My car's been written off: what happens next
The call's come through and your car is a write-off. You don't have to take the first offer. And if it's a Cat S or Cat N, you can ask to buy the car back.
10 minCar insurance
What your premium is really priced on, when cover has to start on a car you have just bought, and what a previous owner's modifications do to your policy.
Insurance is the cost most people underestimate when they buy a used car. It is also the one they have least control over on the day.
Three questions come up again and again. What is the price actually based on? When does cover have to start? And what did the last owner do to this car that you now have to declare?
Price first, because it drives everything else. Why your postcode affects car insurance explains how insurers read the place your car sits overnight, and how much of your quote is decided before anyone looks at you. The car's own rating matters too, and that system is mid-changeover. The old 1 to 50 insurance group is being replaced slowly, and most used cars still carry one.
Price does not sit still either. Why has my car insurance gone up? splits the part of a renewal rise that is the market from the part that is your own record. It also sets out what the letter has to show you by law.
Black box insurance prices you on how you actually drive. It is worth knowing what a policy scores, what it charges for, and what it can cancel.
Then the moment you actually buy. How to insure a car you have just bought covers the gap people fall into on the forecourt.
The cover you already have almost certainly does not reach a car you now own. The law is stricter than most drivers expect, because the policy has to name that vehicle. Tax does not transfer either, so both jobs are yours before you drive away.
Last, the one that catches honest buyers. Modifications a previous owner never declared sets out what happens when the alloys, the exhaust or the remap came with the car.
You did not fit them, and the duty to declare them is still yours. What decides it is not who did the work. It is what you knew.
One thread runs through all three. Insurers price on the car as well as the driver, so the questions worth asking before you buy are the same ones that shape the premium afterwards.
Some claims end with the car written off. Our guide to what happens next covers the payout offer, the paperwork and buying the car back.
Why has my car insurance gone up?
Renewal quote up again? Your letter has to show you more than the new number. Work out whether it was the market that moved, your own record, or the car's.
9 minBlack box insurance explained: is it worth it?
A black box prices you partly on how you actually drive. Many policies don't ban night driving at all. They mark your score down for it, which costs you money later.
8 minHow to insure a car you've just bought
You've paid for it and the keys are in your hand. You still can't drive it home until that car is insured in its own right. The cover you already have almost certainly doesn't stretch to it.
9 minUndeclared modifications and your insurance
You bought a used car. Someone else fitted the wheels, the exhaust, maybe the remap. The duty to tell your insurer moved to you with the keys, and that catches good, honest buyers every year.
10 minWhy does my postcode affect my car insurance?
Two drivers a mile apart, same car, same age, wildly different prices. Insurers treat the place your car sits overnight as a signal for how likely a claim is. This guide covers what your postcode really does to the number, what matters more than it does, and the levers a new driver actually has.
13 min