Put at its very simplest, the best motor insurance quotes are not always the cheapest quotes. Like many consumer choices, paying the lowest available price can prove an expensive false economy, landing you with a product that lets you down when you need it the most. With a financial services product like motor insurance, being let down by your insurance cover can be costly indeed.

The "best", therefore, will be not so much a question of the cheapest motor insurance available, but the best value for money. That also sounds a fairly straight forward business, of course, until you realise that there are over a hundred insurance providers all offering a range of different insurance packages for your car. Choosing the best motor insurance quotes, therefore, will depend on your selecting the package that includes all the features – and only those features – that you actually want.

If your preference is for basic third party or third party, fire and theft cover, then your choice is relatively simple. There will be little variation between what is offered by competing products and it should be possible to be guided by the question of price.

Comprehensive insurance policies, however, can offer a quite bewildering array of both fundamental core features and a range of optional extras. One of the most popular, for example, is the provision of a courtesy car if your own is involved in an accident and needs to go into the garage for repairs. Arrangements vary from insurer to insurer and are typically limited by the requirement that repairs are carried out by an insurer-approved repairer. In any event, this service is something that the customer will be paying for by way of a slightly higher premium, so it is important that the cost is taken into account when comparing insurance quotes.

A further variable – that will have an effect on the insurance quote – is the level of compulsory excess attached to any claim under the motor policy. This is the sum that the policy holder will have to bear him or herself in the event of any claim. Once again, different insurers will apply not only different levels of compulsory excess, but also offer various levels of voluntary excess. Clearly, the greater the level of risk taken on by the policy holder him or herself – in the form of a higher excess – the less there will be for the insurer to bear and, hence, the lower the insurance premium that can be offered.

The best motor insurance quotes will also recognise the car owner's own efforts to mitigate any risk of loss or damage to the insured vehicle. For example, does the insurance quote take into account any security alarms or immobilising devices you have fitted to your car as deterrents against theft or vandalism?

In summary, therefore, the best motor insurance quotes will take a lot more into account than simply the price of the premiums – although this will, of course, continue to play an important part in sorting out the best from the worst. Furthermore, if you are having difficulty disentangling all the elements of the packages offered by various quotes, it is always possible to seek the professional, expert advice of an insurance adviser.