Car Insurance

[shelley bda]

Yup on both accounts though I havent held a license for long

[Saracen]

.....

It might be just me but does anyone else find a quote of over £1600 for a single years insurance mind-bogglingly expensive?

Yes and no.

As Lowe said earlier, it's about what you might drive into. A young driver might be driving an old-ish car worth less than the insurance premium, but when they smack it into the back of a £50k Merc (or worse) the repair bills can get seriously high in a hurry.

Moreover, this country is getting increasingly litigious, with ambulance-chasing personal injury lawyers actively touting for business. So, if someone smacks into the back of anything, let alone an expensive car, then the potential is there for some hefty personal injury payouts. Someone, somewhere, is going to be paying for those payouts.

And, statistically speaking, those under 21, and even under 25, are much more likely to be involved in accidents than those with a more mature head on their shoulders, and more driving experience.

Insurance premiums are, essentially, based on two things ..... the assessment the insurance company makes of the risk they're running, and their extensive research into the costs they'll face in the event of a claim. And, after all, if youngster's insurance premiums were kept artificially low in relation to risk and payouts, someone else will be paying for it. I certainly don't want to be paying more to cross-subsidise it.

So are young people's insurance bills bind-bogglingly expensive? Yup. But so are the claims insurance companies can end up settling in relation to them.

[whisperer]

I got a 1.4 Skoda Fabia Estate last November with the insurance in my name, but both parents as named drivers. My dad had a look around and found Diamond for me for my frist years insurance (yes I know that doesn't count for everyone), the point is, when it came to renewal time (Diamond quote £580) I had a look on the net on confused.com (or gocompare) and asked them to find me quotes.

The quotes they gave me were shocking (£1000 being the cheapest). But it narrowed down my search on where to look. For example it hadn't got a quote from Shielas wheels or elephant and quite a few other places. So i went to those sites myself to see either, why the wouldn't quote, or what they would quote me, which is how I found elephant (360 renewal).

It could be worth having a general search around everywhere and see what they'll give you...

Another hint, with both diamond and elephant I got 10months insurance, not 12 months, but at the end of 10months they give you 1 year no claims bonus (provided you don't claim of course), but going for 10months (which works out at basically the same amount/month as insuring for 12 months) means you get your no claims bonus' through quicker which is very cool

Hope this makes sense and helps a bit

x

[Butcher]

It's slightly more per month with the 10 month deals I found, but overall you save since the extra NCB knocks your premium down sooner.

[mikefriendly]

My daughter's friend found this site:

misscar co uk

It's only just started, but it gives really good insurance quotes

Mike

[mistersifter]

I followed advice from various experts which was to shop around using at least two price comparison sites like TescoCompare.com and GoCompare.com. It only takes about 15 minutes and you compare most of the market. I then went to the shortlisted insurer sites to confirm the premiums and check the policy details. Doing this saved me £79 this year. For reference I found these sites in a directory which lists most motor insurers at uk-insurance-index.co.uk/car-insurance-companies.html but it doesn't compare quotes though. It does have reviews from customers who have claimed which might be worth a look before you part with your cash.

[SilentDeath]

My insurance is up next month
heres my history so far:


Two years ago. Quinn direct 3PFT, 1 year named driver discount (they honoured this from my dads pollicy), me 20 Years old. 1.6 fiesta, car has built in immobilliser.
£905. If I went with a smaller engine.. 1.0 or anything.. lowest I could get was £804

Last year, 1.6 fiesta, 1year NCB, Im 21. Same car. Also quinn direct.
£560 3PFT

Half way through the fiesta died and I got the saab. 2.3L engine, wieghs almost 2x as much. Has no immobiliser.
£117 extra, for half year. Also told them about my speeding fine from last year.

This works out at £780 for a whole year.

Next month:
Im already 22, same car. Renewal quote is £665
Somehow I feel cheated.. this is farrrr more than I was expecting... of much nearer £550...

