Car insurance premium more than value of car

leitmotif

Hi all,

I have a 15-year-old Volkswagen which is still in extremely good condition (passed its MOT outright this year) and only 80,000 miles on the clock.

According to various expert sources its open market value is £300. Running through all the comparison sites (as well as following Moneysavingexpert's article) the best quotes I can get are all above £260. And the cheapest of these have excesses, some of which exceed £400.

This has nothing to do with a history of motoring convictions or anything (data entered included 0 motoring convictions, 8 years no-claim, travelling for social purposes only, 8000 miles a year, full clean licence, professional occupation, car kept on road outside house in an 'average' area, etc. - i.e. nothing that would say high risk).

As car insurance is compulsory I have no choice but to take out a policy. However, it seems grossly unfair that I could be paying an annual premium that is worth as much as or more than the car! Any suggestions?

leitmotif

Oh, P.S. I do understand that the insurance covers more than the value of the car, but still, it seems excessive, does it not?

dacouch

Most of the risk to the Insurers is for the damage you could cause to another vehicle, they will know from the age of your car that the replacement cost is minimal and have discounted the premium to reflect the age of the car (Try running the same quote through but with the car10 years younger)

neilmcl

leitmotif wrote: »

As car insurance is compulsory I have no choice but to take out a policy. However, it seems grossly unfair that I could be paying an annual premium that is worth as much as or more than the car! Any suggestions?

Your £300 car can cause just as much damage in accident than any other, so why do you think you should be entitled to cheaper insurance based on the fact that its not worth that much. Can we assume you're only looking at 3rd-party insurance?

casper_g

You can do plenty of damage to third parties and their property even if your own car is of low value. I used to have a similarly low-value car and paid a similar premium for insurance. Are the quotes for comprehensive cover? If so, would 3rd party only be worth considering as at least some of the policies you're looking at have excesses higher than the car's value?

MX5huggy

£260 is not Sky high you are basicly insuring against 3rd party only if you smash in to a new BMW with 4 occupants the claim could well exceed £100,000. The insurance company are saying this might happen once in 384 years. You don't say if you are male or female but if the first try adding a woman as a extra driver, even if they never drive the car.

maninthestreet

71 pence per day for car insurance sounds cheap to me.

catflea

£260 insurance? I'm paying £500 on a car worth approx £250!

so there

Like others have said, your old volkswagen is just as capable of causing mass distruction and mayhem as the brand new equivalent and thats what they are really concerned about. I know someone how had a £250,000 claim against him paid by his insurance. He had a nova! :eek:

x-cupcake-x

Depending on the usage of the car you might be able to find classic insurance due to it's age?

catflea

Herts Insurance specialise in VWs, they are a broker but may well be worth getting in touch with them. (they were able to offer far and away the best deal on my morris too :beer:) Just google HIC

x-cupcake-x

catflea wrote: »

Herts Insurance specialise in VWs, they are a broker but may well be worth getting in touch with them. (they were able to offer far and away the best deal on my morris too :beer:) Just google HIC

I insured my Mini with them even though she was a P reg I could have a classic policy as I did less than 10k miles a year. They were always really helpful when I needed to speak to them :beer: although the premiun went up come the renewal but I did get "free" breakdown cover :rotfl: