Car insurance jargon buster E-L

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E

Electronic Vehicle Licensing (EVL)

Electronic Vehicle Licensing (EVL) allows you to get your new tax disc via the phone or internet. It’s quick and simple, but you must have valid car insurance on the renewal date. EVL uses the Motor Insurance Database (MID) to check this.

Endorsement

This is a written amendment to an insurance policy. It becomes a legal part of the policy.

Endorsement Codes

See Conviction Codes.

European Cover

See Green Card.

Exceptions

There are a number of General Exceptions that apply to your car insurance Policy. These are instances where a claim can’t be made, such as if your car’s involved in an accident and the person driving it isn’t named on your Schedule. A list of exceptions is included in our online Policy Booklet.

Excess

This is the amount of money you have to pay towards the cost of any claim you make.

There are two types of Excess – a Compulsory Excess and a Voluntary Excess.

Your ‘excess(es)’ will be detailed on your Insurance Schedule and will depend on your personal circumstances and the type of cover you choose. With Sheilas’ Wheels you can tailor a Policy to suit your needs by changing the voluntary excess and cover limits. You can see how this affects the price before you buy.

Excesses are cumulative, which is to say that the amount paid for a claim will be reduced by the total of both the Compulsory Excess and the Voluntary Excess.

 

F

Fault Claim

This is a claim for an accident or loss where you were to blame, or where the costs can’t be recovered from someone else.

This can be a bit confusing, because it means that if your car is stolen, because there’s no third party to claim costs from, it will be treated as a fault claim.

With a Non-fault Claim your insurer is able to recover the cost of the claim from someone else.

Financial Ombudsman Service

This is an independent service that settles disputes between businesses that provide financial services, including insurance companies, and their customers:

Financial Ombudsman Service
South Quay Plaza 2
183 Marsh Wall
London E14 9SR
Telephone: 0845 080 1800
www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Financial Services Authority (FSA)

The UK's financial watchdog, the FSA regulates financial services companies, including insurance companies. You can contact the FSA to find out the facts about financial products and services, helping you make an informed decision or you can contact the FSA for advice if you need to make a complaint against an insurance company:

The Financial Services Authority
25 The North Colonnade
Canary Wharf
London E14 5HS
www.fsa.gov.uk

Sheilas’ Wheels is authorised and regulated by the FSA.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS)

The FSCS is an independent body and they are the UK's compensation fund of last resort for customers of authorised financial services companies, including authorised insurance companies.

This means that the FSCS will compensate you if you have a claim that your insurance company can’t pay. The service is free to customers.

Authorised firms are those regulated by the UK's financial watchdog, the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

Force Majeur Event

This means an event beyond our reasonable control, such as earthquakes and strikes. More details can be found in our online Policy Booklet.

Foreign Extension

See Green Card.

Fully Comprehensive Insurance

Also referred to as Comprehensive or Comp insurance. See Comprehensive Cover.

 

G

Grace Period

Until 2006 drivers had 14 days grace between their current car insurance policy running out and when they were required by law to have a new one. This is no longer the case. You must have new car insurance in place before your existing policy expires, otherwise you could be prosecuted.

Sheilas’ Wheels will always send you a Renewal Notice telling you in good time the date when your policy is due to expire.

Green Card

A Green card is an international motor insurance certificate. It is proof that you have the minimum cover you need by law to use your car in:

  1. Any country which is a member of the European Union; and
  2. Any other country for which the Commission of the European Community is satisfied that arrangements have been made to meet the requirements of EC Directives on insurance.

The Green Card is free, but the cover it offers is basic. If you want to drive in Europe you need to let us know. You can extend the level of cover provided by your policy to named countries in Europe in return for an extra premium.

For more information, see Policy Booklet - Am I covered when I drive abroad?

Green Flag

Green Flag provides car breakdown assistance in the UK and Europe.

Sheilas’ Wheels Breakdown Assistance cover is provided by Green Flag and operates only in the UK.

 

H

Handbag Cover

Sheilas' Wheels car insurance was designed with handbag cover as standard on our comprehensive cover up to £300 for handbags in the car.

Stolen, lost or damaged handbags often have to be replaced by very low "personal belongings" limits (often just £100). With Sheilas’ Wheels comprehensive cover you’re insured for up to £300.

High Performance

High Performance is sometimes measured by the time it takes for your car to go from 0 to 60 mph. If your car is viewed as high performance, this will be reflected by its Car Insurance Group, and your car insurance will probably cost more.

Highway Code

The Highway Code is a list of rules that apply to all road users: pedestrians, horse riders and cyclists, as well as motorcyclists and drivers.

