Halifax car insurance review

Halifax offers the three standard levels of car insurance on offer in the UK: third party, third party fire and theft, and comprehensive cover. 

Third party

If you take out a third party insurance with Halifax, you’ll be covered for the following:

• Injuries to other people: if you injure, or kill, someone in a motor accident, your insurance will cover the costs of any claims against you
• Damage to third party property: you’ll be covered up to £20 million if you damage someone else’s property in a car accident
• Driving other cars: if your certificate of motor insurance allows, you’ll be able to drive other cars under your Halifax policy with third party cover
• Driving abroad: you’ll be able to drive across the EU, EEA and Switzerland for 60 days per policy term with the level of cover you’ve taken out with Halifax

Third party, fire and theft

With Halifax third party, fire and theft insurance, you’ll have everything found in the previous level of cover, as well as:

• Fire damage: if your car is damaged in a fire, you can make a claim
• Theft: if your car is stolen, or damaged in an attempted theft, you can make a claim

Comprehensive

Halifax comprehensive car insurance includes everything found in the previous levels, alongside:

• Damage to your own car: if your own car is damaged in a motor accident, you can make a claim
• New car replacement: if your car is less than a year old, and you’re the first registered owner, you can get a like-for-like replacement if it is stolen and not recovered
• Personal accident cover: you can claim up to £10,000 in personal accident cover per incident
• Personal belongings: you can claim up to £100 to replace any personal belongings lost or stolen due to an insured event
• Glass cover: you can claim to replace or repair your windscreens and window glass
• Replacement locks and keys: you can claim up to £500 to replace your ignition device and its associated locks if the device is stolen
• Courtesy car: if your car is damaged in an accident, and you take it to an approved insured, you can get a temporary replacement vehicle

Other Halifax car insurance policies

Outside of its main products, Halifax also offers the following car insurance policies:

• Electric car insurance: when you insure an electric car with Halifax, both your battery and charging cable will be covered for accidental damage, fire and theft
• Temporary car insurance: Halifax offers comprehensive temporary car insurance, from one hour to 30 days

You can add the following optional extras to your Halifax car insurance policy:

• Guaranteed replacement car: courtesy car cover only provides a replacement vehicle if your car is accidentally damaged. For £14.99, you can get the guaranteed replacement car add-on which means you’d get a replacement if your vehicle was also stolen, written-off or damaged in a fire or attempted theft 
• RAC breakdown cover: starting at £27.99, you can choose between four levels of RAC breakdown cover (At Home, Roadside Assistance, Breakdown Recovery and Onward Travel)
• Motor legal protection: Halifax motor legal protection provides up to £100,000 in legal expenses to recover uninsured losses, and up to £20,000 in cover for motor prosecution defence
• Keycare cover: from £8.99 you can add keycare cover, which allows you to claim up to £1,000 to replace your keys and locks if you lose your ignition device
• No-claims bonus protection: if you have built up four or more years worth of no-claims bonus, you can protect your discount. This will allow you to make two at-fault claims within a three-year period without affecting your bonus

If you need to make a car insurance claim through Halifax, you should complete the following steps:

• Check on everyone involved: following the incident, the first thing you should do is make sure that everyone in your car, and any other third parties involved, are safe and secure
• Exchange details: if someone else is involved in the incident, you’ll need to swap personal information, alongside your insurance policy number
• Gather evidence: it’s a good idea to take photos of any damage, talk to witnesses, and make a note of relevant details such as the time of day, location and weather conditions
• Contact Halifax: even if you don’t want to make a claim, it’s important that you contact Halifax as soon as you can. To do so, call 0344 2090 472. This line is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• Wait for instructions: once you’ve told Halifax what happened, the provider will let you know the next steps. For example, you might need to drive to an approved repairer in order to get a courtesy car

If you want to cancel your Halifax car insurance policy, you can do so through your online account, or over the phone on 0344 209 0471. This line is open from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday; 8am to 6pm on Saturdays; and 10am to 4pm on Sundays and Bank Holidays.

As long as you haven’t made a claim, you’ll be refunded for the time left on your policy, minus the following fees:

If you need to contact Halifax about your car insurance, and it isn’t related to making a claim, you can use:

• Virtual assistant
• Live chat with agent (you’ll first need to go through the virtual assistant)
• Phone: 0344 209 0471 (8am to 8pm Monday to Friday; 8am to 6pm Saturdays; 10am to 4pm Sundays and Bank Holidays)

You can also make changes to your policy through your online account.

Halifax has a ‘Bad’ Trustpilot rating of 1.5 out of five stars, based on more than 4,100 reviews. 

It is important to note, however, that this isn’t just for Halifax car insurance, but the brand as a whole. And while this is true of many providers, Halifax offers a much wider array of products than most companies in the car insurance space. 

This does then make it hard to find reviews that specifically talk about car insurance. There are few positive reviews for its car insurance product; however, there are repeated complaints about Halifax’s customer service. 

“Avoid at all costs taking out a Halifax car insurance policy. Incompetent staff, appalling customer service. Inadequate handling of claim and two months later still not completed. Halifax pass[es] the buck to underwriters then to a third party, and back and forth continually. Days and hours spent on the phone. A no-fault claim became the most stressful time consuming part of my life for three weeks. Raised a complaint and nothing followed up. Now unable to claim back excess paid despite having legal protection on my policy.”

• Wally, via Trustpilot

What Defaqto rating does Halifax car insurance have?

Alongside a ‘Bad’ Trustpilot rating, Halifax has the following reviews on Defaqto:

• Third party, fire and theft: ★★★
• Comprehensive: ★★★

Halifax car insurance is quite bare bones when compared to other providers, although you can beef up your level of cover with the various optional extras it offers, but this will increase your premium.

This is reflected in a three-star review for its comprehensive car insurance from Defaqto, and a two-star review from Fairer Finance.