If you drive a car in the UK, then you need insurance. Anyone who owns a car is legally obliged to have it insured unless it is officially registered as off the road with the DVLA.

For a lot of motorists, insurance doesn’t come cheap. There are people out there who are paying over the odds for their car cover and staying with the same insurer year after year can see prices rise.

It’s important that drivers are up to date with insurance, including types of policy available and how they can protect themselves and their car for the right price.

What is Car Insurance?

Your car insurance covers you if you are ever involved in an accident when driving your vehicle. The minimum cover insures you against ‘third party’ costs associated with damage, injury or death to others in an accident that is judged to be your fault.

Third party cover is generally the cheapest option; however, you will need to pay to repair or replace your own vehicle if it is involved in an accident, stolen, or damaged by vandals.

Other, more expensive policies cover your own costs such as the repairs to your vehicles or reimbursement if the car is completely written-off or stolen. Some policies will even cover you when you are driving someone else’s car.

Motorists of all ages are required by law to have an insurance policy on their vehicle. To prevent car owners from flouting the rules, all vehicles that aren’t registered with the DVLA as off the road must be insured at all times.

What Happens if You Don’t Have Insurance?

Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) rules mean that a vehicle must be insured at all times, so if a vehicle’s insurance is about to expire, another policy must be implemented to take over before it does.

Anyone who breaks this rule can receive a fixed penalty of £100, have their car clamped or even face court prosecution with fines up to £1,000. This means that even if you only use your car from time to time, it still needs to be insured.

If you are involved in an accident and have no insurance, you will be personally responsible for handling all the costs yourself – including the costs of any damage to property or to other cars involved in the crash, as well as medical bills which could cost upwards of tens of thousands of pounds.

When you are looking at vehicles for sale, always remember to purchase your insurance before you start driving.