Many of the rules in the Code are legal requirements, which means if you break them you’re committing a criminal offence. You may be fined, given Penalty Points on your licence, be disqualified from driving, or in the most serious cases you can be sent to prison.

Hire car

If you breakdown and you can’t complete your journey, under your Breakdown Assistance Cover a hire car may be arranged for you at your expense.

Hazard

In terms of insurance, hazards are the things that make a claim more likely. A young driver is generally a greater hazard than an experienced one, a high performance car usually a greater hazard than a family car. And the greater the hazard; the more you generally pay for your insurance.

Hot Hatch

A souped-up version of a hatchback. Bigger wheels, better brakes, more power and anything else that makes it go faster. It has an insurance premium to match.

See also Car Insurance Group Ratings.

 

I

Immobiliser

An electronic device that stops your car from starting unless the correct key is used. It stops your car from being ‘hot-wired’ – so there’s less chance of it going walkabout.

Import or Imported Vehicle

Imported refers to any car that has been brought into the UK from any other country following registration. Sheilas’ Wheels will insure a personally imported car if the car is, or has been, available as a standard production model in the UK and has a UK registration number. Sheilas’ Wheels will not insure a "grey" or Japanese import.

In-car Entertainment

This refers to car audio, navigation and entertainment equipment permanently fitted to your car. The amount of your cover for loss or damage to these items will be shown in your Policy.

Indemnity

Under the terms of your insurance (depending on your cover) if you lose or damage something then an ‘indemnity’ will restore you to the same financial position after the loss/damage as immediately before it took place; in other words it’ll compensate you.

Institute of Advanced Motoring (IAM)

The Institute of Advanced Motoring gives drivers the chance to sit a more advanced test. If you pass the test some insurance companies will give you a discount on your car insurance but you should always check with your insurer.

Insurable Interest

One of the key things about insurance is that you can only take out cover if you stand to suffer a financial loss from an event covered by the insurance policy. In other words you must have an insurable interest to take out a policy.

Insurance

This is a service that offers financial compensation for something that may or may not happen. For example, if your car is stolen (and you have cover for this in your car insurance policy) then your insurance company will pay you a sum of money to cover your loss. See also Claim, Premium and Settlement.

Insurance Company

A company that sells insurance policies and in doing so takes on the risk of whether or not they will have to pay out a Claim against this policy. The Insurance Company charges a Premium in return for offering this service.

Insurance Documents

These are the documents that make up your policy.

See Policy.

Insurance Group

See Car Insurance Group Ratings.

Insurance Intermediary

See Broker.

Insurance Premium Tax

A UK government tax on most non-life insurance Premiums, including car insurance. This tax is included in your premium.

Insured

The person(s) covered by an insurance policy.

Insured Incident

An incident that is covered by your insurance, something that happens that can give rise to a Claim.

Insured Value

In the case of car insurance, this is the maximum amount the insurance company will pay out for your car if it's a Write-off. It will usually be either be the amount you said the car was worth when you took out the policy, or the Market Value at the time of your claim, whichever is lower.

 

J

Japanese Import

See Import or Imported Vehicle.

 

K

Kit cars

A car assembled from a collection of parts sold in kit form, usually with parts from mass-market models that are easily found in scrapyards. It’s a cheap way to make a convincing lookalike of a swanky car, but you usually need specialist insurance. Sheilas’ Wheels does not insure kit cars.

A kit car usually has a Q Plate.

Knock-for-Knock

This is an agreement between insurance companies to reduce paperwork and legal costs. Insurers pay for the costs of claims for their own policyholders, rather than claiming the money from the other party.

 

L

Laid-up Policy (Suspended)

There may be times when you don’t drive for a period – maybe you’re going away for a while, or you decide that currently your car isn’t cost efficient to run. If this is the case, you may be able to adjust your insurance to a laid-up policy.

At Sheilas’ Wheels you can suspend all cover or reduce your cover to Fire & Theft Only which means your car is still protected in case of a fire or if it’s stolen.

If your car is off the road you must also tell the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) and request a Statutory Off-Road Notification (SORN) certificate.

Legal Expense Cover

See Motoring Legal Protection.

Legal Owner

See Owner and Registered Keeper.

Liability

Liability means you’re legally responsible for causing loss to someone either because you’ve injured them, or because you’ve damaged something that belongs to them.

Licence Type

See Driving Licence.

Loss Adjustor

Someone who investigates the legitimacy of claims.

Loss Assessor

A person employed by an insurance company to work out if the risk to be undertaken is acceptable. They also calculate the premium to be charged, based on the level of risk involved.