Insurance guides

Getting UK insurance right

Insurance is one of those costs that's easy to overpay on and easy to get wrong. The main types most UK households deal with are car insurance (a legal requirement to drive), home buildings and contents cover, life insurance, and income protection or critical illness cover that pays out if you can't work. Each is priced on risk, so the premium reflects your age, location, claims history and the level of cover and excess you choose — a higher voluntary excess usually lowers the premium, but only set it as high as you could actually afford to pay in a claim.

The biggest savings usually come from shopping around at renewal rather than letting a policy auto-renew, since loyalty rarely pays. Always compare like-for-like cover, not just the headline price — a cheaper policy with a huge excess, missing add-ons or low payout limits can cost you far more when something goes wrong. Check whether cover you already have (through a packaged bank account, employer or another policy) duplicates what you're buying. Our guides below break down how each type of insurance works, what affects the price, and where the genuine savings are.