Topic: Car Insurance

[PeterJM]

Just renewed mine today.It dropped from £1899 to £1871.Not much of a drop at all.

[Zizou]

Do you drive an F1 car?

[Ben S]

Hurrah mines coming down, "only" £500 now.

[Kez]

The 10 cheapest insurers

1. Adelaide Insurance Services (IAM Surety)
2. Frizzell (LV Frizzell)
3. Royal and Sun Alliance
4. Ageas (previously Fortis)
5. RIAS
6. Liverpool Victoria (LV)
7. NFU Mutual
8. Saga
9. Marks & Spencer
10. Swiftcover

The 10 most expensive insurers

1. Kwik Fit
2. Lloyds TSB
3. Endsleigh
4. Post Office
5. Diamond
6. More Than
7. Elephant
8. Admiral
9. AA
10. Bell Direct (part of Admiral Group)

I'd be interested to see how that's calculated because my own recent insurance hunting has proved the total opposite. The "cheapest" listed above were amongst my most expensive quotes, with LV quoting me over £1000 for a policy I can get for a little over £500 with Bell, Elephant and Admiral, wich according to that list are amongst the most expensive.

There's probably also something to be said for the 10 "cheapest" being the sorts of companies that harp on about having "careful" drivers, for which you can read middle aged and over living in nice, leafy postcodes. You try getting a cheap quote from any of that top 10 for a younger driver or in a "high risk" postcode and their prices soon skyrocket.

[stevied]

Just insured fully comp my Lancer for £224 sorry kids

[barneystuta]

There is a range of variables, of course. The car, the driver, age, experience, and postcode are probably the main reasons for price differences.

Best bet is a comparison site like www.moneysupermarket.com to get an idea of prices.

However, for young drivers, try something like https://www.coverbox.co.uk

I'll be honest, I'd never have a tracker fitted, but it maybe an option for some wanting to save money (and they trust their driving ability/not to speed etc).

[Ben S]

The list is bollocks as Bell is cheapest for me.

[Ben S]

Joys of being an oot’er eh  :-)

[Zizou]

Multi-car is pretty handy, if you live with someone else who drives, I managed to get mine down from £750 to £480 just by sticking it on Admiral multi-car. No idea why it was so much cheaper, but not complaining.

[eAyeAddio]

I'd be interested to see how that's calculated because my own recent insurance hunting has proved the total opposite.

It was based on the responses to a survey by 29,000 readers of Auto Express.

[eAyeAddio]

The list is bollocks as Bell is cheapest for me.

Of course.    Because the whole wide world revolves around you.

[eAyeAddio]

....I'll be honest, I'd never have a tracker fitted, but it maybe an option for some wanting to save money .....

Agreed.
The next step after having a tracker fitted is when you receive an automated fixed penalty through the post....
Trackers will only save you money in the short term.

[Kez]

It was based on the responses to a survey by 29,000 readers of Auto Express.

http://www.dennis.co.uk/brands/auto-express

The average age is 42 (print) and 48 (online).

The demographic is ABC1 which is lower middle class and above - http://www.webwindows.co.uk/what-does-abc1-mean.

87% of those reading the online version are married/living with their partner.

Safe, careful, middle income, middle class...just like I said.

[Col]

My insurance over here in America came as a 6-month policy.

It was pretty cheap to begin with. They don't mind if I postpone payment for a day or two, nor do they mind if I pay it off early.

They've auto-renewed it for me, and taken a nice 34% off as well.


If the price stays as it is currently once renewal comes around, I'll have paid a whopping £455 for 12 months on a 2.2l Pontiac coupe, compared to the £1600 I paid on all three of my cars in England - a 1-litre Fiesta, a 1.2l Punto, and a 1.4l Corsa.

Delighted.

