Comprehensive Car Ins - Is it worth it ?

jstallan

Been asked to help my sister-in-law get a decent deal on her car insurance and was wondering at what point does Comprehensive Insurance no longer become an option.

Her car is a P reg Escort and probably has a value of £300-£400. Given that most policies have an excess of of that figure also, I can't see the point in paying for Comprehensive insurance when TPF&T would probably suffice.

Should her car become involved in an accident, then it is going to get scrapped.

At the moment Comprehensive for her is around £200-£230 (from the quotes I've gained), while TPF&T is around the £160 mark.

Opinions please..

John

Quentin

As she won't claim for any damage to her own car, (so won't have to pay any excess) see what happens to comprehensive quotes when you put in a massive voluntary excess (eg swiftcover let you have £1000 excess)

lisyloo

Comprehesive comver isn't much use because car will be written off very easily and you'll get value minus excess i.e. penauts and no courtesy car.
However comprehensive quotes CAN be cheaper, so it's worth searching for them with a big excess.

My last policy was with sheilas wheels and was cheaper than TPF&T and I got some quidco cashback (although I don't know if that is still available).
I received £75 cashback on a £150 policy.

jstallan

But if she has an accident and it's her fault, then she'll have to fork out £1000 ???

jstallan

lisyloo wrote: »

Comprehesive comver isn't much use because car will be written off very easily and you'll get value minus excess i.e. penauts and no courtesy car.
However comprehensive quotes CAN be cheaper, so it's worth searching for them with a big excess.

My last policy was with sheilas wheels and was cheaper than TPF&T and I got some quidco cashback (although I don't know if that is still available).
I received £75 cashback on a £150 policy.

Just ran a quote with SW and even after raising the excess to the top amount it still comes to £300+

lisyloo

But if she has an accident and it's her fault, then she'll have to fork out £1000 ???

No.
The max she can lose is £300-£400 on the car.
You wouldn't make a claim in those circumstances.

It's not intended that you ever use the comprehensive section.
The large excess is just to get the price down.

jstallan

Tried using a £1000 excess on some quotes and the drop in premium seems to be about £10

lisyloo

If it's cheaper to go TPF&T then I would personally do that.
If she claimed on the comprehensive section then most likely car would be written off.
She'd get the value minus excess which would be peanuts.
She would not get a courtesy car as those are provided by garages doing repairs and there would be no repair business.
It wouldn't be worth claiming as premiums would rise for next 3-5 years.

So basically there is very little value in having full comp insurance.

The only reason I had it in the past on my old car was because it was cheaper, but if it isn't cheaper in this case, then there is no point having it.

Quentin

jstallan wrote: »

But if she has an accident and it's her fault, then she'll have to fork out £1000 ???

You said she was contemplating third party cover, so I took it that she wouldn't be ever making a claim for her own car. Hence my suggestion over the massive excess (its size is irrelevant if she isn't going to make a claim for her own damage).

iamana1ias

If the difference in price is small it might be worth going fully comp for the windscreen cover

jstallan

@Quentin - She's looking at TPF&T purely from a cost perspective - times are hard at the moment and her car isn't worth much.

@iamana1ias - good point re windscreen cover. Generally you have to pay the first £75 for windscreen replacement, but I've no idea on how much a windscreen actually costs.