Pay As You Go - Car Insurance?

MyBigToe_2

I need to renew my car insurance, and i paid about £780 last year, but i dont drive an awful lot, a few thousand miles a year.

Im thinking it would be cheaper to go PAYG, as im also gonna be out of the country for 2 months in the near future.

Can anyone help on companies?

MyBigToe_2

Bump?
anyone?

benjaminM

I have not come across many good pay as you go insurance policies. They tend to be an expensive way to insure. There are a few companies that do it such tempcover and day insure but I would not recommend them. It is possible to purchase a six month policy from a few insurers, that might be an option, I think Provident and Sabre offer these and they would be availlable from any good insurance broker.

Quentin

MyBigToe wrote: »

I need to renew my car insurance, and i paid about £780 last year, but i dont drive an awful lot, a few thousand miles a year.

Im thinking it would be cheaper to go PAYG, as im also gonna be out of the country for 2 months in the near future.

Can anyone help on companies?

If you have had a claim free year, then the renewal might be less (shop around anyway)!

Buying a 12 month policy will work out cheaper over the year than short term, and what you could consider doing is suspend your insurance whilst you are away - you return your certificate to the insurer with instructions to suspend your cover. On your return you get the cover reinstated, a new certificate and a premium adjustment (refund) for the time off cover.

The policy continues to its normal expiry date, and you still get a full year's NCD even though you had this time with no cover.

If this appeals check through the policy of your chosen insurer to make sure they do suspensions before you buy.

benjaminM

Suspending policies is a good idea alas I don't think anyone does them anymore. The last company I knew of who did this was NIG and they stopped it about five years ago. Shame really as suspending policies was both popular and useful. Nowadays you would only be able to cancel a policy mid term which is ok but it has it's drawbacks with some companies due to cancelation charges.

Quentin

benjaminM wrote: »

Suspending policies is a good idea alas I don't think anyone does them anymore. The last company I knew of who did this was NIG and they stopped it about five years ago. Shame really as suspending policies was both popular and useful. Nowadays you would only be able to cancel a policy mid term which is ok but it has it's drawbacks with some companies due to cancelation charges.

Not true.

Many insurers will suspend cover.

eg. this is from aviva's policy:

If you inform us that your car will be out of use for a continuous period of 28 days or more, and this is not the result of any loss or damage covered by this policy, all cover provided by this policy will be of no effect other than loss or damage to your car, provided your car is kept in a locked private garage.
We may refund part of your premium for the laid-up period; we will pay this refund when you ask for the cover to start again.

Direct Line:

If cover is suspended for more than 28 days in a row or if the policy expiry date passes during the period of suspension, we will refund you a portion of your premium for the suspension period.

Others include pru/churchill etc.

But I shouldn't be educating you! (You tell us you are a professional "insurance adviser"!)

undaunted

Suspending covewr may work but if you were meaning that you'd seen the temp cover adverts forget it. Out of curiosity I ran a couple of 30 days quotes & you may as well have paid for a years cover. It's only of use if you need say a single days cover for some odd reason.Have you asked about limited mileage policies (or even, if the car is suited, classic policies) ?

MyBigToe_2

It certainly isnt a classic, unless that counts any car almost falling apart.

I got a good quote from admiral, £360 which is about half of what my renewal fee is, so I think ill just go with them as every other quote ive had is £100+ more.
(Direct Line was £1800 and Aviva was £1490 - so regardless of suspension policies, i wont be going with them!


But thanks for the points on PAYG car isurance, just thought i heard something on the radio a few months back about 10p / mile insurance
but even then, the admiral quote is about that anyhow.

Ta Muchly!

benjaminM

Quentin wrote: »

Not true.

Many insurers will suspend cover.

eg. this is from aviva's policy:



Direct Line:

Others include pru/churchill etc.

But I shouldn't be educating you! (You tell us you are a professional "insurance adviser"!)

What I said was that I dont think you can get suspended policies anymore and in my experience as an insurance broker this is correct. It may, as you have pointed out, be able to find some companies that still include the suspension endorsement in their policy but these are direct insurers and as an intermediary we dont deal with them. The problem with suspending policies was that the insurer would seldom pass on much, if any of the discount at renewal, which is probably the reason many have stopped this practice.

davetrousers

MyBigToe wrote: »

I got a good quote from admiral, £360 which is about half of what my renewal fee is,

When your renewal quote comes through that should be your cue to get alternative quotes. Many insurance companies seem to think that people are going to be lazy and just pay up to renew.

You should consider looking at cash back sites (such as Quidco, Topcashback). You often get substantial sums. I am currently with Aviva and got £53 (But do consider the cashback amount in conjunction with the premium - obviuosly)

Quentin

benjaminM wrote: »

What I said was that I dont think you can get suspended policies anymore .....

No you didn't!

This is what you said:

benjaminM wrote:

Nowadays you would only be able to cancel a policy mid term which is ok but it has it's drawbacks with some companies due to cancelation charges

Which as already posted (and proved to you) is not true.

Why not just stand corrected?