Multi car insurance

What's multi-car insurance?

Multi-car insurance covers multiple cars under one policy with a single provider.

You'll get all the benefits of standard car insurance, but there’s usually a discount for each car you add to the policy.

With some providers, you can also add multi-car breakdown cover  and other optional extras that apply to all drivers and cars on the policy.

How does multi car insurance work?

Multi-car policies are usually designed to cover all the cars at a single address, although some will be able to cover immediate family, like grown-up children, who live elsewhere.

If all the cars in your household currently have insurance that ends on different dates, don’t worry. You can set future start dates, so each one will be added to your multi-car insurance when its single policy expires.

Even though you’re insuring them all with the same provider or policy, each car still earns its own no claims discount.

Some policies will have a limit on the number of cars or drivers they can cover, so check for this if you have a large household or a lot of cars.

Should I choose multi-car insurance?

Multi-car insurance generally suits families where all drivers live at the same address. That's because it’ll usually only cover vehicles kept at the same address, but if one car needs to be kept away from home for extended periods, some multi-car policies will allow this – good news for children away at uni.

Check terms and conditions to see if your insurer will cover family members living at different addresses.

You might find it easier dealing with one insurer instead of several, but be aware that not all providers cover all cars on a single policy.

The main advantage is the multi-car discount, but there are other pros and cons to consider:

Pros

• Insuring all drivers and cars under one multi-car insurance policy can make it easier to manage paperwork and any claims
• Despite all drivers being under one policy, each driver retains their no-claims bonus. That means your no-claims bonus shouldn't be affected if someone else needs to claim. But do check policy documents to be sure
• Some policies cover cars that spend some of the year away from home, which helps if you've got older children at uni

Cons

• Putting a less-experienced driver or someone with motoring convictions on your multi-car policy could increase the overall cost. It's a good idea to compare quotes for individual policies as well in this case to see if it works out cheaper
• Depending on how the policies are linked, if one driver makes a claim it could push the future price up for other drivers on the policy
• You pay for multi-car insurance in the same way you do for single car insurance – annually or monthly. If you have synced renewals, that means one big bill to pay yearly. If that's not affordable, you'll end up paying interest to pay monthly – potentially eating into your multi-car discount

Is multi-car insurance cheaper?

There’s no guarantee it’ll be cheaper than separate policies, but it’s worth checking. To find out what works out cheaper for you, compare car insurance quotes, add them up, then try a multi-car quote to see if it costs less.

Just make sure you compare like-for-like in terms of the level of cover and features you need. So if you want comprehensive insurance including legal cover and insurance for driving in Europe, only compare prices on policies that include those things.

The driver’s age and the car insurance group are two of the biggest factors affecting the price. That means a multi-car policy that combines a 50-year-old driving a BMW i8 with an 18-year-old in a modified Citroen C3 will be priced based on the risk each poses to the insurer, combined into a single premium.

There are plenty of other factors that go into the price though. Your driving history, whether you’ve claimed before, got penalty points and even where you live all affect the price.

No-claims discounts on multi-car policies

On linked policies, no-claims discounts (NCDs) work in just the same way as on standard car insurance policies. Each driver earns their own and only theirs will be affected if they make a claim.

But for multiple car cover under one policy, renewal dates are synced up for all policyholders.

That causes two problems:

1. If you switch to a multi-car policy part-way through an existing policy, you'll miss out on your NCD for that year
2. You might have to pay cancellation fees

Some insurers let you add each vehicle as it reaches renewal time. Others give you a quote for the second car when you’re getting cover for the first. That quote's then guaranteed until the second car’s up for renewal.

If your chosen insurer doesn’t do this, you could sync up all cars in the household on the date that the final car is due for renewal and take out short-term car insurance in the interim for the remaining cars. But that can be a more expensive option, when you could just insure for the year, protect your NCD, and be done with it.