Insurance Insanity.

[ashmicro]

Phew! Glad I'm not paying some of the premiums mentioned here. Insurance for the Jaaaaaaag is £198 fully comp, weirdly the Rover 25 is moarrrr at £205.11. Katie's insurance for the DB7 is an eye-watering £1033.33. A fucking Grand?!?! I only paid £30 for a car once (Avenger). A DB7 is a great car but fuck me that is a lot of money for nothing (assuming she doesn't crash it). 26, lawyer, working for the Crown Prosecution Service.

 

 

 

* and yes she's far too young for me.

[mattblack]

Problem for the insurance companies is the whiplash claims, they reckon that they're paying more out in injury claims than they receive in premiums.

 

I don't doubt it. The number of people claiming out there for injuries for the slightest little tap is astonishing and now the insurance companies are having to get it back in premiums. Can't blame them for that really. They're in it to make money after all.

 

Average injury claim is something like £2k nowadays, and there are some 'unlucky' souls out there who're in crashes twice a year....

 

A women at work apparently got whiplash when her car was hit on the front corner as she pulled out the drive at work...

[andrew e]

Pete, as a comparison my brother passed his test early this year at 29 (London Underground Escalator fitter so never needed wheels) and is paying £700 for a 53 Fiesta derv. This is in Essex. Has the fella any realatives in other counties use as an address?

[Rusty Pelican]

Get your boots on son, you're walking:

 

Elephant: £7,568.50

 

Quotezone: Best? 'Just' £4471.56

 

Worst? £10, 306

 

For a fucking 2001 Corsa 1.0

 

*Edit: we have a new winner. This is now quoted for a 1998 Corsa 1.0 five door. Stand up 'The Green Insurance Company' as a mere fucking £13,756.58 is a bargain. I assume they're called 'Green' because they never have to use any paper as no fucker can afford their insurance.

I'd rather set fire to every fucking forest in Britain and wash the streets with aviation fuel than pay that, thieving bastards.

Fuck me , lost for words other than to say you can see why people just dont bother with insurance and take a chance , Fine wouldnt be that high .

[Gompo]

Maybe try a few specialist brokers (talking to them in person) or whatever and see what they can do? To be fair he is just going to have to face up to it and pay over the odds. It is a bit annoying when you see kids moaning they cant pay insurance or whatever, either get a job or dont be so greedy.

 

The most I've paid was £1600, and I probably drove less than 1600 miles that year. I'm paying about £650 now with a few mods on a group 18 car, kind of limited to 5000 miles a year. Garaged with my Mum as a named driver. Yes it's a lot but whatever.

[Cavcraft]

He has a job (four and a half days) and does a day a week at college on top of that. Unfortunately even going from £270 per month (take home) to £380 per month will barely render him able to afford it. Obviously we'll help out but four fucking grand is a piss take, he works his bollocks off in his job and college and it's not greedy to want to be independant.

If he can't afford it then he can't afford it, but no-one is ever going to convince me he's greedy or that four grand for the insurance on a £300 car is good value for money.

[sporty-shite]

I've had classic insurance for the last few years, so no longer have an NCB. Just before I changed jobs, I looked at going back to courier work as an owner driver. Phones and interwebbed around for quotes, and the cheapest on a £1500 Combo was £1800. Bearing in mind that this was using a reference from my previous employer to confirm claim-free driving, and the fact that I'm 39 with no fault accidents to my name, I reckoned this to be a bit steep. Not as steep as the £13000 I was quoted from one site after I googled CHEAP (ha) courier insurance.

 

Just for nostalgia's sake, my first insurance premium was £280, TP F&T on a Datsun Cherry Coupe, back in October 1988 immediately after passing my test. I reckon Cav Jr would go for that now!

 

I'm currently on multi car with FJ, but wouldn't mind going back to a motor trade policy. Any hints for the best ones to try come renewal time?

[maxpower]

Get your boots on son, you're walking:

 

Elephant: £7,568.50

 

Quotezone: Best? 'Just' £4471.56

 

Worst? £10, 306

 

For a fucking 2001 Corsa 1.0

 

*Edit: we have a new winner. This is now quoted for a 1998 Corsa 1.0 five door. Stand up 'The Green Insurance Company' as a mere fucking £13,756.58 is a bargain. I assume they're called 'Green' because they never have to use any paper as no fucker can afford their insurance.

I'd rather set fire to every fucking forest in Britain and wash the streets with aviation fuel than pay that, thieving bastards.

 

how the feck can they quote insurance for 3 times the value of the car?? if these cnuts had a shotgun and balaclavas they would be banged up

 

and if god forbid he had an accident what is the pay out?....... the market value of the car i bet... dick turpin lives again... only he sells insurance instead of robbing people...BASTARDS

[retrogeezer]

trouble is, it's not what you are driving - it's what you can hit that you are covered for.

[sporty-shite]

trouble is, it's not what you are driving - it's what you can hit that you are covered for.

 

This is very true. When I worked in rental, and had the very tedious job of processing the insurance claims, I had a conversation with an insurance company bod about this. His very accurate calculations said that the AVERAGE rear end shunt would end up costing the insurer of the fault driver around £30k after solicitors fees, personal injury payments, repairs/write-off settlements, courtesy car and storage of salvage were taken into account.

[red5]

Sounds about right. Every time you see one of those money -grubbing parasite adverts just remember thats where your premium is going.

