Car Insurance

Trusted for over 25 years

Car Insurance

We offer simple, flexible car insurance whatever level of cover you’re looking for.

Why choose Budget Insurance?

We know that as well as great insurance you also want peace of mind and the reassurance that your homes, vehicles and lives are protected.

For our motor and home insurance policies we offer a 24/7 claims helpline should you need us.

If you need to view or download your policy documents or make changes to your policy why not log into My Account, any time of day or night.

Drive other vehicles
Great value cover

Flexible insurance policies to suit your needs

Phone
Claims helpline

Available 24/7 for motor and home policies

Documents Online
My Account

Access documents and more when convenient to you

Budget’s Car Insurance features and benefits include:

What it covers

Things to think about

Create your perfect car insurance package

Whatever type of cover you choose, you can get even more protection with our additional cover options, including:

GRC

Guaranteed Replacement Car

Guaranteed Replacement Car

Learn more

My Account

We realise that printed policies are likely to be misplaced and if you want to make amendments to your policy it is not always convenient to ring up a call centre. We want you to be able to look after your insurance policy in the way and at the time that suits you. That’s where My Account comes in. 

Once you have bought your policy you will be asked to register for My Account. Use the same email address you stated when you bought your policy and create a password – it’s that simple.

Frequently asked questions

Car insurance is a legal requirement in the UK as stipulated in the Road Traffic Act 1988. Having car insurance provides the registered keeper and other driver’s financial protection in the event of an accident.

Car insurance is there to safeguard you in the event of an accident, taking care of a number of things including; the cost of vehicle damage, repair costs and the costs associated with injuries caused by a road traffic accident. Your car insurance also protects you if your car is stolen or vandalised.

In the UK there are 50 different car insurance groups with 50 being the highest and 1 being the lowest. The lowest car insurance group generally offers the cheapest car insurance premiums.

When a new passenger car is built in the UK it is reviewed and classified by the Group Rating Panel who meet on a monthly basis. The panel is made up of members from the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and Lloyds Market Association (LMA). When the group meet then review certain aspects of the car and then give an indication of risk to insurance companies, they take into account such aspects as:

  • The cost of replacement parts following damage
  • The cost of buying the car new
  • The car’s performance
  • The car’s level of security
  • Body shell availability
  • The average repair time of the car

It is worth noting that the proposed groupings aren’t binding, but are merely recommendations.Basically, in a nut shell it means that the higher the insurance group, the more risk you pose to an insurance provider and so, in most cases, the more likely your insurance premium is to be higher.

It’s easy to get confused when trying to understand what level of cover is better for you, so make sure you do your research carefully. This way you can be confident that you purchase the right policy for your particular circumstances.

There are three types of car insurance available within the UK:

Third party

This is the legal minimum level of insurance available within the UK. Third party insurance provides cover if you have an accident causing damage or injury to another person, animal, vehicle or property but this does not cover damage to the driver’s own vehicle.

Third party, fire & theft

This covers the fire and theft of your vehicle in addition to the third party cover.

Comprehensive

This is the highest level of insurance available within the UK. Comprehensive insurance provides cover if your car is stolen, damaged by fire or accidentally damaged. You are covered if you are involved in a road traffic accident and you’re also covered for claims made against you by other people for bodily injury or damage, made by your vehicle to their property.

Budget Insurance offers all three levels of cover with the option to add some great additional products to your car insurance package. Different levels of cover allow you to select a product that best suits your insurance needs.

Budget Car Insurance offers you simple, flexible car insurance at whatever level of cover you’re looking for.  Budget Insurance allows you to decide whether you want to pay for your insurance in a one-off annual payment, or spread the cost across monthly payments (subject to status).

As well as offering great Car Insurance, we also understand how important it is to provide you with the highest level of support possible. That’s why we offer a 24/7 claims helpline should you need us. 

To make life even easier for you, we also have an online My Account available 24 hours a day, seven days a week where you can make payments, amend your policies and view and print all of your insurance documents.

To get a car insurance quote you’ll need to complete a quote form online and enter the following details:

  • Your personal details: Name, Date of birth, address, job title
  • Your car details: Registration plate or make, model and age
  • Your driving history: How long you’ve had your driving licence, any claims or driving convictions and any years’ No Claims Discount (NCD) you have
  • How your car will be used: Estimated annual mileage, where it’ll be parked and if there will be any additional drivers

You may be asked for additional information or specific proof dependent upon what the insurance provider is requesting.