[Owenjg77]

I work in a store which is located in shopping centre. 3 weeks ago I reversed and hit a post which left a small dent in the back of my car. The post I hit had a CCTV camera at the top and the camera came loose. I called the security guards at the centre and they came and looked and said it is just the bracket (that holds the CCTV camera on) that has broken and not to worry about it. Today I have received a letter from their insurance company asking for £3000 as they had to replace camera.
Police were never called. No statements taken. They may have CCTV footage of me hitting it but I don't know for sure.
Any ideas of what I can do? The letter says I must inform my car insurance company as well

[DJBrenton]

I work in a store which is located in shopping centre. 3 weeks ago I reversed and hit a post which left a small dent in the back of my car. The post I hit had a CCTV camera at the top and the camera came loose. I called the security guards at the centre and they came and looked and said it is just the bracket (that holds the CCTV camera on) that has broken and not to worry about it. Today I have received a letter from their insurance company asking for £3000 as they had to replace camera.
Police were never called. No statements taken. They may have CCTV footage of me hitting it but I don't know for sure.
Any ideas of what I can do? The letter says I must inform my car insurance company as well

That's bollox. You don't have to inform your insurance at all. You can simply pay the £3000 yourself. Glad to help.

[Owenjg77]

That's bollox. You don't have to inform your insurance at all. You can simply pay the £3000 yourself. Glad to help.

The issue is I don't think I should have to pay. If I was just a customer visiting the store there is no way they would make them pay if it was an accident, plus the said it was a broken bracket and they have gone and changed a 15 year old camera for a brand new one.

[Kez]

The issue is I don't think I should have to pay. If I was just a customer visiting the store there is no way they would make them pay if it was an accident, plus the said it was a broken bracket and they have gone and changed a 15 year old camera for a brand new one.

If you reversed into it and broke it then yes you should have to pay however £3K seems steep. I'd ask them for proof of the damage done and copy invoices of all the work carried out plus any reports etc that prove that the camera was damaged beyond repair as a result of your hitting the pole. Insurance companies would demand the same so why shouldn't you?

There was something doing the rounds in the news a little while ago about people having accidents on motorways where there was an oil or fuel spillage or causing damage to a sign and then being sent bills for £1000s a few weeks/months later for "repairs" that were required as a result. It was something to do with the repairs being sub-contracted but when people queried it, it turned out that the actual repairs cost a few hundred quid at best.

[Owenjg77]

I think my main concern is if I bumped a car and knocked the exhaust off and the person but a high range one on there (to replace a basic exhaust) then surely i wouldn't be expected to pay for the extra for that. They had a basic old camera and now they have put what appears to be a top of the range one up there when originally they told me it was just a bracket that had snapped

[Kez]

I think my main concern is if I bumped a car and knocked the exhaust off and the person but a high range one on there (to replace a basic exhaust) then surely i wouldn't be expected to pay for the extra for that. They had a basic old camera and now they have put what appears to be a top of the range one up there when originally they told me it was just a bracket that had snapped

You would actually be expected to pay for the cost of replacing the expensive exhaust because they'd be entitled to like-for-like. By your logic, if you crashed into someone's Audi in your knocked up old banger, the Audi driver shouldn't be entitled to recover the full cost of the damage from you just because they made the choice to have a more expensive car than you.

The camera is a different issue to your exhaust analogy. If you reversing into the pole damaged the bracket in such a way that the camera requires replacement, you are liable for the cost of replacing the camera. However, I think you might have a reasonable argument if they have replaced the existing camera with a super-dooper all singing all dancing model when there was only a basic model there before, unless they can justify the increased cost for example the old camera was 15yrs old and a similar model now does cost a lot more. If on the other hand your accident broke the bracket and they chose to replace the camera at the same time because it was convenient (as opposed to because the camera was broken/rendered useless by your accident) then no, you wouldn't be expected to foot the bill for the camera but you'd still be liable for the other damage you caused.

[Elmo!]

That's bollox. You don't have to inform your insurance at all. You can simply pay the £3000 yourself. Glad to help.

actually yes you do. you are obliged to inform your insurer of any motor incidents you are involved in whether you are making a claim or not, otherwise your policy will be invalid.

(i don't drive but worked for esure recently)

[damian]

I'm due to be buying my parents car off them on Wednesday. They currently have disability tax on it, so I need to go into the DVLA office to change the classification of the tax - obviously to do this I'll need to provide my insurance certificate.

