The Independent’s journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission. Why trust us?
When you buy car insurance, you’ll be given the choice of three different types of cover: third party, third party, fire and theft, and fully comprehensive cover. In this guide, we’ll take a closer look at third party only insurance, explaining how it works and what it includes. We’ll also compare it to the other levels of cover, to see which is the cheapest car insurance policy.
Third party insurance is the minimum level of car insurance you need to legally drive on UK roads.
But as it’s insurance for third parties, it will only pay out for claims made by other people, such as the drivers of other cars that were involved in an accident or your passengers.
Third party insurance won’t cover damage to your car or your medical bills if you’re injured.
Third party car insurance provides the lowest level of cover from the choices available, as it only covers the cost of claims made against you if you’re at fault in an accident.
Put bluntly, it exists purely to protect other road users, which is why it’s the minimum level of car insurance required by law.
Note that third party only insurance is different to third party, fire and theft which, as its name suggests, will also pay out if your car is stolen or damaged by a fire.
If you’re involved in an accident, it’s important to contact your insurance company as soon as possible, even if you aren’t likely to be claiming on your policy.
Your insurer will want to know:
What happens next will depend on whether you were at fault.
If the accident was your fault: Your insurance provider should pay for any claims made against your policy by other people. This might be the cost of fixing another driver’s car, repairing a homeowner’s wall or paying a personal injury claim from a passenger, another driver or pedestrian. If you’ve built up a no-claims discount, you’ll likely lose some of this. Your insurer will let you know how many years you’ll lose once it has processed the claim.
If your car was damaged in the accident, you’ll need to pay for repairs or a replacement yourself. You won’t be able to make a claim on your insurance if you’re injured.
If the accident was not your fault: You should be able to make a claim against the at-fault driver’s car insurance. This means you shouldn’t have to pay for repairs to your car and could potentially make a claim for any injuries you suffered. However, the catch is your own insurer won’t pursue these claims for you. You’ll need to liaise directly with the insurance company concerned or pay a claims company to do it for you.
Your no-claims discount should not be affected because you’re not making a claim on your own insurance policy.
Third party only insurance is the lowest level of car insurance you can buy, while fully comprehensive is the highest. That means there’s a substantial difference in the amount of cover provided and the potential payout if you need to claim.
In a nutshell, third party only insurance covers other people, while comprehensive car insurance covers you, your car and other people.
This means if you’re involved in an accident and are at fault, a comprehensive policy will cover the cost of repairs to your car or replace it if repairs aren’t feasible. With a third party only policy, you’ll have to foot the bill for repairing or replacing your car.
A comprehensive policy may also pay out if you’re injured or your car is stolen, while third party only cover won’t.
Fully comprehensive cover may offer a range of additional benefits that aren’t included in third party only cover, such as:
There are several reasons why some drivers might choose to buy third party only car insurance instead of comprehensive.
It may be that you’re driving an old car that isn’t worth much, so it wouldn’t make financial sense to shell out for repairs. Alternatively, you might feel that you don’t drive much and would be happy to pay for repairs yourself should you need to.
There are also some drivers who may struggle to get comprehensive car insurance, such as people with driving or criminal convictions. In these cases, third party only cover might be the only option available to them.
However, as third party only car insurance offers the lowest level of cover, it should only be considered if it’s sufficiently cheaper than third party, fire and theft or comprehensive car insurance, which both offer a higher level of cover.
In theory, third party only policies should be the cheapest type of car insurance, as they offer the lowest level of cover required to legally drive on UK roads.
However, while this might have been true in the past, it’s now rarely the case. This is because third party only insurance is popular among higher risk drivers who claim more frequently, pushing up prices.
This means it’s often cheaper to buy comprehensive cover, even if you only need or want third party.
According to MoneySuperMarket, the average cost of third party only car insurance is £620 a year. This compares to an average of £753 a year for third party, fire and theft.
Fully comprehensive is the cheapest option, coming in at an average of £560. This is despite the fact that it offers a much higher level of cover than third party only or third party fire and theft.
So, while it certainly makes sense to compare prices for a variety of cover levels, for most drivers, fully comprehensive insurance will offer the best value for money.
To get a quote for third party car insurance, you’ll likely need to supply the following information about yourself and the car you’d like to insure:
No, third party only insurance won’t pay out if your car is stolen. If you want cover for theft, you’d need a higher level of car insurance, such as third party, fire and theft or fully comprehensive.
You can often buy added extras with third party only car insurance, just as you can with fully comprehensive car insurance. Available extras will vary between insurers, but they’re likely to include breakdown cover and motor legal protection.
Yes, third party only is the minimum level of car insurance required to legally drive on UK roads. Even though it won’t cover you or your car, it ensures that cover is in place if somebody else is injured or other vehicles or property are damaged in an accident where you’re at fault.
Third party, fire and theft insurance is a step up from third party only insurance. In addition to covering everything included in a third party only policy, it will pay out if your car is stolen or damaged by fire.
Paying for your third party insurance monthly might help you budget, but it normally means that you’ll pay more for your car insurance overall. This is because most insurance companies charge interest on monthly payments, so it’s best to pay annually if you can afford to.
Yes, most insurers should let you add a named driver to your third party only car insurance. It’s important that other drivers are aware they’ll only have third party cover, even if they have fully comprehensive car insurance on their own car.
Yes, you can build up a no-claims discount on third party and fully comprehensive car insurance policies. For every year you don’t claim on your insurance, your discount is increased (although most insurers set a maximum period of around 15 years).
