Insuring a second car

wickywocky

DH and I are thinking of buying a 'new' car which is a japanese grey import and which we'd use mainly for weekends and holidays. From the quotes I've got so far, it seems to be in a higher group than our existing car which we intend to keep for the time being for round town use.

Up to 2006 we used to take it in turn to insure our car, to maintain the no claims we'd built up when we'd had a car each, but I stopped doing that and just continued in my name as I became a much heavier user of the car than him, and when we needed to claim when it was in his name the insurance company wouldn't talk to me. I thought I'd been told that his no claims would deteriorate at the rate of 1 years ncd every two years, but when I tried to get a quote for the new car (which the driving of would be more 50/50) in his name I was told he'd have to start from 0.

Our existing insurers would temporarily add a second car to our policy but won't touch imports, so that's not an option.

I'm thinking I would be best to cancel my existing policy and use my ncd on the new car (as it's more expensive to insure) and get a new policy for our current car with 0 ncd. Or are there insurers who would insure 2 cars on one policy? Or give me a big discount for having two cars? I don't have much time for trawling round the internet looking at different permutations or for phoning round so any suggestions as to insurers or brokers to try would be great.

Things which put the premium up are that both cars need to be kept on the road and that I had a claim in feb which wasn't my fault but which the third partys insurers haven't settled with my insurers yet. And we had a claim in 2006 on dh's policy which wasn't our fault but was a hit and run whilst we were parked, so it's technically a fault claim as the costs couldn't be recovered.

Our contents insurance is due for renewal too, so that could be a bargaining tool if we could get a "package" deal

Any suggestions would be much appreciated

Many thanks

wickywocky

missile

Why do you want to buy a grey import? It might be cheap to buy, but will be more difficult and worth less when you come to sell. It would be much simpler to buy a UK model.

You don't say what car you have or intend to buy? However, I doubt it would make sense to cancel. I suggest you could get some quotes on-line. Some insurers offer introductory discount to named drivers, single driver discount, discount for 2 cars and multiproduct discount e.g. Direct Line.

dogbot

You must ensure the insurer is aware the vehicle is a grey import. The vehicle, even if it is a model sold in the uk, will not be of the same specification. There will be parts differences for a start but much much more importantly it will have nowhere near the level of security found on a UK spec vehicle. This is the reason why they are much cheaper second hand - they just arn't as good!

It sounds like you have already made this clear to the insruers you have spoken too though.

It sounds like you would be best talking to a good local broker - they are the only ones who might be interested in putting together a deal on various insurances for you.

Have a look at the back of car mags, purhaps on forums or owners clubs of the imported car you are buying (you don't say what it is but one assumes it is either something sporty or one of those japanese minivan type things? Many of those more common Japanese imports have clubs arround them), for a broker who specialises in covering grey imports. They might well be able to do your home insurance too.

If the vehicle is something sporty or lux, lexus/impreza/whatever, consider the cost of a CAT5 device - the most effective tracking devices and the ones that insurers really want to see - as this might well improve your chances of getting cover.

wickywocky

Thanks for your replies. It's a mazda bongo that I want to buy - there's nothing similar directly on sale in the uk.

I've phoned up a broker I found on the bongofury website who was very helpful. Because of my recent claim that has yet to be settled by the third party the best second car discounts are not available to me, but it is way cheaper to cancel my existing insurance on a hatchback and re-insure that with zero no-claims than to take out a zero ncd policy on the bongo. It's finally looking affordable, although I think selling our car and buying a tandem or triplet to ferry the family around on local journeys would be far more sensible!