CAR INSURANCE

All new cars are assigned to one of 50 insurance groups by Thatcham Research. Group 1 cars are the cheapest to insure, while Group 50 cars are the most expensive. Insurers look at your car’s price, safety, engine power, repair costs, and theft rates to set your premium. Cars in lower groups usually cost less to insure. Check our guide to learn more about your car's group.

Class of car insurance refers to how a driver uses the vehicle they’re insuring. There are usually four main classes of car insurance, but these may differ slightly by provider. ‘Social, domestic and pleasure’ covers a motorist for everyday driving – such as trips to the shops and visits to friends and family, but not travel to and from work. ‘Social, domestic, pleasure and commuting’ adds commuting to a single regular place of work – for example, driving to the office every day.

Business use on your car insurance adds another layer of cover, enabling a driver to use the vehicle as part of their job. For example, driving to multiple sites as well as a single location. If you're driving around the country regularly for work, this class of car insurance would be suitable.

Commercial car insurance is for motorists who use the vehicle itself for business. For example, delivery drivers, taxi drivers and driving instructors.

If you’re claiming mileage from your employer or driving for work purposes, it’s a legal requirement that you select business use on your car insurance. If you’re driving for work without business car insurance, you’re effectively uninsured. Examples of business use include driving to see clients or driving between multiple work locations.

Business car insurance can be more expensive, as you’re likely to be driving more miles and therefore at greater risk statistically of being involved in an accident.

Excess is the maximum amount that you must pay if you claim on your car insurance. If the incident wasn’t your fault, this amount will be refunded to you. For most car insurance policies, you only pay excess if you’re at fault or if the insurer cannot recover the costs from third parties. However, you should check your policy documents to confirm.

There are two types of excess: compulsory and voluntary. Compulsory excess is decided by your insurer. Voluntary excess is decided by you. Choosing a higher voluntary excess could lower your premium. But you should consider if you’re able to pay this amount first. For instance, if your compulsory is £200 and your voluntary is £100, your total excess is £300.

Read more about excess on car insurance in our guide.

A no claims discount (or bonus) is a reduction on your car insurance for each year you don't make a claim. For example, five years without a claim gives you a five-year discount. You can transfer this discount to a new policy if you get proof from your old insurer, though a named driver typically won’t earn one.

This discount is a key factor in your insurance cost. Once you have four or more claim-free years, you can pay extra to protect your discount. With protection, if you have no more than two fault claims in any three-year period, your discount stays the same. However, if you have two fault claims, your protection ends, and further claims will reduce your discount.

Most standard, traditional car insurance policies are taken out for a full year. There are alternatives – including RAC Temporary Car Insurance, which you can take out for a short period of time, from one hour up to 30 days, with no long-term contract.

This all depends on your car insurance policy. Primarily, you will be covered to drive the vehicle stated in your car insurance policy but cover to drive other vehicles doesn't generally come as standard. You should certainly check your car insurance policy terms and conditions before driving another vehicle.

Some comprehensive car insurance policies include Driving Other Cars (DOC) cover, but this is becoming less common. If you expect to drive another car on occasion – such as a spouse or family members car – it’s advisable to be a Named Driver on their policy. Or, you could look at temporary car insurance which provides cover from 1 hour to 30 days.

Car insurance costs depend on many things, like how old your car is and where you live. Sometimes, insuring a new car can be cheaper because it has better safety features. But if something happens to a new car, it might cost more to replace, so insurance could be more expensive.

Older cars might have lower insurance costs because they're cheaper to fix or replace. It really depends on your situation and the insurance company's rules.

RAC members don’t get a set discount for taking out RAC Car Insurance. However, your membership status may be considered by our panel of insurers.

To be eligible for RAC Car Insurance, you need to be aged between 17 and 99.

Modifying your car could affect the price you pay for your car insurance. That’s because what you do could change its performance or value. An insurer might consider a car that is more powerful as a greater risk and therefore charge a higher premium. There are some modifications that could lower the cost, like adding a parking sensor.

Modifications to aid mobility should not impact your quote. However, you will still need to let your insurer know about them before you buy.

If you make a claim and you were at fault – or if the insurer cannot otherwise recover costs – you’ll usually lose some, if not all, of your no claims discount (NCD). If the accident wasn’t your fault, your insurance provider may be able to reclaim the cost from the other driver involved. If this happens, your NCD could remain unaffected.

The best way to guarantee a no claims discount remains intact is to take out no claims discount protection. With NCD protection, drivers can make a claim without losing the NCD they’ve built up. However, the number of claims allowed over a period of time will differ from policy to policy.

Unfortunately, despite the risks, a large number of motorists drive without car insurance. Being in an accident with a driver who isn’t insured can be particularly frustrating, as your insurer won’t be able to recover any repair costs.

