Insurers refusing to cover vehicles over 15 years old

[Largactil]

Press article in Ireland last week:

 

 

 

http://www.independent.ie/life/motoring/car-news/insurers-refuse-to-cover-older-vehicles-31397715.html

 

"Two of the country's biggest motor insurers, Aviva and Allianz, are refusing to provide cover to new customers driving cars 15 years or older, even if they hold a valid NCT proving that their vehicles are safe to drive.The insurers claimed these cars tended to be involved in more collisions, were used in fraud cases, had bald tyres and were poorly maintained. The exclusion only applies to new customers, the companies said, adding that existing clients whose cars had passed the threshold would continue to get insurance cover. But the restrictions come amid a steady increase in motor insurance premiums, which rose 12pc last year. Experts have warned motorists to expect further hikes in 2015 of between 8pc and 15pc, due to the high cost of settling claims.

Aviva Insurance said the decision was taken based on risk assessments and applied even if the car had passed an NCT.

The move comes despite data from the Road Safety Authority (RSA), which shows that vehicle condition is only a contributory factor in 0.2pc of all fatal and serious-injury collisions - or seven from more than 3,200 which occurred in 2012.

The move affects almost 250,000 vehicles on the roads, or 13pc of the entire national fleet of 1.91 million cars."

 

 

 

Not very chod friendly - Will something similar ever happen in blighty?

[J-Rod]

 

 

Not very chod friendly

Indeed not. I could take a quick walk down my street where the oldest car is currently a Y-Plate Clio 172, which is a well looked after little thing, parked up next to a completely decked 08 Fiesta. I don't think I'd be far wrong in suspecting that the real reason they don't want to insure them any more is that they make far less money from them..? 

[barefoot]

I have found that a number of insurers will only offer TPF&T on my vehicles because they are 'older'.

I suspect that I will find my days of shopping around have come to an end & I will be stuck with Aviva until the end of time.

[Bear]

"Two of the country's crappest motor insurers, Aviva and Allianz"

 

FTFY.

 

DirectLine had a phase of that back in the early 2000s (they were also pushing sportier/classics to Privilege), but it was 21 years old & older and they seem to have wound their necks in on that one (FWIW, they're cheaper than any classic policy for my SLK). However, I suspect the situation over the sea is that cheaper cars are also older cars, due to the taxation and so forth, whereas the kind of shit that gets used for slam-ons and fraud is just decade-old worthless crap like old Micras or E36/W202s.*

 

*source - my ex worked in a legal firm dealing with claims mitigation. Which is why I leave a HUGE gap when following cars in Leicester, because that badly driven Corsa might have 7 people all about to get whiplash.

[HH-R]

Can't see this coming in here, a car over 15 years old is a rare beast. You see the odd weeks away from death hanging mk4 Fiesta or Micra being driven at warp speed now and then, but other than that shite driving is pretty evenly spread about car ages.

[Jerzy Woking]

When I ride into work (60 miles each way) I rarely see anything older than a 52 plated car. As for motor bikes, I see many E, F G and H reg ones everyday. In fact, my youngest commuter bike is a V reg, my oldest a P reg.

[Lankytim]

I thought most "crash for cash" cars were hired from Enterprise or similar? It's meant to be a big problem for them.

[Lord Sterling]

Press article in Ireland last week:

 

http://www.independent.ie/life/motoring/car-news/insurers-refuse-to-cover-older-vehicles-31397715.html

 

"Two of the country's biggest motor insurers, Aviva and Allianz, are refusing to provide cover to new customers driving cars 15 years or older, even if they hold a valid NCT proving that their vehicles are safe to drive.The insurers claimed these cars tended to be involved in more collisions, were used in fraud cases, had bald tyres and were poorly maintained. The exclusion only applies to new customers, the companies said, adding that existing clients whose cars had passed the threshold would continue to get insurance cover. But the restrictions come amid a steady increase in motor insurance premiums, which rose 12pc last year. Experts have warned motorists to expect further hikes in 2015 of between 8pc and 15pc, due to the high cost of settling claims.Aviva Insurance said the decision was taken based on risk assessments and applied even if the car had passed an NCT.The move comes despite data from the Road Safety Authority (RSA), which shows that vehicle condition is only a contributory factor in 0.2pc of all fatal and serious-injury collisions - or seven from more than 3,200 which occurred in 2012.The move affects almost 250,000 vehicles on the roads, or 13pc of the entire national fleet of 1.91 million cars."

 

Not very chod friendly - Will something similar ever happen in blighty?

I'm sure this will start to happen over here sooner rather than later. Reason being that the groups of Insurance underwriters who decide on the overall costs of premiums and the reasons for doing so really don't understand the reality of the car world and thier owners. They are embarrased that some people are still driving old cars and think we should either be driving 60-plated vehicles or take the bus.

