Which type of coverage do you need?

This is a more difficult question to answer than you might think. Obviously, everyone's circumstances are different and you should take care to make sure that you ask the right questions to get the right insurance cover for you.

However, as a general rule of thumb, the following points are worth noting:

If you are young and driving an inexpensive first car then you will probably find the cost of comprehensive motor insurance very high (an example would be a 17 year-old living in a main city, buys a second-hand car for £1,000. The cost of a comprehensive policy could be as high as £2,500 and the cost for a Third Party Fire & Theft policy could reduce to approximately £1,700. So, the saving of £800 on the annual motor insurance policy is a large part of the value of the vehicle). If you hold a TPF&T policy and have an accident, providing that the accident was not your fault, the other driver's insurance policy will pay for repairs or offer a replacement value of your car (if it cannot be economically repaired). However, if the accident is your fault and your car is a "write-off" or is badly damaged then it is up to you to pay for the repair or replacement of the car.

If you are young and driving a more expensive car then it can make more sense for you to have Comprehensive insurance. A motor insurance premium of £2,500 for a Comprehensive policy can appear to be money well spent if you have an accident, which is your fault, and your car has a value of (say) £7,500. Your Comprehensive policy will pay for repairs to your car or will offer you either a cash sum or a replacement car of similar age and mileage (as opposed to you being £7,500 out-of-pocket).

Once you are over the age of 25 years old, and providing that you do not have a poor driving record (either by way of a number of accidents or motoring offences), the cost of obtaining Comprehensive insurance can drop quite considerably and therefore you should always look at obtaining Comprehensive insurance.

Of course, when you ask for a motor insurance quote, you can always ask for a quote on Third Party Fire & Theft terms and a quote on Comprehensive terms - that way you can look at the difference in cost of each type of cover, and make up your own mind as to which policy best suits your particular needs.