Comprehensive car insurance as the name suggests provides you with wide, comprehensive insurance cover. It covers damage to your car following an accident, fire or theft and also usually includes windscreen damage.

You are covered for third party damage resulting from an accident.

Other items covered include such as personal accident or injury or death of the policyholder, medical expenses and personal items in the car, including in-car entertainment.

To consider in more detail the cover included with comprehensive car insurance, it will include such as

24 hour claim line
new for old cover on cars up to a certain age, usually 12 months
repairs guaranteed for a period of time, usually 5 years, if you use an approved repairer
24 hour accident recovery
personal accident cover for the policy holder and spouse or partner
medical expenses incurred following an accident
cover for personal belongings in the car

Provision of car insurance is very competitive and car insurance companies will use a variety of ways to offer cheaper car insurance. These include providing discounts, reducing the level of cover offered or providing you with a basic price but then with the option of adding extras.

Car Insurance Discounts

Insurance companies will often offer discounts to entice you to buy their product e.g.

discount for applying online, usualy 10%
no claims discount. This can be up to around 70% if you have 5 years no claims
breakdown cover discount. This will mean you need to pay for breakdown cover as part of your car insurance but then using the preferred or company owned breakdown service you may be entitled to a discount.

Reduced Cover Car Insurance

Cheaper car insurance may also be offered by reducing the level or type of cover provided e.g.

no courtesy or temporary replacement car provided if yours is being fixed
limited time guarantee on parts and repairs
windscreen cover excluded
excess amounts increased - the amount you pay of each claim
restrict cover to named drivers only

Car Insurance Optional Extras

Optional extras available to be included in your car insurance quote may include

legal assistance
courtesy car (if not included as statndard) or enhanced courtesy car
no claims discount protection. This is usually only available if you have 4 years or more no claims discount.

Car Insurance Incentives

Insurance companies may also offer incentives to help you decide to take their insurance policy. They may do these by offering for example

free car insurance for a period of time eg one month free in year 1
to spread the cost of the insurance over 12 months payments without adding interest or administrative costs.

Be aware also that some insurance policies will be targeted at specific sectors of the market e.g Lady drivers or young drivers. If you fall into one of these categories it could be well worth your while to check out the quotes they offer. As they are only targetting a specific sector these polices will usually come out cheper or include some specific extras that are ideal for the sector.