Understanding your policy documents

When purchasing any form of insurance, you’ll be given a series of policy documents which outline the terms of your policy and some helpful information about what to do if you have to make a claim.

Temporary insurance is no different and so when you’ve purchased a short term policy from Tempcover you will be sent your documents instantly.

Tempcover will send you six documents via email the moment you’ve purchased temporary cover and to help ensure you understand each of them, we’ve put together this handy guide.

We’ll guide you through all the documents you’ll receive is the simple, easy to understand terms, but if there any words or phrases you are unfamiliar with, please check out our insurance glossary.

Certificate of Motor Insurance

Your certificate of motor insurance is the most important document you’ll receive. It serves as evidence to the Police that you are legally insured to drive on the road and can be used as legal evidence should an accident happen.

It contains a number of details about the vehicle, the driver and other information about the policy. In the document you can expect to see the following information:

• Your policy number
• The start, end and issue date
• Your name and address
• The vehicle you are insured to drive
• The underwriter who has offered you insurance

You will also find some details on the limitations of your policy including who is allowed to drive the vehicle under the policy, what you are allowed to use the vehicle for (e.g. social, domestic and pleasure) and any activities that are excluded from the policy.

There is also contact information if you have to make a claim. These details will differ depending on the underwriter you selected when getting a quote.

Your certificate of motor insurance is a simple document that should be read to make sure that all the information is correct and kept in a safe place in case you need to present to the Police or during a claim.

New Policy Schedule

This document is an outline of the cover that you will receive under the policy. Again you’ll see the details of the policyholder at the top, including your name, address, policy number and cost of the premium.

It will give you more information on the excesses you will have to pay in the event that you make a claim. Your excess is the amount of money you have to pay towards the overall payout of you claim.

For example, if the excess for accidental damage is £250, you would have to pay the first £250 towards the cost of repairs or replacements. Any further costs would be covered by the insurer.

On a standard policy schedule, you’ll see the excess for the following claims:

• Accidental damage
• Fire
• Theft
• Malicious damage
• Voluntary (the amount you agree to pay towards the overall cost of a claim to reduce the cost of your premium)

You’ll also find on your policy documents any endorsements to the contract of insurance. These endorsements are additions to the policy which may change what you are or aren’t covered for. It’s important you read these carefully and make sure you read the policy schedule in conjunction with the policy wording.

Policy Wording

The policy wording document is essentially the terms, conditions and definitions of your policy. It’s an important file that outlines what is covered under the terms of the policy. It can be quite a lengthy document but you should always read it to make sure what you’re claiming for is covered.

Within your policy wording, you’ll find all the information you need about making a claim, what to do if you have an accident and what is specifically covered.

For example, you might find that some insurers have an upper limit to the level of expenses they are willing to pay for medical costs. This information would be found in your policy wording.

There is also often helpful info regarding the definitions of certain terms and phrases to make the claims process as simple and straightforward as possible.

Policy Key Facts

Your key facts document again outlines the terms of your insurance policy, however, this is a simpler and more compact document that is, as the name suggests just the key facts of your policy. Within this document, you’ll find the significant benefits and features of the policy including which are included and excluded.

There is also more info on what is excluded from your policy, for example, you will be unable to make a claim on your insurance if your vehicle was being driven by any other person other than as described under the effective Certificate of Insurance.

This is a simple to follow document to be used for checking key information about your policy but does not contain the full the full terms and conditions of this contract. These can be found in the policy wording.

Statement of Fact

This is a statement of the information provided by the insurer to you, the insured which provides a record of the information that the insurer has given to you. These documents used to come in written form as a proposal but it’s now far more likely to be done online.

It gives a detailed description of the information you provided to them with which they worked out your insurance premium. It also states the assumptions that the insurer has made about you and your vehicle and your insurance policy could be voided if you don’t meet the assumptions.

You should read through this document carefully as any wrong information could cause problems with the claims process and could even render the whole policy void.

Uninsured Loss Recovery Cover

This document is provided by Tempcover rather than your individual insurer. It gives you a general overview of your policy as well as some helpful information on legal advice, data protection and how to make a claim or complaint.

This document should cover everything you need to know and help give you some more information about your policy and insurance in general.