Playing the car insurance game to get lowest quote in London

cybergibbons

Good afternoon all,

My partner and I are expecting a baby in June, and want to buy a family sized hatchback (Ford Focus, Kia Cee'd, Vauxhall Astra, Hyundai i30). We're still undecided as to new, nearly new or used, but I was using a spreadsheet to compare the total cost of ownership for different options, taking into account depreciation, fuel costs, mileage, tax, insurance etc. I was very surprised to how little difference there was in the yearly cost between a brand new car and an old banger...

Anyway, I took the insurance figures from a website that had typical values for the different insurance groups. It was only yesterday that I actually got some quotes from GoCompare etc. and was astounded to how much the insurance will be - typically around £2000, which is a huge chunk of how much the car will cost to run! There are much, much cheaper quotes from Admiral and Elephant, but I have heard very bad things about them, and am concerned when they are coming in £1200 cheaper.

What has most surprised me is that changing the details of the quote isn't changing the price nearly as much as expected. Our situation is as follows:

• Live in rented property in quiet area of outer London
• I am in full time employment, my partner will be a house parent
• Parking is on road
• I will have a provisional (hoping to pass test quickly), and my partner has held a license for 8 years
• We haven't owned a car before
• No convictions, claims or NCB.

But, for example, changing the quote from a brand new 1.6 CRDi Cee'd 3 down to a 5 year old 1.4 petrol low spec Focus isn't moving the price much at all. Neither moving down to a tiny car like a Fiesta. Changing from on-road to locked garage (which we could hire...) isn't doing much. Removing me entirely drops it by a bit, but not as much as expected. I've tried changing my occupation (as per the tool on the site to find the cheapest). We've tried changing my partner to self-employed (which is something we are considering). I've tried adding a tracker. Everything I can change without lying. But it's just not coming down.

So what's causing the quote to be so high? Is it the stuff we can't change like no NCB, area we live in? Any hints on how to improve the situation?

TLDR; our car insurance quotes are really high and I can't work out what causes it, any hints?

Hintza

Well if you subtract say 70% that would be a typical full NCB you will get closer to the price most would pay.

Your £2k quote would be £600 which is still quite expensive but some of that wll be because you are not a homowner.

Others like Viao will be along shortly to give you more detailed help.

mikey72

cybergibbons wrote: »

Anyway, I took the insurance figures from a website that had typical values for the different insurance groups. It was only yesterday that I actually got some quotes from GoCompare etc. and was astounded to how much the insurance will be - typically around £2000, which is a huge chunk of how much the car will cost to run! There are much, much cheaper quotes from Admiral and Elephant, but I have heard very bad things about them, and am concerned when they are coming in £1200 cheaper.

I'd be more concerned as to what better service an insurance company could give you to justify £1200 a year extra.
I'd be more worried if they were happy to rip you off now, how they would treat you later if you need them

cybergibbons

mikey72 wrote: »

I'd be more worried if they were happy to rip you off now, how they would treat you later if you need them

I can see the logic there - one thing I haven't done is look at the specific terms and conditions of all the quotes, but if 50+ quotes are at £2k ish and Admiral and Elephant come in at £800, I feel like something is amiss.

greyteam1959

The online companies are not always the cheapest you know.....
Why not try ringing a local insurance broker ???
Suprisingly enough they could be cheaper

cybergibbons

1 years no claim - average down to about £1200.

4 years no claim - average down to about £800.

Seems this is what we're missing out on.

gilbert_and_sullivan

The reason your quotes are so high is that you are still a provisional driver, and when you pass your test will be a new driver...quotes around £2K are quite normal even if you're more mature, especially in a city, presumably your partner has no insurance history to kick start some no cliams?

Car wise, do you really want to tie up such a huge amount of either capital or finance in a depreciating thing like a car when starting a family, i wouldn't.

I'd be going the bangernomics route, your job may seem secure now, but nothings safe any more...the only thing that's guranteed for ever is that politicians will still be doing very nicely thankyou.

The very best to you both and your expected child.

cybergibbons

gilbert_and_sullivan wrote: »

The reason your quotes are so high is that you are still a provisional driver, and when you pass your test will be a new driver...quotes around £2K are quite normal even if you're more mature, especially in a city, presumably your partner has no insurance history to kick start some no cliams?

She has been insured, but only as secondary driver on a car a few years ago.

Car wise, do you really want to tie up such a huge amount of either capital or finance in a depreciating thing like a car when starting a family, i wouldn't.

I'd be going the bangernomics route, your job may seem secure now, but nothings safe any more...the only thing that's guranteed for ever is that politicians will still be doing very nicely thankyou.

I'm not sure really - above all I want something reliable, no fuss and safe. I'd like to keep away from the extreme end of bangernomics (e.g. a 1995 Rover..), but I am open to older cars.

Like I said, I was deeply surprised at how little difference the age and price of car made to the total cost of ownership. It is just the tying up of funds that is the scary bit.

The very best to you both and your expected child.

Thanks!

MX5huggy

Firstly add a Skoda Octiva to your list, new or second hand they represent outstanding value.

The simple fact is that the biggest risk is how much the insurance company will be paying out to 3rd parties in the event of a claim and the likely hood of that with 1 driver with no experience and 1 that is an unknown risk.

Try just 3rd party (with or with out fire and theft) to see how that compares with Fully Comp wont make much difference I bet.

I would not worry about which insurance company you go with they can all be hard work when you have a claim.

cybergibbons

MX5huggy wrote: »

Firstly add a Skoda Octiva to your list, new or second hand they represent outstanding value.

The simple fact is that the biggest risk is how much the insurance company will be paying out to 3rd parties in the event of a claim and the likely hood of that with 1 driver with no experience and 1 that is an unknown risk.

Try just 3rd party (with or with out fire and theft) to see how that compares with Fully Comp wont make much difference I bet.

I would not worry about which insurance company you go with they can all be hard work when you have a claim.

The Octavia is on the list as well. Third party is coming in with ridiculous numbers - probably £4k average, up to about £9k...

gilbert_and_sullivan

You are looking at the wrong cars for first insurance, you've got to keep the group down as low as possible for the first year at least.

It's going to have to be something very small engined unfortunately and as exciting as watching paint dry.

Not suggesting you get one, though i could think of hundreds of worse cars, put in details for a 1.1 Pug 106/206 Corsa/Fiesta etc, the usual suspects...as soon as you start getting up to 1.4 litres and above the groups and premiums increase swiftly.

Doubt you'll want one but Landrover 90 County's used to be really cheap to insure, grp 2 if i recall.