 

Society in general have been taught that driving anything over 5 years old is a 'no no' you'll simply be laughed at by all of your friends and be basically ostracised.

 

Yes, maybe 10/15 years ago, older cars were used by ne'ar-do-wells to get around and about, but nowadays, your drug dealer/general shifty type can easily be spotted driving a 60-plate Octavia/Fiesta etc... not a 20 year old Jag.

 

Even the Police still have this misinformed stupid idea that ANYONE driving an old vehicle is a suspect "because old vehicles don't get maintained" and it's not a classic unless it's from the 50s and it's got wire wheels.

 

That is unfortunately how these people think, not even a grip on reality.

[Bear]

I thought most "crash for cash" cars were hired from Enterprise or similar? It's meant to be a big problem for them.

 

On one half of the equation, yeah. Usually an Uncle/Aunt/in-law driving the hired car rear-ending/swiping/parking dent one of the family disposable bangers; onus is on the hire company to deal with it, suddenly many claimants for injury emerge near the 3-year deadline.

 

The Corsa/7 people (all related) one was true, btw.

[Bear]

Bear in mind the rental car accident is not declared to the driver's own insurance and often documents are... vague.

[brickwall]

Stuff 'em. others will enter the market if there is demand.

[sierraman]

I can't see many insurers going for this. At the end of the day they make more money insuring old bangers as they are less likely to claim and in the event they do there's little to pay out.

[mercrocker]

Any sign of discrimination against the vehicles I chose to drive and the company concerned can FRO. It might conceivably become the case that certain high-profile insurers choose to streamline their business based upon the utterance of some marketing pillock but I am unlikely to be giving them any money in the first place....

[danthecapriman]

There's no shortage of insurance company's. If one or two don't want my business then I'll take my money elsewhere, someone else will be only too happy to get their hands on my cash. Bollocks to em!

[Richard]

There's no shortage of insurance company's.

I'm not certain that's true, I've a feeling they are all part of about six big companies.

[forddeliveryboy]

It's more than likely a big-cheese in the insurance business (only one slippery step away from the blackmail industry and one well worthy of contempt and closer inspection) woke up one morning the wrong way out, opened his expensive nylon curtains and saw an MGF ruining the exclusive housing estate he and his estate agent wife had invested in. Which someone had flatbedded home at 3am.

[Bear]

They're underwritten by a few larger companies - Direct Line, Privilege (they still going?), Tesco I think are UK Insurance, which was part of RBS; Norwich Union/Aviva underwrites a fair few, Nig-Skandia, Zurich...

 

The thing is, the packages they offer direct to customers aren't always the same as the brokers. Hence why Peter Best can offer some pretty decent rates for young drivers wanting a classic, or Adrian Flux can do good things for American/modified (as long as you don't want to change cars, pay monthly without being shafted, or have an accident), and so on and so forth. Aviva might easily say "we don't cover cars over 15 years old", but "Aviva" will still be underwriting that risk for another broker, who may do things like not including motor legal protection or courtesy cars, or will negotiate higher rates for agreed value.

 

And frankly there is enough variance in their horseshit sales tactics to get a good deal. Personally, I find Direct Line beat everything I try for good deals - I have 20 years without claims, etc. and have loads of NCB stacked on different cars, but they match NCB across all cars I own regardless - unlike Admiral, who have that multi-car nonsense that still requires NCB per car when you take the policy out, incurs vicious charges for monthly, and gives shit quotes anyway. Having said that, Direct Line give me the best prices for my Mercedes - the Chrysler 300C they clearly didn't want to touch, demanding an £800 excess (I normally have £100-150) and quoting £600. Kwik-Fit took £247, then a few quid more for MLP etc. They weren't bad when I cancelled and didn't savage me with fees, so I'm well disposed towards Kwik-Fit as a budget option.

 

But the SLK is under £200, fully comp, business use, etc. - it makes no sense, but I'm not arguing. And to further underline the service I've had - which does not extend to a car claim so I accept other people's negative experiences as fair - they even sent a cheque for £99, unrequested, because they'd accidentally charged me too much for a previous car.

[mercrocker]

Same underwriters and same products can be brokered by different agents and its here that the difference lies. I had my van insured through Adrian Fux until they took the piss with renewal fees and general snot-gobbery. Went straight to Just Kampers and got the exact same policy with the same Insurance company for £25 less without any added fees and including cover for commuting which wasn't covered on the AF scheme.

[brickwall]

Motoring insurance is not an entity in itself. All insurance products are related and when there is, say, major flooding in the UK and a mega bill of 5 billion in claims, the insurance companies need to replenish their pot.

 

looking at the stats for car insurance, even for older cars, is incredibly lucrative.

[Parky]

Remember the insurers are themselves insured.