How to use the Uswitch insurance comparison service

Our panel of insurers needs accurate details in order to give you tailored insurance quotes. 

We will also send you your quotes by email so they are easily accessible, you can opt out of receiving any further contact from us.

If you don’t know your registration number, for example if you are testing quotes for a car you are yet to buy, you can manually enter a car’s make and model.

You need to declare any modifications that are different from the manufacturer’s original specification, including any optional extras available at purchase. 

You can see the full list of modifications by selecting ‘yes’ to the question ‘does the car have any modifications’, or read our modifications guide for more information.

We’ve used a car industry valuation service to estimate the value of your car. 

You can enter your own valuation if you disagree with the figure or if no valuation is provided (please note that the insurer will use this valuation as a basis for your quotes as well as for any claims, so try to be as accurate as possible).

If you’re not sure of how many miles you will cover, give the best estimation you can, rather than just choosing a random number. 

To get the best indication of how many miles a year you drive, take a look at the mileage recorded on your previous service or MOT certificates. 

The owner and registered keeper of the car are not necessarily the same person — it’s important that you enter this information correctly. If you’re purchasing an insurance policy for a company car, leased car or a car belonging to someone else, you may be the registered keeper but not the legal owner.

All insurers use a standard list of occupations to choose between that does not include all jobs or business types. If you cannot find your job on the list, choose the one that most resembles the type of work you do.

We will search for quotes based on the licence type you enter in the ‘driver’ section of the form. If you have a provisional, foreign or automatic licence and later get a full UK licence, inform your insurer so they can amend your policy to reflect that.

You must enter the details of any insurance claims you’ve made in the past five years, even those that were not your fault. The details (such as description of incident and effect on your no-claims bonus) should be on the claim documentation from your insurer. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide quotes for any driver with more than five claims in the past five years.

You must enter the details of any driving offences from the past five years (including any that are pending).

You only have to declare parking fines if they led to points on your licence. Enter the DVLA offence code in the box and select how many points you received on your licence, if any.

Insurers ask about criminal convictions because they see it as a risk factor and it could affect the cost of your insurance. You only have to disclose convictions that are not ‘spent’. Read our guide to convictions for more information.

If you have four or more years’ no claims, you will have the option to protect your no claims bonus. 

This might be a good option for you if you’re concerned about losing your discount in the event of a claim.

Insurers offer three types of cover: third party (the minimum legal requirement), third party fire and theft, and comprehensive. Third party policies only cover damage to other people’s vehicles and property, while comprehensive policies cover your vehicle too.

While it may seem logical that lower levels of cover are cheapest, this often is not the case – particularly for younger or more inexperienced drivers. You can easily switch between types of cover on the results page to compare prices. Our guide to types of insurance explains more.

A voluntary excess is an amount that you volunteer to pay in the case of a claim, on top of the compulsory excess set by your insurer. Effectively, you pay a portion of the claim while the insurer covers the rest. Insurers can give cheaper premiums to those who offer to pay a higher excess – but make sure you can afford the amount as you will have to pay it out if you make a claim.

Monthly payments can be a great way to spread the cost of your insurance cover, but insurers will typically charge more for this option. Our guide to insurance payments explains more.

We can only give quotes for policies starting in the next 30 days. You can save your quote if you register for an account and when you come back within 30 days of your start date most of the form will be pre-filled with your information so you don’t have to enter it again.

You will receive an email with your top five quotes so you can easily see and access them. You can choose to opt in or out of marketing emails as well as being contacted by insurers. You may also choose to receive marketing emails or be contacted directly by insurers, but you can opt out using the tick box.

Make sure you have entered all of your details correctly. A simple mistake such as mistyping your mileage or car value can significantly impact the price of quotes returned to you.

Also be aware that the type of cover can affect your cost considerably. Don’t assume that third party is the cheapest - some insurers will actually charge more for this type of cover (especially for young/inexperienced drivers) because they deem it to be more risky.

While our quotes are accurate at the time of being generated, insurance companies regularly update their prices and you may not always get the price you’ve been quoted.

Once you have completed all questions on the form, you will see a list of tailored insurance quotes. Click on the red ‘more info’ button to find out more about the policy. If you are happy to purchase the policy, you can either call using the ‘call direct now’ button, or the ‘buy online now’ button (not available for all quotes).