Glossary

Here are a few common terms you’ll want to be familiar with while you’re shopping around at car insurance comparison sites.

Accident: An unexpected event often causing injury and/or damage.

ABI: Association of British Insurers – A trade association representing around 90% of British insurance companies.

Access To Medical Reports Act 1988: Should your doctor be contacted by an insurance company requesting information about your medical history you are entitled to see the report that contains the information before it is sent to the insurance company.

Accident insurance: Insurance that covers you if you suffer certain injuries, such as loss of a limb or vision.

Accident, sickness and unemployment insurance: This type of policy provides you with a regular income for a period of time ( i.e. 1 to 2 years) should you be unable to work through accident or illness or be made redundant.

Act of God: An accident or event that happens in extraordinary circumstances that could not have been foreseen. For example any damage caused by a storm would fall under the Act of God umbrella.

Applicant: Someone who applies for something such as car insurance or finance.

Arbitration: A process by which two or more parties use an arbitrator to resolve a dispute.

Beneficiary: Someone who benefits from something.

Benefit: The money paid out to a claimant by an insurance company.

Cancellation Clause: A condition of the contract whereby the Insurer or the Insured can cancel a policy before the expiration date.

Claim: Notification to an insurance company that a payment is being sought.

Contract: A legal agreement between two or more parties.

Cooling Off Period: Having just taken out the likes of a car insurance policy it is the time period in which a person may change their mind and cancel the policy without incurring any penalty.

Cover: Describes the risks that your insurance policy protects you against.

Direct debits: A payment method that allows you to pay bills automatically from your bank account.

Excess: Applies to an insurance claim. Simply the first part of any claim that must be covered by yourself.

Exclusions: Things that are not covered by your insurance policy.

Insurance Broker: A person who assists in arranging the likes of car insurance liaising with the insurance company and the customer.

Insurance Group: Insurance groups are a method used by car insurance companies to help assess the risk of a particular vehicle. This numbers from 1-50 with 1 being the lowest risk and 50 being the highest risk.

Policy Conditions: A list of conditions between the insurance company and the policyholder in relation to the policy.

Policy exclusions: Something that is not covered by your insurance policy.

Premium: This is the payment you make to keep your policy in place.

We hope you found this information useful. Thank you.