Although many car insurance providers only offer British drivers overseas third party cover, only two in three people are unaware of the fact, the research showed.

Meanwhile, one in ten Britons currently takes a risk by assuming they are covered by their comprehensive UK travel insurance policy for any mishaps while motoring abroad.

But “even if a policy does extend to cover driving abroad … insurers often limit the number of days that a car can be driven abroad in any one year”, explained uSwitch.com’s head of insurance Aron Thompson.

The best-performing providers on this measure were ecar and Saga, he indicated, covering up to 365 days a year overseas for free, while Direct Line or Esure would go up to three days’ overseas cover yearly.

Meanwhile, a survey from the Road Safety Foundation for the European Road Assessment Programme has named the UK’s riskiest roads, with a section of the A682 in Lancashire topping the chart.

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