Inshurance - how do you do it cheaply?

[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.

[gordonbennet]

We've got three cars, none of which are on classic policies, the Merc just turned 20 but it gets so little use that it's probably going to be sold soon.

 

Anyway, being a lorry driver i can use Cornmaket (formerly Adelaide) of Belfast who specialise in HGV/PSV drivers but also cover IAM qualified too (might be worth taking the course?), i have not a single complaint about these people, you search to find the cheapest quote anywhere they can check up on and generally they will match it with better cover.

Very accommodating too, maybe twice a year i commute to another work site, officially for this you would need business cover, but i spoke to them who had a chat with the underwriter who was quite ahhpy as its infrequent just to make a note on the system.

 

Have been with them several years now, at renewal time this year the straight renewals came in cheaper than i could find anywhere else.

All fully comp protected, max no claims on the Merc, 1 year on the Landcruiser.

 

Cars are all 6 pot petrols, Merc is a year 96 E320 coupe @ around £190,  Landcruiser is a year 200 3.4 Colorado @ around £250.

 

Mrs has a year 2002 Subaru Outback 3.0, again fully comp full NCD, she's with Saga @ around £240ish IIRC, i've read elsewhere that Saga have a reputation for increasing the premiums once they ahve you hooked, but we've found nothing of the sort, when we changed cars and needed cover for the previous Outlander for a month they could not have been more helpful, we got the months cover for the same as single day on DayInsure.

 

 

We try our best never to make a claim, even down to paying for me own screens via a local small time screen fitter, i have no doubt this makes the world of difference even if people do say screens don't affect premiums.

[Lacquer Peel]

Buy a van, my Caddy is quite a bit cheaper to insure than the equivalent car (Polo TDI estate), your results may vary and I do live in an A-rated postcode.

[r.welfare]

I've used Admiral multicar for the last couple of years but my renewal letter 'quote' was £190 (or 50%) more than the previous year, despite replacing the Mazda with the Espace which is in a lower group. So I have gone with Aviva's equivalent for £450 (still £80 more than last year), as that is (just) cheaper than two separate policies.

[rantingYoof]

Tonight I have mostly been playing on Confused.com using science* to see what can be done about insurance quotes. I am determined to make this pipe-dream a potential reality.

 

I appear to have had partial success, although I once again find myself bowing to the illogic that appears to be car insurance.

 

Let me run you through the basic set up for this quotation once more...

• Postcode insurance rating: D
• 29 years old
• 11 years driving experience
• 0 NCB
• Access to other owned vehicle with 11 years NCB (Confused allow you to specify this, which is helpful, although I'm unsure what impact it has)
• No previous claims/convictions etc
• Car to be parked on drive during day, used socially only, with a maximum annual mileage of 2k
• Insured fully comprehensive with voluntary excess of £350 (cranked this up on the basis that I'm likely to get some compulsory excess anyway which will essentially ensure that I'm only ever paying for damage to other things that I've been stupid enough to cause - if this happens I deserve to be out of pocket)

With that in mind, I trawl Autotrader for a bit to find a suitable candidate. Ah! The Volvo 850! Lots of examples now falling into property shite territory, and as they are less prone to swiss-cheesing themselves than other cheap shite, it seems like a good choice. A bit more trawling and I find a corker of an example, which is horrendously overpriced...

 

'Base spec' 850 GLT! 1992! 2.0 20v! Someone crowd-fund me this shite, please!

So, I enter the details into Confused to see what the damage is...

• £404.96

Harrumph. What gives? Let's see what happens if I make myself 30 years old, with 12 years driving experience...

• £296.47

Okie dokey, it looks like there's definitely a reason to hold off until November before doing this. But at this point I notice that I've made a bit of a booboo with the quote. In the "No Claims Bonus" section where it asks Do you own or use another vehicle? I've answered 'Yes - Named driver on another car'.

This isn't right at all. I change this to 'Yes - Own or use another car'. I then get the option of putting in the NCB accrued for this vehicle. I figure this is a better answer to give in as much as it assures an insurance company that I'll be using another vehicle most of the time which of course lessens the risk of wrecking the policy car.

I re-run the quote with this information amended, and well blow me down...

• £187.09

But wait...it still thinks I'm 30, with 12 years driving experience. I also told I had 12 years NCB on the other car. I change it back, so I'm 29, with 11 years experience and 11 NCB on another vehicle. Will the excitement be sustained?

