Comprehensive is a type of insurance that is available within the UK; in essence this is a form of full cover that is provided to an individual by an insurance company. This type of cover is available within many different aspects of insurance, for example it is available for house and car cover. As well as comprehensive there are other forms of insurance that are provided by insurance companies. These other forms of insurance are usually cheaper but provide less cover to the policyholder. In some cases, such as driving, it is a legal requirement to hold valid insurance within the UK.

The most common insurance that is taken out in motor insurance within the UK is comprehensive cover. This kind of cover protects the driver against almost all eventualities when driving. For example it will protect the policy holder if they damage their car or another vehicle, if they cause damage to property with their vehicle, cause damage to a person and most importantly comprehensive cover will provide the policy holder with cover for any damage caused to themselves or their car. Other levels of insurance do not usually provide cover to the policy holder and therefore any damage that is caused to their vehicle would have to be repaired and funded by the policy holder. Comprehensive insurance cover usually also provides numerous other benefits to the policy holder. Such benefits include legal protection, legal cover and a courtesy car.

Comprehensive cover is notoriously expensive for young drivers, some quotations that are provided to young drivers exceed the actual value of the car. Young drivers are advised to take out comprehensive cover due to the high risk of them being involved in an accident. It is the norm in the UK for young drivers to pay in excess of £1,000 per year for cover. When taking out a comprehensive insurance policy the policy holder will have to set a level of excess that they will pay if they are to make a claim or if anyone else is to claim against them. Young drivers usually set a high excess amount in order to reduced the overall cost of the insurance policy. If a driver does not wish to take out a comprehensive insurance policy there is a third party policy that will only cover the driver when they have an accident with another party. Whilst the other parties car will be repaired by the policy holders insurance their own car is not covered against damage if they are at fault.

Numerous other comprehensive insurance policies can be taken out in order to ensure that almost total protection is in place. Other insurance policies that offer comprehensive policies include house insurance and pet insurance.