Insurance too costly - few options

ihatesantander

Hello all,

As you might guess my my username, I have had the misfortune of banking with SATANder (as I have now come to call them), and it's really now affecting me badly. Apologies for the long post.

Last year I got the job of my dreams after graduating from uni as a mature student. My bank, Satander, refused a loan or any assistance to get a car and also without notice reduced my overdraft leaving me penniless (all my benefits disappeared). Thankfully, RBS allowed me to transfer my account to them and I paid off Satander, but the added charges to my account (which I would not have otherwise incurred had they given me notice or allowed me time to make alternative arrangements). After months of complaining and unanswered letters (or getting standard replies on how the FSA lost their court case), and as they've referred the matter to a debt collection agency, I have referred the matter to the FOS (who seem to be deluged with complaints) and waiting for a decision.

I needed a car however (job is 30 miles away and is an essential car user position) and got one through a dealer who was rather economical with the truth to get me the finance. The car was priced at £4500, and the finance with GAP totalled £6700. As I was unemployed at the time, I had no choice - I knew it was a ripoff. The financer, ironically, is Satander.

Now my insurance is due for renewal I started getting quotes following Martin's tips. The cheapest I have got is £600 MORE than what I was paying last year, despite getting my first years no claims discount. there are no changes since last year either. So I've been looking at ways to get round this.

My current car is worth about £2500 (depending on who you ask), has £4000 as an early settlement figure and an voluntary termination figure of about £1000. I've been looking at options, such as trading in the car with a dealer and one that came up was Peugots Just Add Fuel (where you pay a monthly fee to get car, insurance, taxes etc etc).

I did my maths, got quotes off Peugeot and rather than keep going with my current car, it worked out CHEAPER each year, and in the long run to:
1. Get a loan to pay the Voluntary Termination AND
2. Pay for the Peugeot Scheme AND
3. Save money each month to pay the option to purchase.

So I popped down to RBS to apply for a loan. Boy was I disappointed. Satander have junked my credit rating which until now was fairly decent, meaning that there is no way I can apply for finance. RBS said that an application for a loan would likely fail. Not only that, I've learned that RBS are selling my RBS account to those b****rds at Satander. I'd rather hide my money under my pillow than let those idiots near it. I'm also worried that if my account does go to Satander, they will plunder it to pay the charges incurred with the other account.

I'm now stuck. I can't get opt for cheap car deals, obtain finance to pay for insurance so I can pay the monthly payments. It's getting to the point where I may have to give up my job that I've worked so hard for to get. Not using the car is not an option as it's an essential car user post and it's too expensive to commute to work anyway (2 buses and a train each way).

Any miracle workers out there?

lisyloo

I did my maths, got quotes off Peugeot and rather than keep going with my current car, it worked out CHEAPER each year, and in the long run to:

Are you sure you did the maths right?
Are you paying for a loan for longer in one case than the other?
It just doesn't sound right.
Feel free to post up the maths if you want people to take a look.

What type of cover have you been lookgin for? fully comp? TPF&T?
Have you tried adding another driver e.g. your mum? (doesn't matter if she doesn't get to driver it). A mature female with no claims and convictions is best.

£600 is £50 per month, which shouldn't be the end of the world for a working person.
Can you post an SOA (statement of affairs). Can you break down what you spend each month? e.g.

mortgage/rent
utilities
food
clothes
presents
petrol
insurance
etc.

I know it sounds like revealing a lot, but that's the only way people can help you out.
Perhaps there might be another area where you could save the extra £50.

OR

Do you have to take a step back and say you really can't afford to do this job??
I know that sounds scary but if they aren't paying you enough for the basics then you have to rethink.

ihatesantander

Thank for replying - I am sure the maths are correct as a colleague at work, a former accountant, checked them for me (and changed a couple of things that made it even cheaper). I don't have actual figures with me sorry.

As far as my outgoing are:

Net pay / month = 1200.

Expenses:

175 car finance
164 insurance (or it will be)
088 council tax
320 rent
250 Petrol

That adds to 997. the remainder goes on food, clothing etc which usually leaves me skint at the end of the month. I receive no other income and have no other means of raising capital (including things like car boot sales as I've hardly got anything at all, never mind worth selling).

lisyloo

Your mileage appears to be very high (£250 per month for petrol).
Are your other miles social? or do you do them for work?

