Inshurance - how do you do it cheaply?

[rantingYoof]

Firstly, while I may grumble a bit* about insurance companies in this post, this isn't a slagging-off-insurance-companies-and-their-mysterious-ways thread. These threads are common-place everywhere on the Internet, and I am genuinely searching for some useful information.

 

I'm toying with the idea of a second car. Well, I've been thinking about it a long while, but recently I began looking at finances and pricing things up. Reason being is that I have no hobbies, per se. I'm a PC gamer, I listen to music, I like going out for walks, but I don't have any monthly expenditure purely on "hobbies". My hobby is really "cars", and therefore why should I not assign a monthly budget for indulging in this? While cars can be unpredictable and throw up other unforeseen costs, playing in the shite end of the market means that I risk getting my fingertips burnt rather than my whole hand.

 

Not withstanding an initial purchase price of £300 or less, and banking on finding a mechanically sound vehicle with some ticket left on it, my thoughts are that paying tax monthly on a car with a smaller engine would come out around £20 a month. Petrol would be put in very infrequently due to using it purely for social/pissing about/FOR THE LAWLS INNIT.

 

Therefore, aiming for a monthly insurance payment of around £20-25 a month seemed reasonable.

 

Inspired by the recent exploits of Supernaut and 17-Coffees in their super-cheap bargain base-spec BMW 316, and feeling optimistic in my capabilities to navigate Mongtree or eBelm to bag a similarly priced bargain, I rang my insurance company. I go via Insurepink, which is a trading name of Hastings Insurance Services. I paid £270 to be insured fully comp, 10k per year mileage with 3k of that being business related on a 2005 S60 2.0T.

Bottom line is that they do not do mutli-car policies, and nor do they do "classic" T&Cs that allow for much discounted annual policies. Cancelling a policy mid-term would incur a £45 admin fee (BECAUSE IT TAKES SEVEN MAN HOURS TO PRESS A BUTTONZ TO STOP POLICY!!!!!1111 *trollface*) so I'm kinda stuck with that. Overall my experience with Insurepink has been very good.

 

So I found a couple of truly shite cars of the sort that could be picked up for around £300 and did some generic Cum Pear The Myrrh Cart style quotations.

 

The following quotes were all obtained on the following basis:

• D-rated postcode (this surprised me - the area is nice and I feel happy leaving bedroom windows open when going out etc)
• Car parked on the driveway
• 11 years driving experience
• No NCB as it's all on my current policy - however I've never made a claim in my driving life)
• 29 years old
• 2000 miles per year, social use only, off-peak
• Access to one other vehicle with insured vehicle NOT being the main vehicle
• Voluntary excess £250
• Fully comprehensive

2000 Volvo C70 coupe (2.4 170hp) - £450

1994 Ford Mondeo (1.6 16v) - £425

1998 Rover 618si (1.8 16v) - £480

1992 Volvo 480 ES (1.7 8v) - £NO QUOTE AVAILABLE ONLINE

 

I simply don't know what I'm doing wrong, or whether I'm even doing anything wrong and it's insurance companies trolling the fuck out of me. Is it because these sorts of quotes/policies are best sourced on the telephone where you can talk to a human being that can manipulate the system a bit? Is it because I'm not yet 30 years old and the sort of sub £250pa quotes you hear about people having are all over the age of 30? Is it the post-code? Is it the fact I have no NCB to add to it? Do I just suck as a human being?

 

I come to you, good people of Autoshite, because many of you have multiple cars of a shite nature and I'm sure you're not insuring each one at £300 a whack. FOAD's insurance company must have filing cabinets just for him and they must know his number off by heart when he rings them every four weeks. Is Admiral really the awesomest company for multicar policies? One thing I've thought of is that most companies only recognise up to nine years of NCB. Maybe there's scope for the two additional years I have on that to be transferred onto a new policy if I can provide proof?

 

Plz send halp. You will be helping to enable someone to indulge in Shite ownership, which is largely unnecessary and inappropriate as I really don't have space for it, so ultimately you'll be doing A Good Thing for someone.

[taxi paul]

I am with admiral and they mirror my 15yrs no claims on both cars. BUT I live in L36 Merseyside which is on a par with Helmand province or suchlike. I am 52 and to insure my Mazda 5 and my Toyota hiace is around £950.00 per year. They wont do my rover 75 has a classic policy and wanted £600.00 extra for it. So the 75 is sorned cos i can't afford it. I did shop around and found admiral the cheapest for me.

