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Don’t panic if you can’t remember who your car insurance is with. The best way to find out is by checking your paperwork – but if you don’t have it to hand, you can look at who your monthly payment is made to through your banking app or search your emails for electronic copies of your documents.

It’s important to keep track of car insurance expiry dates – so you never find yourself driving without adequate cover. To find out when your insurance ends, you can check your paperwork, call your provider, wait for your renewal notice to arrive, or check the Motor Insurance Database.

Motor legal protection is an optional extra that can help cover the cost of legal expenses that might be needed if you’re involved in an accident that’s not your fault.

Yes, your no claims bonus (NCB) can expire – and will do so 2 years after your last car insurance policy comes to an end. If you want to make sure you keep your NCB, you’ll need to take out a new policy within 2 years.

Third party car insurance is a type of cover that only pays out for damage caused to other peoples' vehicles if an accident is your fault. Damage to your own car is not included.

The majority of UK car insurance companies will automatically renew your cover when it ends so you don’t accidentally end up uninsured. By law, your provider must notify you that your insurance will renew – and they must show you last year’s price too – so you can decide whether you’re getting a good deal.

As long as you have made a Statutory Off-Road Notification for the car in question, you don’t need SORN insurance – but you might decide you want to insure it; depending on your circumstances.

In the UK, car insurance is a legal requirement to have a policy in place if you own a vehicle. It provides you with financial protection if you have an accident.

The vast majority of insurance companies will let you choose between paying monthly or yearly for your policy. Your policy will therefore expire at midnight on the expiration date, unless your policy auto renews.

Yes, it is possible for two car insurance policies to overlap. This can happen when you switch to a new policy with a different provider before your previous policy has come to an end.

Although you may be covered to drive other cars as part of your insurance policy, this cover often specifically excludes rental vehicles. Instead, your rental car provider will have insurance built into the cost of the hire – with a few options that’ll let you reduce any excess you’ll pay in the event of an accident.

Since car insurance policies are designed to put things right after an accident, most standard cover doesn’t protect against non-motoring criminal acts like vandalism. That said, many insurers can add vandalism cover to your policy if you’re worried about deliberate damage.

If you have a fully comprehensive policy, you’ll generally find that insurers will pay out for severe weather damage like that caused by hail. Be warned though, not all do – so if you’re concerned, it’s important to check your policy for any exclusions.

As long as you have fully comprehensive cover with no exclusions relating to flood or water damage, you should find that your car insurance covers water damage. Be warned though, if the damage was avoidable (if you drove into a large puddle for instance) you might find your insurer won’t payout.

Comprehensive car insurance - often referred to as fully comprehensive (or ‘fully comp’) – includes cover for damage to your own car, whereas third party, fire and theft policies only cover damage to someone else’s vehicle and not your own.

In short, if you have comprehensive car insurance, it will pay for repairs under certain conditions.

If your car insurance covers windscreen damage, it will probably also include cover for all other broken car windows, and some policies extend cover to glass sunroofs.

Many comprehensive car insurance policies provide cover for a cracked windshield, but not all. When taking out car insurance, check that windshield cover is included, otherwise you may need to pay extra for this cover.

In most cases, your car insurance will provide cover for the cost of minor engine damage as the result of an accident, but it may not cover damage due to wear and tear.

If you’re involved in a hit and run accident, some car insurance policies will cover the cost of repairing your car, or pay you the current market price if it’s written-off.

Many insurance companies will price match – especially if you’re renewing your insurance with them. It’s not uncommon for providers to offer exceptional prices if you’re a new customer – but not be quite as competitive when you get your auto-renew price. There’s no harm in asking for a price match – the worst they can say is no!

Generally, car insurance payouts are not taxable. The only exception to this rule is if any repair done to your car actually boosts its value – but the way insurers work means this is unlikely to happen.

If you’re using your vehicle for anything related to the work you do, then you’ll need to let your insurer know and pay for the right level of cover. If you don’t – you may find you’re driving illegally.