• £238.92

It most certainly will! This quote, from PerformanceDirect, isn't without flaws. The monthly payments actually come to £286.25, but with an initial payment of £41 and follow up payments of just over £27, it looks feasible. Also, the total combined voluntary and compulsory excess totals £575 :shock: . Proper shite logic in figuring that this is a good quote - I'm proud .

 

Buoyed by this, I decide to look at another vehicle. Being a Volvo fan, I turn my attention to a Volvo 460 1.7 GLEi thing - J reg. Keeping all the other details the same, I change the car information and send it in.

• £416.76

Wat. "Aha!" I think, "this must be because of the postcode, and the fact the car can be stolen with a coathanger and a pair of pliers!" I check the postcode rating site and change my address so it has a grade A postcode...

• £553.44

Oh, right then. THANKS FOR MAKING TOTAL SENSE INSURANCE COMPANIES.

 

However, anyone willing to shove a sub £300 850 my way, with a chunk of ticket and as little wrong with it as possible, I'm willing to travel if only so I can lose my collekshun thread virginity...

I will spend some more time tomorrow going through some other potential candidates to see if I can find a pattern between the cars that are "affordable" to insure and ones where the companies nope the fuck out of it.

[JohnDeere]

Really interesting and random results. I think talking direct to the broker is the way to go - then they can tell you what is pushing the price up/down. FJ don't automatically insure something as new as '92 on a classic policy - they had to refer the Prelude - but I'm pretty sure a 480 would pass.

[rantingYoof]

Showing good restraint, I've just ran some cars through using identical details to what I did earlier to achieve the £238 quote for the 850 2.0 20v GLT...

• Volvo 850 2.5 20v estate automatic (L reg): £491.57
• Volvo 360 2.0CD manual (B reg): £660.40
• Ford Mondeo 1.8 16v LX (Y reg): £489.35 (this was desperation as I was beginning to lose sight of my dream again - I'd never get a 1.8 Mondeo for the lawls, as it is impossible to lawl in one)
• Rover 214SLi 16v (K reg): £440.57
• Ford Fiesta 1.8TD LX (Y reg): £503.38

I think my biggest mistake here was falling into the trap of thinking there was a system in place that made sense.

 

John - you might be right here! Time to do some actual calling around to see if a human can justify things to me!

[Jerzy Woking]

I have three seperate policies for my 3 cars, as I can't seem to get them on the same policy for less that the three. I have three policies for my bikes - four on one (they will only insure a maximum of four on one policy), and two on another (max four allowed). I bought another bike today - it would have cost me £96.80 to add it to the two bike policy that has 8 months to run. I paid £104 for it on its own policy, with no NCB. Not bad for a 1200cc bike. But I am old.............

[maxpower]

Insurance can be like women.... complicated and hard to figure out.

[fairkens]

If you dick around with the quotes they can tell - it makes you look like a liar and they crank the cost up

 

ETA sorry was in a rush last night, if your going to change stuff in your quote especially the big stuff like postcode clear your cookies in between times, they clock that you're trying to game the system and it affects premiums, like the airlines when you book a flight.

[rantingYoof]

Yikes. 

[Brodders]

Have you tried some of the number plates for the cheaper motors on here? It looks like there are a few gems floating around for not much at all.

[KruJoe]

850 Base on a "K"... I bet it has four-bolt wheels!

[Richard]

It's not that base, it's got a sunroof and half leather.

[nisfan]

I'm with footman James multicar, 5 cars for just over £300 with unlimited mileage and commuting, took off the Volvo 340 and added the mk2 cav and Datsun sunny for an extra £35!

[beko1987]

When on live chat to aviva yesterday morning sorting out my insurance the bloke said they don't take into consideration security devices much (was trying to big up the keypad in the xantia)

 

He knocked the money he did off by tapping around with amys date of provisional licence and date she passed more than anything.

 

Apparently they take the most consideration to the fact that I could cause 1 million pounds worth of damage. Got off the phone and joked with my immediate colleagues that I should cause 1 million pounds worth of damage to get my monies worth... Should achieve that by gently reversing into a few supercars

[Negative Creep]

I was paying £250 fully comp last year, had a non fault accident and moved back to Kent, the comparison sites were coming up as £750 plus as the cheapest!! This is with a clean licence held for 14 years and 10+ years NCD. My renewal was only about £350 so just stuck with them