Fully Comp vs Third Party Fire & Theft

FrankGrimes

I've to renew my insurance in a couple of weeks and am trying to weigh up whether I should go for fully comp or TPFT. I'd say there's been threads on this in the past but can't find them so if they do exist I'd appreciate a link.

I'm 26 and have just completed my first year of driving - my own fully comp policy with Quinn Direct (think it was about €1800) for a 1999 Opel Astra 1.4L. Got my full license in December 2004.

Just doing a few quotes now and with FBD its €1020 TPFT, €1188 fully comp. Britton are €854 TPFT, €912 fully comp with a €300 excess.

Trying to determine if the benefits of fully comp justify the extra cash (though on the britton one its not much at all).

BrianD3

Not much difference between those quotes so it looks like you might as well go for fully comp.

OTOH your car is a 99 Astra and not worth a whole lot. So if you have a crash that's your fault, wreck your car and are not covered fully comp it's not the end of the world. Also if you have a minor crash where you just do some damage to your car you're probably not going to claim off insurance so having the fully comp is no good to you.

Whatever you go for I would make sure to get windscreen cover as well. With the amount of construction work and debris, stones etc. on the road these days a cracked windscreen is a virtual certainty

Wishbone Ash

BrianD3 wrote:

So if you have a crash that's your fault, wreck your car and are not covered fully comp it's not the end of the world.

Forget about the car - what if he wrecks himself. I presume the comprehensive policy will pay for medical bills etc.

FrankGrimes

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Forget about the car - what if he wrecks himself. I presume the comprehensive policy will pay for medical bills etc.

Does it? I have good health insurance from BUPA so not sure how much extra benefit this would be?

My windscreen is a bit scraped so could do with a new one, must check if Britton cover this with no excess or no claims hit - Quinn don't, but I think FBD do.

All in all am delighted with the drop in a grand and over 50% on what I had to pay last year (when I shopped around like a good thing), but besides the windscreen, and possible medical benefits, I don't see why fully comp would be good for me in general (though at a measly €60 extra with Britton I'd go for it). Nice one for the replies.

crosstownk

Wishbone Ash wrote:

Forget about the car - what if he wrecks himself. I presume the comprehensive policy will pay for medical bills etc.

Thats what the public health service, VHI, Bupa, etc is for. You have to cover yourself for all injuries & accidents - not just those sustained in a car accident. Obviously if long term care is needed following injuries then the public health service may leave you wanting...........

Usually, I'd be all for TPFT on a car of the Astra's age/value but, tbh, the cost difference is not too much in the quotes you got so it might be worth it for that extra peace of mind.

FrankGrimes

Nice one for the replies.

One other thing I wanted to consider was cover for driving other cars besides my own.

I'm pretty sure my Quinn fully comp policy gave me third party cover to drive other cars. What's the story with that, I assume I'd be covered if I jumped in my Dad's 2.0 even though my policy is for a 1.4L? Is this a standard benefit and would I miss out on this if I went TPFT?

My girlfriend is getting insured on her first car soon, and she has a provisional - would she be able to get cover for other cars too? It's not something we'd use often but would be handy if we ever needed to drive each other's car (it'd be ~€500 extra for me to put her on my cover).