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Car Insurance Travel Insurance

How to plan a self-driving holiday

If you have always dreamed of driving around different countries on a self-driving holiday, whether independently or with family and friends, it is important you carefully plan for your trip. In this blog post, we outline the top things you must consider and arrange before hitting the road.

1. Buy a reliable vehicle

Instead of renting a car or van, which you are unfamiliar with, you should choose to complete your self-driving holiday in a vehicle you own and are familiar with. This will ensure you do not experience any unexpected breakdowns and you are familiar with the driving limits of your car.

2. Find the right car insurance

If you choose to drive your car around the UAE or in a new country, it is essential you have comprehensive car insurance. Compare different car insurance policies and select a policy that offers you cover when in a different country. Insurance quotes online will ensure that should you get into an accident or breakdown, your holiday won’t be ruined by an extortionate fee.

3. Plan your route

While it may be tempting to hit the open road and see where it takes you, it is advisable to plan your route beforehand. This will ensure you can research any local rules and regulations and make sure you have the proper documentation to cross certain borders.

4. Revise your travel insurance

Ensure your travel insurance is updated before you hit the road. Even if you do not plan to leave the UAE, you may still require travel insurance. Selecting a comprehensive travel insurance policy before you begin your holiday will also ensure that should you decide to expand your holiday, or travel further afield than planned, you will be covered.

5. Create a budget

To ensure you do not blow all of your holiday budget in one destination, allocate a small budget for each place you plan to visit and try to stick to it. Remember, your biggest expense will most likely be fuel so this should be prioritised over other expenses.

Visit Compare Insurance

To ensure you get the best travel insurance and car insurance for your self-driving holiday, visit Compare Insurance today.

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Car Insurance

Important factors to consider when looking for car insurance as a new driver

So you’ve passed your test – congratulations! However, for some newly qualified drivers, the realisation of how much car insurance can cost comes as a shock to the system. If you’ve so far got by on temporary coverage, or been added as a provisional driver to a long-standing insurance policy on a parent or friend’s vehicle, you may now be facing the unexpected challenge of finding a online insurance that covers you on your own vehicle.

Size really does matter

One key factor in determining the cost of insurance premiums is the engine size of the vehicle. So if you haven’t yet bought a car, make sure you research the comprehensive insurance costs of all the options you are considering. Even cars that at first glance seem similar may have noticeably different insurance premiums due to just a small variation in engine size.

More mods mean more money

Although it might be tempting to raise or lower the car or add alloys or larger wheels, this may not be a great idea. Insurers do not tend to look favourably on modifications. They can noticeably increase the cost of insurance, and failure to declare modifications that you have made can render your insurance invalid, so take great care when making changes!

Mind the gap

A final factor to consider is whether the full value of your car would be protected if you were to have an accident that wrote the vehicle off. New vehicles lose a lot of their value in the first year. This depreciation means that if a car is damaged in an accident, and the insurance will only payout on the current value, you could stand to lose a significant amount of your initial investment. This can be particularly problematic if you have bought your car on finance – you could end up with a big bill, which would not be entirely covered by the insurance payout.

This is where a relatively new insurance product, gap insurance, comes in. Designed primarily for new drivers and nearly new cars, this insurance will cover the difference between any outstanding finance payments you owe on the car, and the payment from your main insurance policy. For new drivers with new cars, this is definitely a factor worth considering.

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Car Insurance

Why does your annual mileage affect your car insurance?

There will always be a number of factors which will affect the price of your car insurance. This includes your age, profession and the vehicle that you will be driving. The majority of providers will also be interested in your annual mileage when determining your quote. This is the number of miles that you will – or think you will – be covering in the space of one year. The question is: why do the providers want to know this and why does it affect your ability to get your hands on third party car insurance? This is what you need to know.

Time on road

Your annual mileage will give insurance providers a rough idea of just how much you intend to use the car to determine the average cost of car insurance. This then helps them to determine the likelihood that you could be in an accident. Take, for instance, if you do a 40-minute commute to work each day. Due to the fact that you’ll probably be spending upwards of an hour on the road, it becomes more likely that you’ll be in an accident compared to someone who might only do a 10-mile commute and therefore only find themselves on the road for a shorter time every day.

Condition of car

You should know that your car becomes more worn with each mile it’s on the road. This happens in numerous ways, but generally, there’s an increased risk of damage to the engine and tyres when a car is readily used. Therefore, insurance providers tend to presume that someone who racks up a lot of miles in one year is more likely to be in an accident due to the fact that their vehicle will be less reliable. This won’t always be the correct assumption to make but it’s still how providers decide upon quotes.

What can you do?

You can still find cheap car insurance even if you’re planning on having an unusually high annual mileage. The trick is to make sure that you’ve weighed up all your different options by comparing insurance quotes. This will ensure that you don’t have to fork out more money than necessary to get your car insured.

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Car Insurance

Don’t wait to buy your car before checking car insurance quotes

It tends to be the case that people will only start looking up car insurance quotes after buying a vehicle. However, what most people don’t realise is that it’s actually in their interest to have different providers in mind before they part with their cash. This is something to consider if you’re in the market for a new motor but want to have a clear picture of how much you could be spending on car insurance. Let’s look at three reasons why you shouldn’t wait to buy a car before checking car insurance.

Budget

You’ll have a much better idea of how much you can spend on your car if you know roughly how much it will cost for car insurance. Take, for instance, if you can find a provider that will provide save money car insurance for you. Once you’ve got this knowledge, you should then have a much better idea of your budget. It could even mean that you’re potentially able to go for a newer or better-conditioned model.

Categories

You might think that the price of your car insurance will largely depend on such things as your age and experience. However, the sum of your insurance can also depend greatly on the type of vehicle you choose. Cars fall into different insurance categories depending on details such as the make, model and engine size. Once you find a car, you should compare different insurance quotes to check how much your desired vehicle affects the price.

Speed

The process of buying a car will run much smoother if you’ve priced up the insurance before purchasing the vehicle. In some cases, you can simply accept a pre-existing quote before driving off the forecourt. This should mean that you can start enjoying the open road as soon as you’ve got a car rather than only then having to start your search for cheap car insurance.

It starts now!

You can start checking out the price of car insurance by using Compare Insurance. This should help you to narrow down any vehicles that you might be choosing between and ensure that you’re good to go from the moment you’re the owner of the car.

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