The insurance companies are paying out something like £123.00 for every £100.00 they take. That's basically off the back of these charlatans, and obviously unsustainable.

[messerschmitt owner]

trouble is, it's not what you are driving - it's what you can hit that you are covered for.

 

This is very true. When I worked in rental, and had the very tedious job of processing the insurance claims, I had a conversation with an insurance company bod about this. His very accurate calculations said that the AVERAGE rear end shunt would end up costing the insurer of the fault driver around £30k after solicitors fees, personal injury payments, repairs/write-off settlements, courtesy car and storage of salvage were taken into account.

bummer

 

when I was rear-ended by the 7.5 tonner I should have claimed for all those injuries - instead, I was fine and my car needed £3.5k of work and the hire car was arranged by the third party insurer on a cheap rate. Total cost was probably £5k. My insurance for everything is only £1380 and that includes ten vehicles!

[Andrew353w]

I'm not saying that this has ever happened, or maybe I overheard it in a pub... I think a broker in my locale insured young drivers in the following way: Their premiums were reasonable but had to be paid "up front" for the year; no "easy monthly payments by direct debit' etc. The cars had to be brought to the office for a visual inspection before granting the insurance and the customer only issued a cover note for a month. next month the car as was brought back to the insurance office for another look, and another cover note, for the next month was issued, and so on, each month.

 

I'm not sure if this is strictly legal, or quite how the broker managed to get away with it, or how it kept the premiums to a reasonable level, but it did! Maybe it was a feeling of being "on probation"?

 

On a more philosophical level, when I was 17 (over 33 years ago!) driving a car was a real privilege; using your car sparingly and carefully was the rule. Unfortunately now young drivers expect to be able to drive as a right and that may be part of the problem. Just a thought...

[AnthonyG]

When I was starting driving, I was a named driver on my dad's policy, slightly bizarrely this still worked when I was (and the car) were 90 miles away at University (not sure how, but broker assured us this was legit).

 

My dad used Cornhill, the old test cricket sponsors, for years, then changed to NFU when Cornhill changed hands (and their policies)!

 

Being a named driver was how I was able to drive a Renault 25 2 litre at the age of 19-20, also had Cortinas, Avengers, a newish Rover 214 and a Peugeot 504 Ti (again a 2 litre).

 

After a couple of years working in the motor trade with company vehicles, my first quote for myself was £900 for a Rover 820Si in 1998, mind you that was with 6 points, three for fixed penalty speeding and three for driving through a red light .

[Louise2cv]

When I was starting driving, I was a named driver on my dad's policy, slightly bizarrely this still worked when I was (and the car) were 90 miles away at University (not sure how, but broker assured us this was legit).

 

Same here. When I got pulled the cops said the broker was wrong and I should get my own insurance ASAP.

[ChinaTom]

Back in the early 90's I had a pal with spina bifida who drove an adapted AX GT (like a complete and utter nutter) and I recall he was paying (as an 18 year old with 2 bad smashes to his name, 9 points on his license) less than £500 for his insurance. I wonder what the equivalent would be today? I was paying £318 fully comp on a ceramic blue Escort 1.3 Base.

 

He'd previously written off a Fiesta XR2 and a lamp-post and was found (laughing) strapped into his seat that had been thrown out fully intact into a garden; and sadly drove a VdP 1300 into the back of a combine.

[HillmanImp]

trouble is, it's not what you are driving - it's what you can hit that you are covered for.

 

It sure is. I remember when I was a kid and my mate Spencer crashed his shitty metro into a brand spanking new Jag. His £500 TPFT policy seemed very good value then.

 

They really need to sort out these fucking whiplash claims. Problem is, when they do I bet the premiums wont go down. They will just make suckers out of us.

 

Chap who I crashed my Xsara into last year (scuffing his bumper) put in a claim. I was informed with a letter with all his personal details on, which was quite handy for applying for several loans from less that favourable credit companies and debt consolidation specialists. Just was well he got a lump sum compo payout to tide him over as he will never be able to get credit again.

[Mr Lobster]

^ and thats why insurance is so expensive for young drivers. They know that a fairly high proportion will have an accident. And that each accident costs them a lot of money. So unfortunately whilst we have a culture whereby every tiny bump leads to an enormous personal injury claim then insurance is going to be expensive.

 

I can't really suggest an alternative though, maybe high risk drivers would pay some sort of returnable deposit? It'd need to be a big one though, so that if they have an accident then they lose the money or at the end of the year, if there are no claims it's returned to them. Not likely to happen or be viable though.

[Pillock]

I've just PM'd PeteM, but this is worth a go for anyone who thinks they're paying too much. yes, insurance is getting more expensive but the bigger brokers are taking the piss with their cuts.

 

A mate of mine runs a small broker called Need To Insure. They only have a small office, three staff and that's it. They've done me well for a few years - £260 comp for a '93 318iS Coupe, is pretty good, even for a 41 year old fart like me.

 

01623 720081 and no, I don't get a kick back.

 

Then I've spoken to your mate! Victoria Road, right? I used to live 100 yards down the hill I've been in there a few times, took one policy out but usually my lack of a garage on classic policies screws me over. Without fail he'll spend the best part of four hours getting me a decent quote and phone me back.

 

But yeah. I recommend this place to loads of folk, it's just nice to speak to a real person about needs.