European Cover Car Insurance

boxoffrogs38

First post for a long time, please be gentle.:)

Does anybody know if there is a way of getting short term european car insurance cover from a separate insurer to avoid paying the annoying and excessive mark-up added by most current insurers? eg. going to France for 8 days in the summer, Sheilas Wheels want £40 to extend our fully comp cover (annual premium only £290) to europe for this period, this figure is mostly made up of their 'admin' charge for amending the policy leaving the cost of cover at £10 - £15.

missile

Change to an insurer like SAGA who give 12 month unlimited european cover for travel in the EU (for free)

Quote

I don't fancy your chances of getting the cover you want, cheaper, if at all. I doubt there's much demand for it.

Best to bite the bullet and pay up.

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missile wrote: »

Change to an insurer like SAGA who give 12 month unlimited european cover for travel in the EU (for free)

I'm pretty sure that if SW are charging for EU cover, cancelling and replacing the policy wouldn't come cheap.

Summary: rubbish advice.

lisyloo

You could in future choose an insurer that includes comprehensive cover OR one that doesn't charge admin fees.

ecarinsurance include 365 days cover in europe (not sure what happens in leap years :-)
But they also allow you to make changes on line.
because this includes no manual work and is done entierly on-line they do not add fees only premium adjustments.

I am not with ecar but I am with ebike.
They have a lot of good features and a few bad ones.

As has been mentioned you are probably stuck with it for this time, because the cancellation charges will be worse.

The best way I can explain it is like the "Ryanair" business model.
Premiums are pared down to the chepaest price for the basic service.
If you want extra services you have to pay, it's not included.
So the answer is not to buy a "ryanair" style policy in future.

rev_henry

ALL car insurance companies include third party cover within the EU, usually for up to 30 days, so you shouldn't have to pay anything or do anything. Are you wanting comp cover in Europe or something?

DCFC79

To be honest i dont think £40 is too bad for european cover

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rev_henry wrote: »

ALL car insurance companies include third party cover within the EU, usually for up to 30 days, so you shouldn't have to pay anything or do anything. Are you wanting comp cover in Europe or something?

I thought the cover provided was the equivalent of the minimum required in the country you're travelling in?

rev_henry

Quote wrote: »

I thought the cover provided was the equivalent of the minimum required in the country you're travelling in?

Ah yes probably; which is TPO in most?

boxoffrogs38

Thanks for everyone for taking the time to reply. Your thoughts are as I suspected and I am optionless.
SW was significantly the cheapest and gave cashback through Quidco so the £40 extra now just wipes out the CB and its still a reasonable policy so I cant have too many complaints. Problem is, I can't stand paying for things that are unnecessary and will always look for ways to avoid this.

Couple of things, you are correct that all insurance policies provide the minimum required abroad (although you will have to notify some to have the green card issued), but the minimum is TPO, to extend your comprehensive cover you will normally pay more (other than in the case of some like ecar mentioned above or elephant who include it automatically).

DCFC79 - thanks for your reply, but I disagree with your opinion of value. My fully comp policy cost £290 for the year, is it then good value to pay an extra £40 for 8 days in europe? As i stated, the ins costs an extra £10-15 and the rest is an inflated 'admin' charge which is my main gripe and what I was trying to avoid. I was hoping that someone would know of an option where you could 'top-up' exisitng insurance with european cover through a 3rd party, avoiding the admin charge by the initial insurer, but it looks like this is not an option (gap in the market?) so I pay up to SW and cry in my french beer.

Regards all.

vikingaero

boxoffrogs38 wrote: »

Thanks for everyone for taking the time to reply. Your thoughts are as I suspected and I am optionless.
SW was significantly the cheapest and gave cashback through Quidco so the £40 extra now just wipes out the CB and its still a reasonable policy so I cant have too many complaints. Problem is, I can't stand paying for things that are unnecessary and will always look for ways to avoid this.

Couple of things, you are correct that all insurance policies provide the minimum required abroad (although you will have to notify some to have the green card issued), but the minimum is TPO, to extend your comprehensive cover you will normally pay more (other than in the case of some like ecar mentioned above or elephant who include it automatically).

DCFC79 - thanks for your reply, but I disagree with your opinion of value. My fully comp policy cost £290 for the year, is it then good value to pay an extra £40 for 8 days in europe? As i stated, the ins costs an extra £10-15 and the rest is an inflated 'admin' charge which is my main gripe and what I was trying to avoid. I was hoping that someone would know of an option where you could 'top-up' exisitng insurance with european cover through a 3rd party, avoiding the admin charge by the initial insurer, but it looks like this is not an option (gap in the market?) so I pay up to SW and cry in my french beer.

Regards all.

Box,

Unfortunately you've found out why SW's were the cheapest for you. Because they strip out aspects of cover and charge admin fees. Some Insurers simply don't want to cover overseas travel if they can avoid it (apart from the statutory minimum levels of cover) because claims are phenomenally expensive.