Although it’s perfectly legal to have two car insurance policies running at the same time, it can make claims unnecessarily complicated. As such, it’s worth making sure you only have one policy in place for your vehicle.

There are many factors that determine the price of car insurance, and some drivers find that the cost of their premiums starts to decrease once they hit a certain age.

Yes - a car insurance provider can find out if you have any penalty points on your driving licence, even if choose not to disclose them during the application process.

Although it will be registered, getting car insurance quotes does not have an impact on your credit rating, so it won’t be taken into account if you apply for a loan or other form of credit in the future.

The level of cover you need when it comes to car insurance depends on what you want to be able to claim for.

Your job can be a factor when an insurance company is working out how much to charge for your premium - and this can mean that there are certain good occupations for cheap car insurance.

In general, the earliest you can get an insurance quote is around 30 days before you need the cover to start.

Car insurance can go up for a number of reasons – especially if you’ve had an accident or received a fixed penalty in the last year. If you haven’t, you might find you’re just getting a poor deal when your deal automatically renews – so don’t be afraid to shop around until you’ve got a better price.

If you make a claim on your insurance policy, car insurance excess is the amount you will pay towards that claim. There are two types of car insurance excess – one compulsory, the other voluntary. The compulsory excess that your insurance company sets is the amount you must pay towards any repair done to your vehicle if you cause an accident. The voluntary excess is an optional amount on top of this – which means you’ll pay more towards repairs – but your annual premium price will come down in exchange.

A no claims bonus is a discount that’s applied after your insurance premium is calculated by a car insurance provider. The discount doesn’t stop your premium from going up; instead, it simply gives you a percentage off your premium – and that discount grows with every claim-free motoring year you have.

If you’ve had an accident of any kind, you’ll need to report it to your insurer soon afterwards. When you do, they’ll seek a detailed explanation of what’s happened and assess the damage done to your car. When they have a clear understanding of what’s occurred – and assuming you have fully comprehensive cover, they’ll arrange to repair your vehicle – or pay its market value if it’s written off.

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to accurately calculate how much your car insurance is going to cost without getting a range of quotes. As well as looking at national driving statistics, insurers will seek a huge amount of information about you and your vehicle before deciding on a personalised price.

Insurers generally do not offer the facility to put your car insurance on hold – and cancelling and restarting your car insurance cover rarely makes financial sense. If you’ve got a reason for needing a break in cover, talk to a specialist company who cater for your circumstances – like classic car insurers or student policy providers.

Backdating car insurance cannot be done under any circumstances. Since it is a criminal offence to do so, you will not find any broker or insurance company who will be able to do this for you.

Unfortunately, making any kind of insurance claim will often increase your renewal premium – even if the accident wasn’t your fault.

If you make a claim on your car insurance, then yes, the cost of renewing your insurance will go up, unless some other significant factor works in your favour to bring it down.

You can be insured to drive a car on a policy in someone else’s name. This can be done by being a named driver on someone else's policy either permanently or for a short period.

There are a number of things you can do to make sure your car insurance is as cheap as possible, such as increasing your excess, adding an experienced driver or paying your premium upfront in full.

While it’s not guaranteed that car insurance rates drop when you turn 25, most drivers do start to see decreases in their premiums when they reach this age.

Whether or not you’ll get a refund after cancelling cover with your car insurance provider generally depends on how you’ve paid your premium. If you’ve paid upfront, then your refund amount could be fairly high – but if you pay monthly, any admin fee you’re charged is likely to counteract the part-month refund you’d otherwise get.

Yes, if you wish to cancel your car insurance policy, you can expect to be charged a cancellation fee. How much you are charged will depend on your specific circumstances and the terms of your policy.

Each individual insurance provider will set terms and conditions about how and when their policies can be cancelled.

In short, you can cancel car insurance - and in certain circumstances your insurer might also be able to do so.