The problem I have is that I don't get paid until Wednesday, and due to the amount of money I've had to spend on my current car fixing it up I haven't got the money in my bank to pay the deposit / first months insurance until I do get paid. However, if I sort the insurance out on Wednesday, I won't get my insurance certificate until a number of days after (taking into account bank holiday Friday and Monday, unlikely to be until next week), and therefore I won't be able to tax the car or drive it.

Do insurers generally want the money paid to them on the day the insurance is arranged? Or would it normally be the day its due to start?

One option which I'm going to check out tomorrow is just swapping my insurance from my Mondeo to the new car with my current insurer as its not due to end until 18th April, however as I'm going from a 2.0 Mondeo to a 2.2 Zafira I'm assuming they'll want more money off me as well, which again would be immediate if I want the documents sending out. Going forward I'll be going to a new insurer as through the comparison sites my existing insurer (Santander) as asking for twice the amount of the cheapest, for the same level of cover.

Alternatively, would an emailed and printed certificate usually be acceptable for the DVLA, or would it have to be printed or faxed (I think I've had them faxed to me before)? My printer includes fax facilities so I could hook it up to receive a fax.

[TepidT2O]

Most of the time they can email you a certificate.

Arrange the insurance tomorrow and ask for an emailed certificate.

I'm sure you'll get someone to help you with that


There's no problem with an emailed and printed certificate as they are just printed on a printer at the insurers anyway.

There are no special printing presses on embossed paper, so don't panic

I think they check it's insured on the computer before they award the tax anyway, so there may not even be a need for a certificate (although imma bit more shakes on that one)

[Barneylfc∗]

My insurance started on 19th April last year and first payment wasn't until 1st May so you should be ok

[damian]

Most of the time they can email you a certificate.

Arrange the insurance tomorrow and ask for an emailed certificate.

I'm sure you'll get someone to help you with that


There's no problem with an emailed and printed certificate as they are just printed on a printer at the insurers anyway.

There are no special printing presses on embossed paper, so don't panic

That's good, thanks. I just thought in the past I'd been told it couldn't be emailed but could be faxed, which always seemed strange to me. With companies like Swift Cover the certificate can only be printed at home anyway I suppose.

I'm sure the DVLA office could phone through to the insurer to confirm anyway if they feel it necessary.

[damian]

My insurance started on 19th April last year and first payment wasn't until 1st May so you should be ok

Even better, might start making some calls tomorrow, will be nice to get it all sorted in advance, I'm an impatient git and wouldn't be happy if picking the car up was delayed

[damian]

Its actually quite amazing the differences in prices from the cheapest insurer to the most expensive. The cheapest for me on the Zafira is Axa at £392.49. The most expensive is 1st Central at £2638.09. Even Asda want over £1700. I assume they are basically "we don't really want you" quotes.

[thejbs]

I've had a clean, accident free license for 14 years (with NCB) and I still can't get quotes under £500.  I'm registered as a musician and my partner is a photographer - she also has a clean license with good NCB.  They totally shit on both those occupations when you're getting a quote.

[damian]

Just got my insurance sorted - switching it to the other car from midday on Wednesday until the policy expires next month, because I'm so near the end of the policy they said I don't need to pay any more.

However, they can't match my quotes from elsewhere - AXA quoted me £457, Santander quoted be £780 but then managed to get it down to £657, still £200 more though so from next month I'll have to switch.

[damian]

I've had a clean, accident free license for 14 years (with NCB) and I still can't get quotes under £500.  I'm registered as a musician and my partner is a photographer - she also has a clean license with good NCB.  They totally shit on both those occupations when you're getting a quote.

I've actually had 2 accidents in my 13 years of driving (both single car in bad weather, one was a write-off) and now get quotes under that. My no claims is protected though, and 10 years of that now. Can't see why profession should matter, except maybe if they're considering what might be in the car that will need paying for if its stolen.

