Insurance quotes in Northern Ireland – avoiding the easiest option

Sometimes some of us are inclined to take the path of least resistance – and that may certainly be the case as far as car insurance quotes in Northern Ireland are concerned:

• if we already have a policy in place, in the run-up to annual renewal there may be a great temptation to do nothing and just renew the existing cover;

• there may be many reasons for that, not the least of which is that we may find the prospect of looking through long lists of potential insurance companies to be a fairly tedious prospect – particularly if we have previously had experience of searching for insurance providers that will actually write policies for Northern Ireland’s postcodes;

• of course, it doesn’t have to be that way – insurance quotes in Northern Ireland are now more easily and readily available than may have been the case for a long time;

• as our background situation has become increasingly normalised, so more and more insurance providers are now providing policies for our home areas;

• this is a refreshing change because it now means that there is a larger degree of choice and, frankly, a little more to think about than may have been the case in recent decades, when it may have been a matter of taking whatever cover could be found;

• even so, it must be acknowledged that it is still possible to waste time looking at advertisements for insurance only to discover that they are not available outside of the mainland UK;

• one possible way of avoiding this is to reference those sites that specialise in providing access to insurance companies that do provide cover for policyholders in Northern Ireland;

• all things being considered, although it might be unreasonable to ever hope to find the business of obtaining insurance quotes in Northern Ireland to be enjoyable, there may be no reason for it to be intimidating either – and getting to grips with it sooner rather than later just may be rather more in your best interests than simply following the status quo of automatic renewals.

Car insurance companies in Northern Ireland – your questions

Here are some classic Qs and As on the subject of car insurance companies in Northern Ireland.

Do mainland UK insurance companies operate in Northern Ireland?

Some do, some don’t.

The position is variable for historical reasons.  At one time car insurance here was very difficult to obtain and choice was limited, as you may recall.

Over recent years as the backdrop situation has changed, increasing numbers of providers are offering their products to NI postcodes.

Does shopping around now make more sense?

Typically yes but there needs to be a caveat or two on that.

Although more companies are operating here now, it can still be something of a nuisance trying to spot them amongst those that still do not.

Shopping around at random may consume a fair bit of your time fruitlessly reading details only to discover that the product isn’t available to you because you have a Northern Ireland postcode.

A more effective approach might be to look at those specialist sites containing numbers of car insurance companies in Northern Ireland.  It just might save you a lot of time.

Are premiums here the same as elsewhere?

That’s sometimes a rather controversial question because it is notoriously difficult to be sure that you’re comparing like with like, however, you may find that our premiums are a little higher than in some other areas due to the fact that our car crime statistics (on average) are still typically seen as being higher than on the mainland of the UK.

Can I save money by putting my insurance in someone else’s name?

This is called Fronting and is sometimes encountered in situations where (e.g.) a young driver is trying to obtain cheaper motor insurance cover by taking out a policy in the name of an older and more experienced (thereby typically cheaper to insure) parent.

The younger driver is then named as an occasional driver on the main policy.

This practice is deception and it may constitute an offence. In the event of a claim, insurance companies in Northern Ireland may have ways of checking the reality of the situation and if Fronting is discovered, it may lead to refusal of the claim.