Whilst it may sound strange to have two separate insurance policies on one car, you might be surprised at how commonly this can happen.

Driving without insurance is obviously illegal and can have dire consequences, but at the same time you don’t want to over insure your car either. Some people find themselves with double the insurance on the same car – but this doesn’t equal double the cover.

Let’s take a look into having multiple car insurance policies, how it can happen and what to do if you end up with double the insurance.

Can I have multiple car insurance policies?

While it’s definitely possible, paying for two separate car insurance policies on one car can end up being very pricey, and it doesn’t give you any kind of extra cover. It could also seriously complicate matters when trying to make a claim, and could result in you losing your no claims bonus on both policies. It could also take longer to process a claim and even increase the cost of your premiums.  

It’s not illegal to have two car insurance policies for the same car, and in most cases it happens accidentally. For example, it could happen when you have an insurance policy that automatically renews in addition to you taking out a new policy, or overlapping policies that provide cover for the same thing, such as taking out breakdown cover in addition to your standard premium without realising breakdown assistance is included.

What happens if I have double car insurance?

As we’ve mentioned, it’s not illegal to have two car insurance policies on the same car, but it does become illegal if you try to claim the full amount for the same incident from two different insurance companies.

If you do find yourself with double the insurance, you will be paying twice for the same protection. It also gets a bit tricky when it comes to claims, as both the different insurance companies will have to decide how much they each contribute to the cost of any claim.

The most sensible thing to do would be to cancel the additional insurance policy – take some time to decide which of the two is more beneficial for you and cancel the one that isn’t. Bear in mind that you will probably have to pay a small fee to cancel the policy.

Find out more about car insurance here.