Car insurance suggestions

gilby

Bit worried about octatonics comments on modifications. I've made a few on the rover 75, not that they're "performance enhancing" mods, more rectifying design flaws.

monquixote

gilby said:

Bit worried about octatonics comments on modifications. I've made a few on the rover 75, not that they're "performance enhancing" mods, more rectifying design flaws.

It's always worth mentioning stuff to them just so they can't hold it against you.

ftumch

There's a good guide on moneysavingsexpert basically he says phone absolutely everyone. Takes a while but do it, when I lost all my no claims a while ago my insurance went up from about £300 to over £1000 there's no way I'm paying that, each quite I got seemed to down a little less and the very last company I phoned quoted me 350 ish. I'm sure they're all linked at the top if the chain and they try it on.

TTony

chillidoggy said:

What she could do that might make it cheaper is for your missus to insure it, and put her mum down as a named driver. That can bring the cost down. But you mustn't put your missus down as a named driver if she's the main user. I believe that's a bit dodgy?

Absolutely this.

My stepson's first insurance was c£2k.  Put his mum down as a named driver saved c£500.

He is the owner and main driver.  It's registered to his address.  But MrsTT is a named driver on the policy (and she has driven it FWIW).  Nothing other than completely honest, and it saved a chuck of premium.

octatonic

monquixote said:

gilby said:

Bit worried about octatonics comments on modifications. I've made a few on the rover 75, not that they're "performance enhancing" mods, more rectifying design flaws.

It's always worth mentioning stuff to them just so they can't hold it against you.

When I insured the car I bought a few months ago the woman on the phone read through the T&C's.

One of the clauses was 'you must notify us if you make any modifications to the car'.

I stopped her and said 'how minor are the modifications?' and we had a 10 minute discussion about what they might be.

That included tow-bars, new stereos and anything that wasn't a like for like swap with the car.

You don't have to tell them if you replace tyres but you do (I'm told) have to tell them if you change alloys- I guess because people who change alloys are more of a risk- the boy-racer types.

Failure to do this can invalidate your insurance.

It would be worth checking with your insurance company as to what their T&C's are of course.

Mick

"That included tow-bars, new stereos and anything that wasn't a like for like swap with the car"

Getting silly isn't it. Someone really needs to look into these insurance companies tbh.  Even if you do get them to pay out, they'll only give you trade price for the car.  How are you expected to by a replacement at trade price.

BenSirAmos

chillidoggy said:

 But you mustn't put your missus down as a named driver if she's the main user. I believe that's a bit dodgy?

This is why I was suggesting Mum insured it but had daughter down as registered keeper - I thought it would then be obvious her daughter was also the main user - but I'm not sure.

monquixote

You have to be the main user if it's in your name I think

digitalscream

BenSirAmos said:

chillidoggy said:

 But you mustn't put your missus down as a named driver if she's the main user. I believe that's a bit dodgy?

This is why I was suggesting Mum insured it but had daughter down as registered keeper - I thought it would then be obvious her daughter was also the main user - but I'm not sure.

Nah, the main user has to be the registered keeper for almost all insurance policies these days.

For what it's worth, I ran up a quote at drivelikeagirl.com and it came out £250 cheaper, paying monthly. The discount after 3 months could be a whopping £28, so that's pretty much irrelevant compared with the initial saving.

Mick said:

http://www.co-operativeinsurance.co.uk/

£1220. Ouch.

octatonic

monquixote said:

You have to be the main user if it's in your name I think

You can get insurance if you aren't the registered keeper but some insurance companies won't insure you.

It is highly unlikely to be cheaper though.

Again, they are wise to this sort of thing in 2013 and you have to pay accordingly.

They will assume that the main user who is not the registered keeper has no financial interest in keeping the car safe, hence will take more risks with it.

There simply is no free lunch with insurance.

When I got here in 2001 I had 13 years of a perfect driving record in Australia that counted for absolutely nothing.

I was paying around £1000 for the first 5 years.

Mick

digitalscream said:.

Mick said:

http://www.co-operativeinsurance.co.uk/

£1220. Ouch.

Blimey, they come in the higher bracket then.  How do all these companies quote "Save x amount on your car insurance" ?

Legalised robbery.  Spose the government do very nicely out of it, so they'll do nothing to stop it. 

monquixote

It's not that surprising they skin you when you have a 20% chance of having an accident in your first year. 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1408191/One-in-five-new-drivers-crashes-within-first-year.html

My insurance doubled when I added my wife as a named driver after passing her test. 

One year on it's dropped back down again.

Mick

But what are the odds of you having an accident after your first year, do they quote those figures. There's some right nutters about, I've seen them in the supermarket car park.

gilby

Drifting back to the modifying cars, I'll email my insurer and find out what's what.
My mods were to replace the hand brake tensioner with one that can't stretch and snap, drilled holes where the water builds up just under the ECU (yeah, great design) and last week I fitted an inline thermostat on the top hose so I can have some kind of warmth this winter. (Nice one BMW, design a car that requires half a day to get to a faulty thermostat).

Sporky

I found the ten month policies were good for building up NCB. And shopping around every year.

Kebabkid

octatonic said:

I find Admiral to be the cheapest for most things.

We have a couple of BMW's- one has a grunty 3L engine and it costs £550 a year, parked on the street, in London, in a suburb that is usually on fire.

I'd go with Admiral too but look at their on-line price and other online comparison sites.
Basically, and this was this week, we received our posted quote from Admiral for our 2 cars (a Toyota 2.L Avensis estate and Ford Fiesta) and it was £603. When we looked up Admiral's prices online and also with other companies, they were much, much lower. If you take the reference quote from these online places and ring Admiral, they'll match it and possibly other companies will do too. Ours came out at £341 in the end for the 2 cars and good service too from the call centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
BTW, if you do end up going with a new insurer, make sure it's not just the price that's good and ensure you're getting all the things you had before or want like courtesy car, protected no claims bonus, no silly excess fees etc

All this has made me think twice about all sorts of other bills now and I if you use the comparison sites and that Martin Lewis' money advice, you can save a lot!

All the best