[rantingYoof]

I've got a boohoo photo coming up on my Tapatalk screen for the forum. Retrospectively it really is a first world problem whinge!

 

It does seem like admiral are worth checking out.

 

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

[taxi paul]

Admiral are expensive for monthly payments though. Aviva also mirror ncb and are a lot cheaper for monthly payments. Or get yourself a new credit card with one year interest free on purchases and use it to pay insurance. After a year apply for another one and do same again.

[Tamworthbay]

Age of car is critical for classic policies. There used to be loads that did 20 yrs old and a few that would do 15yrs. I don't know of a single one that will do less than 20yrs now and most are 25yrs. If you could find a car from 1991 or earlier then it would help a lot. My house is in a lower risk category than yours but I don't know how much difference that makes. As a comparison I pay £50 for a 1300 dolomite, 3000 miles agreed value at £1500 and £62 for a 1600 Capri, 1500 miles agreed value of £5000.

[hairnet]

looking at your list theyre not quite old enuff and sounds like theyre £££ wise normal policies - just keep trying comparison etc

 

visa is 100 quid parked on the street - noone knows what it is so they wouldnt go near it anyway

 

but its almost as old as i am

[Mr A Lawrence]

Age of car is critical for classic policies. There used to be loads that did 20 yrs old and a few that would do 15yrs. I don't know of a single one that will do less than 20yrs now and most are 25yrs. If you could find a car from 1991 or earlier then it would help a lot. My house is in a lower risk category than yours but I don't know how much difference that makes. As a comparison I pay £50 for a 1300 dolomite, 3000 miles agreed value at £1500 and £62 for a 1600 Capri, 1500 miles agreed value of £5000.

The wifes Mgf is 18yrs old and is on a Classic policy for £218 comp with 1yr ncb.

[Tamworthbay]

The wifes Mgf is 18yrs old and is on a Classic policy for £218 comp with 1yr ncb.

with?

[brownnova]

Esure also do multi car. I paid 220 or so for the MX5 on a multi car last year.

 

This year I went separately with Adrian Flux and paid 175. Would have been cheaper but the silly noisy exhaust.

 

Think the key is finding a car that will be covered by a classic policy. I don't think its necessarily about age, so for example an MX5 mk 1 is generally insurable in a classic policy regardless of age.

 

I tend to find the cheaper policies are the classic ones. Plenty of cheap cars that will fit the bill (including mx5s.. ) the 480ES probably would as well.

[Eddie Honda]

Or get yourself a new credit card with one year interest free on purchases and use it to pay insurance. After a year apply for another one and do same again.

 

Or how about just saving the money up and paying in full? I know it's very old fashioned, but it works.

[worldofceri]

Those quotes look pretty much on the money to me.  Not saying it's good value, just what I've come to expect over the years.  As Tayne says, your postcode is likely the problem.  I have the same issue; I can get hundreds knocked off my insurance by putting in a 'better' postcode.

 

When I won the raffle Gooner on here I took out an Admiral multicar policy, so now I have four cars insured for ca. £1200 per annum. The newest is thirteen years old, so this is bloody expensive still (I'm 35 and the wife and I both have loads of no-claims) but cheaper than four independent policies.  Benefits of Admiral as far as I can see are that they give a much better discount than other mainstream insurers on multi-policies, and we're now earning four lots of no-claims, which I believe may not happen with classic multicar policies.

 

hth!

[purplebargeken]

Me live in shithole area..... Edmonton N9 LONDON! 

 

All of my tat has been insured with either Footman James, Peter Best Insurance Service or Peter James insurance. I have nil NCB on any of my other cars and they have all been regarded as 'modern classics' so far. I'm 52 and had one my fault accident nearly 5 years ago. No convictions (yet) and the other cars are garaged.

 

I've had other companies refuse to quote as I live in London and do not have a garage attached to the house. I explained that as I live in a mid terraced house that would be a little difficult. 

 

The most costly insurance quote was a tad over 200 quid but I can't recall what it was for. Average is around 100 to 150 quid. Limited mileage and belonging to a classic car club.

[Mr A Lawrence]

with?

Lancaster insurance.

[xtriple]

I have three cars and three separate policies! Bentley is using all my no claims and is £287 a year fully comp, parked on street (it is sometimes) and with 3000 miles use.

MX5 is on a classic policy but I can't remember who with but cost about £200 a year, parked on street (it is sometimes).

