it seems to us, are configured to encourage drivers to cut corners and base their choice much more on price than is prudent. The cover matters and price comparison sites are not comparing like with like when they list prices for you. Many motor insurance consumers fail to take acount of this reality when they use these services for new car insurance quotes.

Homepage

A look at getting New Car Insurance in the UK

Do you need to treat new car insurance differently?