15 April
(source: in-house)
Third Party Car Insurance
The decision to consider taking out third
party car insurance instead of comprehensive cover is invariably made
on the basis of cost. Because you're taking out more restricted cover,
you can expect it to be cheaper.
In every case this will indeed be the case where you are reviewing
cover from the same car insurance provider. However, with the very
cheap quotes available via a price comparison site, it is often
possible to find comprehensive cover by this route that's cheaper than third
party car insurance found via a direct motor insurer. (Comparison
systems tend not to be able to compare third party car
insurance prices; so you usually need to get third party
car insurance direct from insurers).
If this is usually the case, then, with the ready availability of price
comparison systems nowadays, saving money is no longer a vaild reason
to choose third party car insurance.
Even where third party car insurance does seem to be the
cheapest choice, however, there are important reasons why third
party car insurance is a high risk choice, even if the value of your
car is less than the excess payment on a comprehensive insurance policy.
The reason for this is that third party car insurance cover
does not cover you or your passengers if you are injured as a result of
an accident where you were to blame. The same applies if you
are injured by an uninsured driver of which there are up to two million
on our roads. Thus, you're not covered for longterm loss of income or
injury payments if you have a serious accident.
It is for the latter reson that we advise people to avoid third
party car insurance, especially when you are likely to be able to find
comprehensive cover for a similar or lower price.
If there is ever a situation where third party car
insurance is ever justified, it would be in the case of a very old car,
used rarely, in a quiet location and for short trips. As
most accidents occur close to home, there is still an element of risk
in deploying third party car insurance cover even in this
context.
Of course, third party car insurance also
includes fire and theft; so, if you are aiming to have any vehicle off
the road for a considerable period of time, it would be a reasonable
choice if used for that purpose.
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