The KIA was bought pretty much because insurance for it was dirt cheap! £190 a year, fully comp, no 'no claims' parked on street and it is.... I asked about price with my no claims and it went down to £188 with 15 years no claims! But, I am old and live in a 'good' area, I think it's group 'A'....

 

I really wanted a Lexus LS400 but insurance was bloody silly - £500 plus on a £700 car.

 

Insurance companies? I hate them!

[beko1987]

We have a multicar policy for the meriva and zx, just over 1k a year/£82 a month for both fully comp, the zx with about 15k a year and a £300 excess (which is more than the cars worth...) Meriva is on 10k a year, with a curtsey car and I think legal cover (cos Amy's probably more likely to steer it into a bus shelter full of nuns and kittens than I would in the zx).

 

I did play with the excess on the zx, but it put the monthly price up loads, so left it, and just 'self insure' by not crashing, or if I did have an accident, do everything in my power to total just the zx, and no other car/house/stone wall etc, thrn just buy something else and swap it on the insurance.

[sierraman]

Similar age to yourself, 2.0 Mondeo parked on the road, including business use 10,000 a year. I think from memory it's £450. That's in the next postcode to the 13th (I think) worst post code for car crime.

[KruJoe]

MX5 is a "classic" with Footman James at 15 years old. Most other cars must be 20.

FJ do a multi-car classic policy on which they allow one modern, and no mileage limit.

 

I pay about £360 for the current three car (on the road) fleet for me and Mrs_KJ. She's a fairly new driver so I think we've done ok, though we do live in the arse-end of nowhere.

[DodgyBastard]

I have a classic multi-car policy with footman James. I have 3 cars on it at the moment with one I no longer own and one I that's out of mot. It costs £25 to change any details so I usually wait until I have a couple of cars to change over to save on admin fees. My multicar cost around£400. I also have 4 single policies running which I'm really trying not to think about what its costing... The tata is £40 per month and has been out of not since April, the 305 is around £40 too, the forester is £70, the c15 is around £40 so that's over £200 a month on insurance. Crazy! Mrs foad is under 25 and doesn't qualify for classic policies so my single policies are mainly for her benefit.

 

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[dollywobbler]

My insurance is no longer affordable, as I've finally managed to add the business cover I should really have had for the past six years. Not easy when you want that cover on old cars, as classic insurers generally refuse business use, and modern insurers won't insure old cars. 

 

However, Bishop Taylor have split my NCD over the Nippa (which had it before) and the RAV4 (which was previously on classic cover). I understand that their Family Fleet rates are very favourable when you don't mix in business cover. Nippa is £162 for instance (don't need business cover on it) with two named drivers, one of whom is a journalist (according to their systems anyway!). Full EU breakdown cover was extra, at £37.50 per car.

[Captain Furious]

Hmm, Admiral Multicar..well, firstly let me say, I like Admiral as a company, they've always been great to deal with, helpful on the phone and most importantly competitively priced.  I have been with them going on 12 years, I've been through claims with them and have confidence in them as a company.  It would take a significantly cheaper quote from another well known insurer to make me move away.  BUT...

 

I am not sure their multicar policies are all they're cracked up to be, at least not for me.  I don't get my no-claims mirrored onto my 2nd car because I've had a fault claim with them in the past 5 years (my bad), that said it is still fairly reasonably priced.  The problem is that its not really any more reasonably priced than just insuring them both on separate policies, so I am struggling to see where the benefit of multicar comes in. 

 

For all intents and purposes, two separate policies is exactly what multicar is, they're quoted separately, have two separate sets of no-claims, separate documents, the only thing they really share is a policy number.  However when I changed the second car midway through the policy Admiral's quote came out far more expensive than a compare the meerkat quote for that vehicle, the problem then was that if I cancelled it off the multicar policy and went with the cheaper competitor, because they're intrinsically linked by this multicar phenomenon, it also affects the premium for the other car, because it would no longer be eligible for multicar 'discount'.  So you end up being sort of tied to them for both vehicles.  I will be looking at the option of just doing it as two separate policies at renewal time.

 

I'm not saying don't do it, by all means get a quote, it may be the right solution for you, but don't expect it to be the golden ticket for cheap insurance.  If you can get something eligible for a stand alone classic policy with someone like footman james then it will (usually) be a lot, lot cheaper.  I think their official cut off is 15 years, but not everything is eligible at that age.  It needs to have some sort of classic credentials, not just be a 15 year old Focus.

