See if you can get a no-interest credit card. These are available (subject to status) with zero interest charged for anything up to two years. Make sure that you pay the CC statement in full every month though, otherwise interest WILL be charged and costs could get heavy.

Have you tried asking your current insurer? If you've been a good customer, with no claims or convictions, they will not want to lose you. As an existing customer, they may be prepared to let you pay monthly, without anything in advance. Some of them may be prepared to match a price you've found by comparing quotations, as well as offer regular repayments, rather than see you move to a competitor. Ring their customer services department and ask. Remember, everything is negotiable!

Most instalment plans involve charges and interest which, in 2018, worked out at about 11% on average. So, a policy of, say, £600, if paid upfront, would cost roughly £66 more if payments were spread over a year. However, we found that, very often, the companies that charged the lowest basic premiums often charged higher down payments. This could mean that, in order to pay the smallest possible sum upfront, you could find that you didn't qualify for the lowest quote, which could force you to buy a more expensive policy.

There are insurers that will accept as little as one twelth of the total premium (which includes interest charges). Some prefer the initial premium to be slightly more expensive than the monthly repayments, others will require 20% or even more. Compare quotes to find out.

Yes. In effect, you will be borrowing the premium from either the insurer or another lender nominated by them.

The only way to find out is to get some quotations. When you fill in a proposal form online, but don't want to pay the full premium in advance, a credit check is likely to be carried out. The insurer (or price comparison site owner) will have included the right to do this in the terms and conditions and you will have to accept these before quotations are delivered to you. Very few people ever read these.

If the checks reveal credit problems you may be charged a higher interest rate, or even be refused completely. If this happens you have the right to request that the company concerned provides you with the reasons why you were turned down so that you can have an opportunity to challenge the decision or get any incorrect information put right.

Different companies have different attitudes towards poor credit ratings so 'shopping around' may produce a better quotation.

You will be expected to make monthly payments, for anything up to 11 more months.

A credit check will probably be made when you get a quote but this will be what is known as a 'soft' search. It won't affect your credit score at all and will normally disappear off the record within about a year. If you then buy a 'monthly paid' policy you will, however, have entered into a credit agreement and this fact will appear on any future searches on your credit record.

Provided that you complete your agreed payments (and not be involved in a claim) then yes, you will be entitled to a further years' no claims discount. After all this is a normal policy - the only difference is that you're paying monthly rather than yearly.

Yes you could, but you may still have to continue making some payments. Each insurer has it's own practices on cancellation costs and refunds, and these must be clearly set out in the documentation which is made available to you before you buy your policy.

This will depend on whether or not you were judged to be at blame for the accident. If you were, you would normally be obliged to complete all the agreed payments.

If you compare quotes you may find that the cheapest ones are from companies that don't advertise payment by instalments. This doesn't always mean, though, that they rule this out completely. If you are a good, safe driver with a reasonable credit record they will want your business, so it is worth ringing them and telling the sales person that you would love to buy a policy from them if they will offer you reasonable terms. Sales staff often have a lot of leeway so you may well get a good pay-monthly offer after all.