Interpreting insurance quotes for Northern Ireland

Insurance quotes for Northern Ireland will typically comprise a number of key headings, though they may be called different things depending upon the policy you’re looking at.

The categories are:

• the cover description;
• the cover exclusions;
• your obligations;
• terms and conditions.

Each of these will then typically have various sub-headings and breakdowns within them. There may also be significant variations by insurance provider.

The cover description

Typically this may outline:

• the type of insurance being provided (third party fire and theft or fully comprehensive etc);
• the specifics of the cover provided – for example outlining what if anything is covered by way of personal contents in the vehicle.

Cover exclusions

As the name suggests, some policies may describe separately, what they will not cover or will only cover if you notify them in advance.

Here you may see, for example, that your vehicle is not covered if you take it outside of the United Kingdom. Another example might be those policies that offer any authorised driver protection but which then exclude drivers under, say, 21 years of age.

Your obligations

You may see clearly outlined what your obligations are with respect to keeping the policy in force.

Perhaps here you may see, for example, that you’re obliged to report any significant changes to your car to the insurance company. That may cover things such as fitting a new engine or major bodywork changes.

The terms and conditions

In fact, all of the above may simply be incorporated within the terms and conditions section of insurance quotes for Northern Ireland but if they’re listed separately, then this section will typically contain things such as:

• payment terms;
• renewal periods;
• legal jurisdictions in terms of governing law;
• details of the insurance provider etc.

The purpose

These above elements of insurance quotes for Northern Ireland may seem like red tape and legalese but they’re actually important and they exist for your protection. Ignore them and you may end up with inappropriate or simply invalid insurance.

Insurance quotes for Northern Ireland – past and present

For some years, getting insurance quotes for Northern Ireland could seem to be a bit like begging for favours – but things are happening!

Past times

Anyone much over the age of 40 or 50 may remember the days when getting an insurance quotation was a fairly big deal.

It involved putting on some decent clothes, going down to the high street to an insurer or broker and then asking very, very nicely, if they would do you the great honour of taking your money in return for some insurance.

Shopping around was difficult bordering impossible and a lot of the time it was a question of taking what you were given. Some would say it was only slightly less intimidating than a visit to the bank manager!

As the world changed in the 1980s and 90s, competition increased hugely as did the culture of buying insurance. Prices were driven down and consumers started to be in the driving seat. The arrival firstly of telephone insurers and then the internet, also meant that insurers had to be really on their toes and that the customer was king.

Insurance in Northern Ireland

Of course, it has to be said that here in Northern Ireland the special circumstances meant that to some extent at least, we weren’t able to fully participate in this insurance revolution. Choice remained limited and prices, relatively speaking, high.

Yet this is changing.

Insurance quotes for Northern Ireland

More and more mainland UK insurance companies are now offering their policies across the water. This is great news as it increases competition.

Whether you’re looking for property or motor vehicle insurance in Northern Ireland, there are now options available that would not have existed even a few years ago.

It’s therefore worth making just that little bit more effort to look around if you need insurance or your existing policy is coming up for renewal. If you have access to the internet – you won’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home to do so!

The price of insurance in Northern Ireland

There’s no point pretending though that everything is now entirely routine in terms of insurance quotes for Northern Ireland. Until confidence improves further, premiums are likely to stay a little higher than UK mainland norms.

Remember though, you can help keep your prices as low as possible by looking for policies that offer reductions for things such as:

• cars not parked on public roads overnight;
• fitting specialist locks and alarms (cars or property);
• taking a higher excess.

If you’re looking for insurance quotes for Northern Ireland, keeping these things in mind may save you significant amounts of money.