insurance

[directhex]

my insurance renewal is due in a couple of months, so i'm starting to shop about.

last time was my first insurance, and it ended up costing me £920ish from tesco - my second cheapest quote by quite a long way. (fully comp)

this time around i'm insuring my 1.4l 53-plate honda jazz se sport, and will have 1 year NCB; held a full license for 9 months.

from the 20 or so places i've searched this time around, the most expensive quote was over £1200 from admiral, and the cheapest was £570 from (gasp) the aa.

i was curious as to which insurers you lot use, and how much you're paying - especially the young and newly-qualified drivers amongst you. and whether you can suggest someone cheaper than the aa, that'd be cool too

[Howard]

I use Admiral, they gave me the cheapest quote, but that doesn't really help you... Lol.

I'll probably go with Direct Line when I renew if the price is right. Family have been with them for yonks, I know they're decent. Renewal will probably be about £850-900 for me.

[Ruggerbugger]

That's very expensive, even for a new driver. I'm now paying £400 with 5 years no claims for an R-plate 1.6i Escort. That includes a £60 loading from Direct Line because I managed to rear-end someone on a roundabout this year . My first policy, 6 years ago now, was £500 from Direct Line again, for a 1.4 Peugot 205. I was 20 at the time.

My policy this year was far from the cheapest (some no-mark company offered less than £300), but I came up against Hastings Direct's appalling courtesy car policy this year (1 week before they'd pick my car up, another week to assess, even then not guaranteed a car). With Direct Line I'm guaranteed a courtesy car delivered to my home/accident scene.

It's well worth looking beyond the cheapest quote to the nitty gritty of the policy. Also, do what you can to reduce your risk; tell them you garage the car, drive less than 10,000 miles, increase your voluntary excess etc.

Good luck

[edit] As Howard says, Direct Line's customer service is pretty good. Avoid the Post Office like the plague (they use Hastings Direct) and Tesco Value insurance - dirt cheap for me, if I didn't mind paying a £450 accidental damage excess and only being allowed to use approved repairers.

[Rave]

Have you been on Insuresupermarket and confused.com? They work well in my experience. Admiral or Elephant (different branches of the same company) have always been cheapest for me, no idea how good their CS is though as I've never claimed.

[Howard]

Yeah I am surprised Admiral gave such an expensive quote; Mine costed me £1350, this was November ish when I bought my new car (1.6l engine, group 6 insurance) and I didn't have any no claims, and a year's driving experience. I couldn't find it cheaper, but when I come to renew I'll (fingers crossed) have a year's no claims which is where it starts to drop nicely

[Choo Choo]

I'm a new driver and I'm using Nationwide for my insurance. I paid roughly around the same money as the OP did for fully comp, plus £50 for legal assistance or something

I'm also in the same situation (insurance renew coming up with hopefully 1 year NCB) so I'm pretty interested in this thread too.

[GoNz0]

i found a bargain via confused.com

i went with elephant.co.uk for the BMw and the mrs has a new corsa and is with shiela's wheels

[directhex]

Have you been on Insuresupermarket and confused.com? They work well in my experience. Admiral or Elephant (different branches of the same company) have always been cheapest for me, no idea how good their CS is though as I've never claimed.

confused were reasonable, but my two cheapest (direct line & the aa) weren't included on there. elephant came back at £1050ish

[dave87]

Not sure how they fare with cars, but I found that my Bike Insurance was significantly cheaper with Carole Nash - I'm 18 with 1yrs NCB, with a full bike license

Hope that helps, but you do have to ring them up, because afaik they don't have an online quote option.

[SilentDeath]

quinn direct was cheapest for me when I looked in April, by several hundred although I only looked on confused (missing about 2 companies that have lots of resellers like you said with hastings direct.

But mine was a lot more than alll of yours, not quite sure why but im 20. I passed in november/05 however they counted the 1 year on my dads insurance as a named driver for the same discount as 1year ncb.
£800 was lowest quote possible with any car 3d party fire and theft, £904 for my 1.6 fiesta (which was the best condition car of all i looked at and maybe cheapest too so i didnt mind more on the insurance).

How old are you all?

[chrislusty]

I always find Norwich Union are excellent for me, the closest quotes to them are £200 more, im currently paying £600 FC on a 1.8 Mondeo with 2years NCB and four years of driving.

[chriswood_7]

That's very expensive, even for a new driver. I'm now paying £400 with 5 years no claims for an R-plate 1.6i Escort. That includes a £60 loading from Direct Line because I managed to rear-end someone on a roundabout this year . My first policy, 6 years ago now, was £500 from Direct Line again, for a 1.4 Peugot 205. I was 20 at the time.

Nah thats actually quite cheap for a new driver, and if hes 24 or under then thats about average for fully comprehensive. Ive had my license coming up 3 years, but just recently started on my own insurance in January so having to work my way up the NCB tree. My corsa was going to cost me £755 on renewal if I had 1 years NCB, and thats for a 1200cc. Last month I decided to buy a Seat Ibiza FR which is an 1800 turbo and managed to get my quote down to £906 fully comp with 0 NCB's, very expensive I know, but it just shows thats its not the car thats the risk its the person driving it!

But the bottom line is if your under 25 and want fully comp with very little or no NCB then your going to pay stupid prices as your a very high risk in their eyes.

[Zak33]

Virgin Money do car insurance.

Very efficient indeed for me last year.

[directhex]

Virgin Money do car insurance.

Very efficient indeed for me last year.

good quote, not as cheap as the aa though.

what do people think about taking a higher voluntary excess to lower premiums?

[dave87]

its alright if in the event of a claim you can cover it, though sometimes the difference made is soo small that its almost not worth it..

[mart_haj86]

I beleive that if your between 18 and 25 years old "more than" will give you 40% off your insurance providing you do not drive between 11pm and 6am in the morning, and that if you do drive between these hours they charge you 25 pound for each time you do so. Could be a good deal if you dont drive during the wee small hours.