If for work then, does your employer give you an allowance/expenses for your car on top or is that included in the salary quoted?

Does your dream job have realistic possibilities for promotion and greater income, or will you be doing the same job/same salary for a long period of time.

ihatesantander

lisyloo wrote: »

Your mileage appears to be very high (£250 per month for petrol).
Are your other miles social? or do you do them for work?

If for work then, does your employer give you an allowance/expenses for your car on top or is that included in the salary quoted?

Does your dream job have realistic possibilities for promotion and greater income, or will you be doing the same job/same salary for a long period of time.

The mileage is accurate - I live 30 odd miles away from work and use it for work as well. I do get mileage paid which I've taken account for in the costs given. I would move closer, but there's a restructure at work going on and I don't know where I'm going to end up (and even if I did it would take ages to save up for a deposit).

The job is quite specialised and there re not many vacancies about in my job, and to be honest I'm not too bothered about the pay or progression. I just expected that things would get cheaper, especially with getting my first year NCD (which is usually about 40%). And I'm annoyed at Satander for messing things up for me even more. I wouldn't be in this pickle if it weren't for them.

Marv02

ihatesantander wrote: »

Now my insurance is due for renewal I started getting quotes following Martin's tips. The cheapest I have got is £600 MORE than what I was paying last year, despite getting my first years no claims discount. there are no changes since last year either. So I've been looking at ways to get round this.

A way around this is to never... EVER use price comparison sites... EVER! They are rip off's and useally charge upto £3000 more then other companies ask for. Always go to companies that are not listed on price comparison sites. Take Elephant.co.uk as an example, or direct line etc.

I used confused.com, goccompare.com, comparethesupermarket.com the lot! My sons insurance was always showing up as £3500+ for a 2001 TDI golf. After browsing for so long, I decided to google around a little more and found elephant. I've heard of it so I tried it direct from their sites... And you know what? The quote came back £1450!! Almost £2000 cheaper then so called comparison sites!

Now I know why directline tells you in their new ad's to go straight to them as they are not found on comparison sites...

Marv02

Another tip would be to actually look around before buying cars. For example, any MK4 golf Volkswagon diesel would give you a good 45MPG in the city, and 65MPG on the motorway. With a combined total of 660 miles to the tank (thats 660 miles for only £60 of fuel.) The car is powerful too. It has 140BHP, and is cheap to insure. The car itself only costs £1500 for a decent one. (MK4 golfs are the 1998-2003 models.)

Again, going for cars that are petrol, are from dealers, and cost beyond £4500 and still give you terrible MPG is a bad, bad idea.

lisyloo

The mileage is accurate - I live 30 odd miles away from work

£250 a month does not relate to a 60 mile commute.
Working roughly on £5 per gallon and 30 miles to the gallon means you are doing 18,000 miles per year.
That's an approximation, but either your are doing tons of miles for work and they aren't properly recompensing you or you are doing tons of social miles or you have a very uneconomical car.

I am just being honest, I have no axe to grind, but it looks to me like your employer is ripping you off and expecting you to fund expensive depreciation, running costs.
I could be wrong here, but there is also the possibility that I'm right and you won't want to here it because it's your dream job.
But it appears as those they are paying you a lowish salary when there are loads of costs involved in doing the job.
£3000 on fuel alone is big for someone on your salary.

If you have class 1 insurance and you are doing high mileage then I don't think there are any magic wands out there. Sorry.

mikey72

I've been told Bell Insurance is good for a quote now.

ihatesantander

Hi Mikey - Bell has come up the cheapest for me so far so it looks like I'll be with them.

Marv - I've used other insurers sites as well as the comparison ones. They were just as bad, more often than not worse. as for the car, I would not have chosen what I have now, but I wasn't really spoilt for choice at the time.

Lisyloo - Don't worry about it. The 60 miles is just to and from work. I do a fair bit of mileage for work (which is a good mileage rate but no essential car user payment). I also do a fair bit of social driving as well, though I have cut down on this as much as I can. The car is also pretty uneconomical as well - I get about 350 miles out of a tank of 45 litres. And yeah, my employer is taking advantage, but that's what happens when the Tories get in.

lisyloo

If you are doing a high mileage then it really would be worth your while to get a more economical car (yours is 35 mpg which isn't good).

Let's supopse you are doing 20K miles (I worked that out from your 35mpg and £250 per month).
If you got a 45 mpg car then you would be able to save £55 per month.