What are car insurance extras?
When looking for car insurance, each policy will have a list of optional extras you can include as part of your cover. While some are super useful to have as a safety blanket, others aren’t always worth the cost.
In order to avoid doubling up on cover, and by result expenditure, it’s important to check what’s already included in your policy. Yet you should also consider whether you already have optional-extra insurance through other means. This could be:
Rather than snapping up the default package offered by your chosen insurance provider, it’s also often worth searching for separate policies for some car insurance add-ons. You may find you’ll get a better deal.
Types of car insurance extras and add-ons
Breakdown cover is one of the most useful add-ons you can get to your insurance. It means just that: if you break down, professional assistance will come and help you. If they can’t fix the problem at the roadside, they may even tow you home or to a mechanic. Breakdown cover isn’t typically included in your policy, but it is worth looking out for it when running your car insurance comparison.
If you’ve been diligently building up your No Claims Bonus for several years, then that’s a valuable attribute. Having a No Claims Bonus allows you to unlock the best car insurance deals on the market, so you may want to protect it. Whatno claims protection does is ensures you can keep some, if not all, of your bonus, even if you make a claim.
Legal expenses cover protects you from various expenses that arise out of any legal proceedings in the event of an incident or claim, particularly if it wasn’t your fault. This can include cover for loss of earnings, compensation for injuries or reimbursement of excess you’ve had to pay on your insurance, among other things.
For peace of mind, legal cover can be worth the money, but you could well be covered by other policies already – for example, income protection insurance pays out for loss of earnings.
Windscreens are statistically likely to break or need repairing at some point during our driving years; similarly, probably all of us have lost our keys at one time or another. Should you want to claim for these on your car insurance policy, the good news is it won’t affect your No Claims Bonus because they’re considered separate from your main policy and dealt with as such.
However, claiming on your policy can make it harder to find cheap car insurance later on which, we’re assuming, you want to avoid. Instead, you can includewindscreen cover or lost and stolen key insurance as optional extras to your policy. You’ll be protected and it won’t affect any future quotes.
Are car insurance add-ons worth it?
Some insurance extras can be super advantageous; others aren’t necessarily worth the price.
When youcompare vehicle insurance providers with Money Expert, we recommend you carefully read the list of benefits in the policy.
See what’s included already and then consider optional extras. For each add-on, ask yourself whether you really need it and calculate the cost-effectiveness of including it in your policy.
As an example, it may well be more economical to pay upfront for replacement keys rather than buying additional cover.
Before you select your extras, you should also always check whether you’re covered by another insurance policy or package. If you’re not, still shop around to see if you can buy the cover separately at a better price.