Car insurance and cat D

ellives

Hi

Looking to be a cat D car but5 hadnt realised the problems re: car insurance - ie some wont insure it!

Anyone else done this and can share their experience? Did you shop around and find one easily or was it a struggle to find an insurer? Did it add to the premium?

Cheers

Hintza

Personally I haven't had a problem. We have two CatD's both insured via Hiaghway through the Direct Auto on one and Insure on the other (Insure via Quidco for £70 cashback)

ellives

Hintza wrote: »

Personally I haven't had a problem. We have two CatD's both insured via Hiaghway through the Direct Auto on one and Insure on the other (Insure via Quidco for £70 cashback)

Thanks for this. I take it you told them? Silly question!

Plus do you mean Auto Direct?

Kilty_2

Isn't it Cat Cs that insurers are worried about when quoting since it's actually stated on the V5?

ellives

Kilty wrote: »

Isn't it Cat Cs that insurers are worried about when quoting since it's actually stated on the V5?

I rang MoreThan and they wont cover cat D!

Hintza

ellives wrote: »

I rang MoreThan and they wont cover cat D!

Morethan won't quote if you have red hair, have a 3 legged dog etc.

Yes I definitely told them about the current one (not sure about the other one ) the policy had 5 months to run and I was hit with £68 charge ( including a £25 admin charge) which for a slightly cheaper smaller car just annoyed me.

TBH the information that the car is a CAT D is available via the insurance database, so it just annoys me they need you to tell them too. In my view totally unneccessary but I gues it is just another excuse to refuse cover when push comes to shove.

dacouch

Hintza it costs the Insurers to access the database, they either pay per use or have blanket use. If they used it for every case it would put up everyone's premium to cover the costs of it.

However Chaucer use it for every case as well as checking convictions with the DVLA, their underwriter told me it costs them a few hundred thousand pounds in fees but they actually net more money as they pick up cases where they can charge more eg the correct premium so for them it makes money. I think as technology improves ultimately most companies will check all cases as it will make financial sense and will also help reduce the volume of claims being repudiated especially with the new rules on non disclosure that are coming in which in effect select against the Insurers so will make it even more financially viable for them

Hintza

dacouch wrote: »

Hintza it costs the Insurers to access the database, they either pay per use or have blanket use.

Ah now that is interesting, I assumed they all paid into the database as a matter of course.

I just assumed they would pay based on say the amount of underwritten business in the previous 12 months.

As granny used to say you learn something new every day..thanks.

dacouch

The claims database is non profit making company, but charge for access to cover the costs of providing the information and collecting it.

Here is a link to the claims database http://www.cueuk.org/default.aspx#CUE_Subs

I'm not sure about the write off database but I think it's probably provided by the DVLA or VOSA who will charge for access.

davemorton

I did not know you had to tell them if it was a cat D. Do they ask you when you come to insure it, as I cant recall being asked before. Also, what would happen if you were un-aware of it being a cat D??

vaio

I can’t remember any of the insurance companies or comparison sites I’ve ever used asking if it was a cat D.

Given that you might well not even know it was a cat D I can’t really see how you can be required to tell them or see any reason why they would want to know prior to issuing a policy. Their risk would be the same except they might be able to reduce the pay out in the event of a total loss.

Call centre monkeys are notorious for getting things wrong, the computer says no and if it’s not on the computer then the answer is still no