Some policies offer protection against this. When you compare car insurance, it's worth bearing this in mind. RAC Car Insurance Plus includes our uninsured driver promise. So, if you're hit by an uninsured driver and it wasn't your fault, you'll get a refund on any excesses you have had to pay out. Plus, you won't lose your no claims discount.

Yes, you can claim for damage to your vehicle due to potholes. But your policy excess would apply and any no claims discount you hold would be affected. Pothole damage is covered by the ‘accidental damage’ section of your RAC Car Insurance policy wording.

Yes. You will, however, have to take out separate policies for each car. Your no-claims discount can only be applied on one vehicle/policy.

You can pay on an annual or monthly basis (subject to status). If preferred, you can pay by direct debit. By doing this, you can spread the cost of your premium. By paying monthly, you will need to sign a credit agreement. This means you have read and agree with the terms of the credit agreement and interest will be chargeable.

Or if you don’t want to enter into a credit agreement you can pay for your policy in one lump sum. You’ll be given this option when your quote has been calculated.

What payment methods do you accept?[VT6] 

For RAC Car Insurance, we accept:

We don’t accept cheques as a form of payment.

You can change the payment details of your existing Car Insurance policy online by registering with the RAC Car Insurance 'My Account'.

What does a continuous payment mean?

Continuous payment is where you have opted for your policy to renew automatically and where we take payment each year, unless you tell us otherwise. You can opt out of automatic renewal in your online account.

I’m worried that I might not be able to continue to make my payments – can you help?

Yes, we’re here to help. We’re aware that many things can impact people’s livelihoods and cause financial hardship. If you think you may be unable to maintain your regular policy payments, please contact us as soon as possible.

There are several ways we may be able to help including moving your payment dates, agreeing partial payments or payment holidays in the short term and removing any fees applied to your policy.

Don’t wait until you miss a payment as we can help you in advance. We ask that you don’t cancel your payments or direct debits as this can result in your policy being cancelled and we don’t want you to be left uninsured, please get in touch with us in the first instance.

Besides the vehicle itself, a no-claims discount is probably the biggest influence on the cost of your insurance. The more years you have held insurance without claiming the higher the discount we will apply to your premium. Once you have been insured for four or more years without claiming, for an extra premium you can protect this discount. This means that provided you have no more than 2 fault claims in any 3 year period, your entitlement to a no claims discount will be unchanged and your no-claims discount will not be reduced. If you make 2 fault claims in any 3 year period your no-claims discount protection will end. The third and any subsequent claims will reduce your no-claims discount.

Learner driver insurance is a specific type of short-term insurance policy that offers cost-effective cover for learners. It can be taken out from one day up to 5 months, so you only pay for what you need. As a separate policy, if the learner has an accident, it won’t impact the vehicle owner’s no-claims discount.

The price of your insurance can go up and down and this isn’t always as a result of something you’ve done.

For example, economic factors like inflation which could see an increase in the cost of repairs or replacing items, overall claim rates, or changes in law can impact the price insurers charge for their policies.

The RAC use a panel of insurers to make sure we can offer you our best available price each year.

You can read more in our Guide to Insurance Prices.

A credit agreement is a legal contract between a lender and a borrower. It usually outlines the terms of a loan, the repayment schedule, interest rate, and any fees. It also covers the borrower's obligations to repay the loan and the lender's rights if the borrower can’t pay the agreed amount.

You will need to sign and return a credit agreement if you pay by monthly instalments. This means you have read and agree with the terms of the credit agreement.

You can sign and return your credit agreement by logging into your My Account. You will be asked to digitally sign your credit agreement.

If you receive your documents by post, you should have received two copies of the credit agreement, also known as a Fixed Sum Loan Agreement. Please sign both copies and keep one for your records. To return the other, you can:

A new credit agreement is required if you have chosen to renew your policy with us. You would also need to sign a new agreement if you’ve made a change to your policy during the policy year.

If you take your car off the road by declaring it SORN, you may have the option to reduce your insurance cover to Third Party, Fire & Theft.

This will change the premium you pay. Alternatively, you could cancel your policy altogether. You should be aware that changes to your policy will incur a fee to do so.

If you’re planning to drive in Ukraine to provide aid for the humanitarian crisis, you won’t be covered. Damage or injury caused by war, conflicts or similar events is a common exclusion in motor insurance policies.

However, if you’re planning to use your insured car within the European Economic Area to aid the humanitarian crisis, you don’t need to contact us. This is because our motor insurance policy will provide, at a minimum, third party liability cover for the duration of the insurance policy.

Although, we encourage you to check your policy documents carefully for limits of coverage and policy exclusions. We also encourage you to familiarise yourself with regulations around the cross-border transport of goods and abide by any travel advice issued by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

If you’re planning to use your insured car within the UK to transport goods, you don’t need to inform us and will continue to be covered.