[JohnDeere]

I've had good quotes and service with LV for the modernz and Footman James - for both the Prelude and Visa on a 3,000 mile classic policy for about £150.  Includes commuting on the Prelude and agreed value on the Visa. No claims experience with either of them other than windscreens.

 

As others have said, postcode is key - we're in a very low risk area - and the Prelude only just squeaks into the classic policy - FJ had to refer that to the underwriter.

 

I'm hoping to stick the modern Disco onto the FJ policy too at renewal time - I like the idea of working with a broker rather than a faceless machine, and hoping it might be cheaper than LV.

[rantingYoof]

Lots of helpful advice from everyone, thanks!

 

It sounds like maybe get something quite a bit older (like a 480, or anything over 20yrs), and look at Footman James for a standalone classic policy. I might give them a ring at some point.

 

I'd pay monthly unless I got it to under £200, which I doubt I'll do as it sounds like my postcode is a big factor here and having an old and thievable car in a poor postcode probably makes insurance companies pee a bit. I wouldn't whack it on credit card - although I can see the attraction. This should be done with all money that exists for my peace of mind.

 

It doesn't sound like it's a no-goer, which is pleasing for me. I happened to see a Volvo 480 in the wild (for the third time ever) the other day and it really got me thinking about them. I loved mine. I don't have much faith in picking up a non-Swiss-cheese example for under £300 tho!

 

If 20 years is the cut-off then I suppose things like a 405 estate or something is on the cards. Anything choddy that I can save and piss about in, that I can tinker with myself or a friendly mechanic can poke easily.

 

Nao to formulate AN PLANZ!

[dollywobbler]

Peter James also come recommended. 

[rantingYoof]

Just done a quick online quote on Footman James, making myself 30 years old (as I still feel this is important in the classic car policy scene for some reason), and giving myself 12 years driving experience.

 

It was on my old 480 which was 1992 and a 2.0ES.

 

Wouldn't quote me online. At the time I had my 480 I was insuring it for around £400 per year. I was 22 or so at the time.

 

I will ring them tomorrow after work to find out why exactly. I will also try Peter James! Thanks.

[New POD]

I am with admiral and they mirror my 15yrs no claims on both cars. BUT I live in L36 Merseyside which is on a par with Helmand province or suchlike. I am 52 and to insure my Mazda 5 and my Toyota hiace is around £950.00 per year. They wont do my rover 75 has a classic policy and wanted £600.00 extra for it. So the 75 is sorned cos i can't afford it. I did shop around and found admiral the cheapest for me.

 

I'm in L37 (just one digit away) and reading that my smugness knows no limits. I think any crime in L37 is at the "Gerrard" end of town, and usually involves kidnapping footballers wives.

Wife's Bini Cooper is about £250 a year, my Astra is similar, and the MX5 with a limit of 3k miles is less that 170 quid.

[Wilko220]

I've just renewed the Sceptre with Adrian Flux for £87. That's with a mileage limit of 4000 miles a year and kept in a garage. I have to pay extra for agreed value though. I previously had a similar price through Heritage.

 

I also have a multi car policy with Admiral for the Volvo and Rover, which is rather more expensive but still the best deal I've been able to find. I've renewed with them about four years running now. The slight pisser for me is that Admiral won't insure the C15 cos it's a van, so I have to do that separately.

[rantingYoof]

Peter James assumes that the car is over 30 and worth more than £1000. I also have to be 30, but that won't be a problem in November.

[Eddie Honda]

Newest I have with FJ is a 1992 BX dizzler. Had it on since it scraped just over 20 years old.

 

With FJ I think they like you to be a club member sometimes, which exact club doesn't seem to matter too much.

[Magnificent Rustbucket]

Looking it up online, I live in an 'F' postcode - my 1992 XJ6 costs something like £140 a year to insure with no mileage limit (though I hardly use it!), on a classic policy and as a Jaguar enthusiast's club member. The broker is Peter James. The car is garaged; I am in my mid 40s. Jags are very cheap to insure though - I am paying a lot more than people in cheaper insurance areas I have read about on XJ40.com.

[dollywobbler]

Peter James assumes that the car is over 30 and worth more than £1000. I also have to be 30, but that won't be a problem in November.

 

Must be a location/age thing. I've been insured with them for years, with all manner of worthless shitboxes of 20 or more years. I've only left because of the need for business cover, which they just can't provide. Like many insurers, they do a "one modern, several classics" type fleet policy too.