Optional extras appear at the end of a motor quote, priced per item, with a one-line description and no explanation. Most people either accept everything or refuse everything, and neither is the right approach.
Here is what the common ones do.
Breakdown cover
The important distinction is roadside versus home start versus recovery. Roadside will not attend if you are on your own driveway. Home start will. Recovery is what gets you and the vehicle to a destination rather than to the nearest garage.
Check the level before you buy, and check whether you already hold it. Packaged bank accounts and some manufacturer warranties include breakdown cover, and paying for it twice is the most common duplication on a motor policy.
Motor legal protection
Your insurance deals with the damage. Legal protection deals with what you cannot recover from it: the excess, loss of earnings, personal injury, and the cost of pursuing the other driver when they dispute liability.
If a non-fault accident goes to a dispute, this is the cover that funds it. Without it you would be arguing for your excess back on your own.
Guaranteed hire car
Comprehensive policies often include a courtesy car, but only while yours is being repaired at an approved garage, and usually a small one regardless of what you drive.
A guaranteed hire car extension covers you when the vehicle is written off or stolen rather than repaired, which is exactly when a courtesy car is not provided. If you could not manage without a vehicle for several weeks, that gap is the one to close.
Excess protection
This refunds your excess after a successful claim. Whether it makes sense depends on how high your excess is and how likely you are to claim, so compare the annual cost against the excess itself rather than buying automatically.
Key cover
Covers replacement keys, locks and sometimes a locksmith. Modern keys are expensive enough that this is not trivial, but check your home insurance first, as key cover is frequently included there.
How to decide
Work out what would actually disrupt you. Someone who drives for work and cannot lose the vehicle for a fortnight should look hard at guaranteed hire car. Someone with a £750 excess should look at excess protection.
Then check what you already hold through bank accounts, home insurance and memberships. The most common wasted spend is cover bought twice, not cover bought unnecessarily.
If you want it gone through properly
Call Alternative Insurance Brokers on 0161 388 2520 and we will work out which extensions are worth having on your policy.