Ecar gave me a similar quote.. £700 as above, but if I buy myself an immobiliser it then goes down to £604.


Now Im bit annoyed with QD. Im now also paying for breakdown cover included free.. however my car is too old to use it (15yr)
The only added value to their policy is to drive any car with 3rd party cover, but I rarely use that... and could live without it..


Ive heard many bad storys about them being incredibly slow at processing any claims, although the customer service is quite nice.. irish accents are annoying... but they are not fussy if you want to change anything.. or add a speeding fine



Also quinn direct refuse to give me any quotes online now.. since I am a customer (with a renewal quote).. but I suppose thats fair.

[Car"t"man]

Here's some information insurance advice, hopefully it will help!

Here's a BBC article about Car Insurance
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6285008.stm

Car insurance examples for Male and Female in an article from the Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2006...motorinsurance

Here's some general information on several topics such as:
car insurance, advice on making a claim and choosing a policy

[mmh]

what helped me out first year was having my mom on the policy (NOT MAIN DRIVER)... i was the main driver, and i added my mom as a named driver... dropped the price by like £300!

the way the insurance figures it, is that even though you are high risk, if theres a "sensible" driver (older woman lots of no claims) then only 1 of you can be driving the car at any time, and that takes some of the year away from your high risk to thier low risk, and drops the price...

nevertheless, the cost of insuring my 3 year old 1.6 modified astra was still high, it would have been alot less had i not got a modded car

£1800 TPFT first year for me: bell.com (part of admiral)...

then i went with ecarinsurance - 8 months on thier pay as you go gets a year ncd. i didnt intend to stay on it, as i was only going to stay on the policy for a few months whilst i sorted out the money to buy my new car...

that worked out at about £150 per month TPFT for 8 months, but i got a year no claims, and now i drive a 2.5l bmw for £990 a year Fully Comp (tesco).

started driving almost 2 years ago, and im 22 in a couple of weeks.

no longer put my mom as a named driver though... it increases the price now... (dont ask, i dont know

[dave87]

I found the same when I tried to put Mother & Father on my Civic Sport (2.2 Diesel) - they both pushed the price up

The good thing is I managed to get the car insured for £1175, which considering I was 20 when I took out the policy though I did have 3 years ncb, wasn't bad at all.

Oh, and with Tesco, the excess is set at 0 but certain amounts are added for various ages - ie Under 21 - £400, 21-25 £250. Which was fantastic as I turned 21 about a month and a half into the policy

[Yosh]

If your car is low value, and providing insurance companies still do it, you can go for 3rd party only.

I did this for the first year and saved quite a few ££'s, my first car only cost me £254, so if it went up in smoke or got nicked i would just buy another, but where i am its a slim chance it would get nicked, and the chance it could go up in smoke, thats a risk i took

[beechams]

Hi, can sum1 plz help me,
instead of goin into great detail i'll keep it simple (just like me) ha
ok is it possible to hold 2 insurance policys in the same name but on different cars?
any help wud be greatly appreciated

[mrt9888]

Yes you can have two policies with the same name on different cars.

[directhex]

Yes you can have two policies with the same name on different cars.

but you need to build up the no-claims bonuses separately (i.e. if you transfer 4 years NCB to one car, and buy another car, that's 0 years' ncb on the second car)

[digit]

but you need to build up the no-claims bonuses separately (i.e. if you transfer 4 years NCB to one car, and buy another car, that's 0 years' ncb on the second car)

I think multicar policies allow the no claims to be shared between both vechicles? I know Admiral offer a multi car policy.

[Technogeek]

You got to be old like me to get cheap car insurance.

over 40, running a Rover 420 SLI (2.0 ltr) M reg and my insurance fully comp is £243 a year.

It's not great being a new driver as the expense of driving lessons is bad enough then trying to find a cheap enough car, the insurance is too high and on top of that you have to MOT and Tax the