The online quote process with Budget Insurance is really easy, we’ve worked hard to ensure that our journeys are as customer friendly as possible so we hope that getting a quote is an easy task for you. You can start a new quote here. Please be advised that, if you choose to cancel your policy it is up to you to get alternative cover.

 

Where it used to be the case, with most insurance providers, that if you have comprehensive car insurance, you could drive any car with third party cover, this is now not a common feature with each insurance provider setting their own terms on this.

Some insurance policies do not cover you for driving other vehicles at all, some allow this at an additional cost and some offer this benefit on an ‘emergency’ basis only. The answer to this question is that, unfortunately, there isn’t a clear answer. You will need to refer to your insurance providers terms and conditions for their specific stipulations on driving other cars.

An excess is the sum of money that you will; be required to pay should you make a claim against your insurance. A compulsory excess is the sum that your insurance provider sets and is non-negotiable. This amount depends upon different factors including your age, the type of claim and your car type.

The compulsory excess amount is added to the voluntary excess amount to make your total excess should you make a claim. This amount will be outlined within your policy documents. Learn more about excess.

We’re sorry that you would like to cancel your policy. In some circumstances, you can complete this online through your My Account area.

You can find further information about cancellations, including fees and charges, in the ‘About Your Policy‘ section at the top of the Car Insurance page.

If you have been unlucky enough to damage your car by hitting a pothole, to make a claim you will, firstly, need to get as much information as possible about the pothole, this is to include:

Where the pothole is (road name, town, postcode etc.), the measurements of the pothole (include pictures if it is safe to take them), the contact details of anyone who witnessed the damage and the time and date you hit the pothole

Once you have pulled together all of the relevant information you will need to contact both the council and your insurance company. It is advisable to contact your insurance company first, as their terms regarding pothole claims may differ.

The AA advises that you then ‘Write to the council responsible for the road with all the details you’ve collected, including copies of your quotes, invoices and receipts’. This may not be an easy claims process, unfortunately, and your third step might be to appeal dependent upon the council’s decision.

For more information on how to make a claim for pothole damage, contact your insurance provider in the first instance. For more information click here.

To transfer your insurance from one car to another you will need to contact your insurance provider in the first instance to advise them as to your new vehicle details. Your insurance provider will then recalculate your price and offer you the option to either insure your new vehicle or cancel your policy. You will have to pay either a mid-term-adjustment or cancellation fee to cover the administration involved in changing your insured car.

Please be advised that, if you choose to cancel your policy it is up to you to get alternative cover. Please be aware that it is against the law to drive a vehicle on a public road without insurance.

No, our motor insurance policy will provide, at minimum, third party liability coverage for the duration of the insurance policy. However, we encourage you to check your policy documents carefully for limits of coverage and policy exclusions. In addition, we 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.

No, until further notice our commercial van customers with UK comprehensive insurance will also have comprehensive cover for any cross-border journeys taken to provide humanitarian aid within the Green Card Free Circulation Area (GCFCA) countries. Therefore, you do not need to contact us unless you require additional cover or plan to leave GCFCA countries.

The Green Card Free Circulation Area (GCFCA) comprises of all 30 European Economic Area (EEA) countries as well as UK, Andorra, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Switzerland

No, cover does not include driving in the Ukraine. You should also be aware that damage or injury caused by war, conflicts or similar events is a common exclusion in motor insurance policies.

We’re currently experiencing a high volume of calls into our contact centre and whilst we are doing our very best to maintain service levels, we ask that you only call our contact centre if absolutely necessary so we can keep our phone lines available  for vulnerable customers and those who don’t have access to online services.

If you need to check any details or make a change to your policy, please  log in to your Self-Service Centre. It will be much quicker for you to make changes to your policy online at the moment. Once logged in, you can also use our Webchat service which is available Monday- Saturday 8am-6pm and Sunday 10am-4pm to make changes, accept or decline your renewal or if you need to let us know about a claim. To log in, please click here.

We also have some other information that may be useful. Click here to read our FAQ’s, and information on what we are doing to support key workers can be found here.