[WhoHe]

That's good, thanks. I just thought in the past I'd been told it couldn't be emailed but could be faxed, which always seemed strange to me. With companies like Swift Cover the certificate can only be printed at home anyway I suppose.

I'm sure the DVLA office could phone through to the insurer to confirm anyway if they feel it necessary.

Once you have your insurance, MOT etc. it can all be done online in 10 minutes, you do not need anything printed out as all these systems are now connected. Not sure how long its takes for example, for an MOT or new insurance to be on their database but I would think it is a day or two.
I get my tax online and its quick and simple, my wife gets her car tax this way and she is a self confessed luddite !

[AB LFC]

I've had a clean, accident free license for 14 years (with NCB) and I still can't get quotes under £500.  I'm registered as a musician and my partner is a photographer - she also has a clean license with good NCB.  They totally shit on both those occupations when you're getting a quote.

Never knew occupations affected the quotes unless you're a CEO or airline pilot. What occupations are best for getting a decent quote? Might just put unemployed if it bumps it down a bit

[damian]

Once you have your insurance, MOT etc. it can all be done online in 10 minutes, you do not need anything printed out as all these systems are now connected. Not sure how long its takes for example, for an MOT or new insurance to be on their database but I would think it is a day or two.
I get my tax online and its quick and simple, my wife gets her car tax this way and she is a self confessed luddite !

Can't do it online in this case unfortunately as its currently got mobility tax on it (which is paid for), so we have to actually go into a DVLA office to change the classification of it. We were told by someone yesterday that he had to do the same thing, and he said he was shocked by the number of questions he had to answer, not sure why.

[paddysour]

I've had a clean, accident free license for 14 years (with NCB) and I still can't get quotes under £500.  I'm registered as a musician and my partner is a photographer - she also has a clean license with good NCB.  They totally shit on both those occupations when you're getting a quote.

Put down two people as named drivers, who have 'safer' jobs and clean liscenes. Mine is 200 quid cheaper that way. You don't need permission from them either and it doesn't effect their NCB or anything like that in any way.

[CHOPPER]

Went onto Moneysupermarket and ended up getting my insurance with the Post Office, of all places. Saved meself abar 250 quid.

[damian]

Its weird the way it works, can never understand it myself. For me the Post Office are asking for £733, AXA are almost £300 cheaper. Yet for others it will probably be the other way around.

More Than are getting on my nerves a little at the moment. Somehow they've got my number (I usually put a fake one down if they demand a number), and they are calling every few days. However, through comparethemeerkat.com they've quoted me £872 - I can see where they got their name from with a quote like that.

[Kez]

I've had a clean, accident free license for 14 years (with NCB) and I still can't get quotes under £500.  I'm registered as a musician and my partner is a photographer - she also has a clean license with good NCB.  They totally shit on both those occupations when you're getting a quote.

It's not your occupation, it's your location.

[Wiles]

Sainsburys are cheap. Get a discount if you have a nectar card. £260 for me and the misses for a fieasta ST 2.0ltr.

[damian]

Sainsburys are cheap. Get a discount if you have a nectar card. £260 for me and the misses for a fieasta ST 2.0ltr.

Perfect example of my previous post - £992, or £1,113 for premium.

Thats with 13 years driving experience and 10 years NCB.

[thejbs]

It's not your occupation, it's your location.

Nope.  Its entirely down to occupation and I've been told as much.  Teacher friends of ours (who're actually slightly younger) living in the same area get quotes around £300 easily.  Some companies refuse to insure musicians and others photographers. We're limited in who we can take out a policy with as they have to agree to insure both of us.

The problem with musicians and photographers is similar.  In one respect, there's an increased likelihood that you will be transporting expensive but mobile equipment.  When we go out for a shoot, the contents of our car are worth more than the actual car!  This, according to insurance companies, creates a higher risk of break in.  Also, in terms of photographers, paps tend to make a lot of claims.  It doesn't matter that my missus is not a pap, and that her equipment is separately insured against car break-ins.... insurance companies won't take that on board.

I'm actually shocked that people on here don't realise that occupation is a big factor in determining your car insurance?!