Multi-car insurance explained

If you're one of the millions of UK households with more than one car, multi-car insurance could be for you.

Your cars might be registered in different names – perhaps you and your partner each own a car – but you can insure them together with a multi-car policy.

Not only is it convenient, it might even save you money.

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What is multi-car insurance?

Multi-car insurance is exactly what the name suggests: car insurance that covers more than one vehicle.

These policies offer the same benefits as standard car insurance, including a no-claims bonus available on each car, but cover all the cars at a single address. In some cases, you might even be able to include family members living elsewhere – a child away at university with their own car, for example.

Broadly speaking, multi-car insurance can be set up in two different ways:

A policy for each car

They're linked, but each policy offers different levels of cover and benefits. Beyond the first policy, each new one attracts a discount.

This might be useful if you're insuring children, where you might want to keep costs down by opting for lesser cover when they're driving. It also means policies can start and finish on different dates.

• Find out more: UK's best car insurance companies 2024

A single policy for all cars

This will usually offer the same level of cover for each driver and each vehicle.

While the policy will start and renew for all cars on the same date, don't get too hung up on timing.

If you want to move to a multi-car policy but currently have policies that are up for renewal at different times, most insurers will make that easy for you. They just add each new car on to your policy when the previous one expires. In year one, you'll pay a premium that reflects the fact that at least one car wasn't insured for the whole year.

Is it cheaper to insure multiple cars?

Not necessarily, so it's important to do your research before opting for a multi-car policy.

Start by finding out what it would cost to insure cars in your household individually. Use several price comparison sites to get a quote for a new policy on each car, being careful to compare like-with-like policies and insurers.

Once you've got a total figure for paying separately, you can get quotes for multi-car policies to see if they come in cheaper.

If you're intending for your multi-car policy to start at different times for different cars, insurers should still give you an 'annual equivalent price', showing you what it would cost to insure each vehicle for the full 12 months. This is the figure you need to compare with the total cost of standalone policies.

Which insurers offer multi-car insurance?

Of the 28 insurers we asked in our survey, the 12 listed below told us they offer discounts for customers insuring multiple vehicles.  

How can you save money on multi-car insurance?

Insurers price multi-car policies using the same factors they apply to single policies. Important considerations include your age, your occupation, where you live and the vehicle itself.

The more drivers you have on the policy, the more variables affect the quote, which could help to bring down the price for drivers considered to be riskier.

1. Provide an accurate mileage for all cars – if one car is driven infrequently, making the insurer aware of this might bring down the cost.
2. Opt for a higher voluntary excess – this will bring down your premium, but make sure you could afford to claim if one or more of your cars is involved in an accident.
3. Haggle on renewal – look for multi-car insurance quotes from other insurers and use them to negotiate with your current insurer, even if you've got no intention of moving.

Many of the money-saving strategies that work for individual car insurance policies also work for multi-car insurance. Read our guide to getting cheap car insurance for more tips.

Multi-car insurance and no-claims discounts

Typically, multi-car insurance considers no-claims discounts on a vehicle-by-vehicle basis. So, if you make a claim for a problem with one car, it shouldn't affect the no-claims discount on other vehicles on the policy.

This is important, as a no-claims discount built up over a number of years can reduce premiums by a third or more.

The same principle applies as you build up no-claims discounts. Each car on the policy gets its own no-claims discount for each year it remains claim-free.

Keep in mind that not all insurers treat no-claims discounts in the same way, and you could find more generous terms with an individual car insurance policy.

Your questions about multi-car insurance answered

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