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Young Drivers' Car Insurance Discussion
Comments
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The insurance people say she will get a better rate when she has been passed for a year or more, as she is marked as an inexperienced driver right now, but how is she meant to get any experience when she cannot afford to insure a car?
Not that that's much help to you for the next year...koru0 -
Hello all... Having a nightmare at present and could do with some advice, if possible, please!
We bought a Seat Ibiza Sportrider 1.4 at Christmas last year, in good faith, for my son (now 19 years old). We checked the spec online, but none of us are car experts. He passed his driving test three weeks ago and we took out Tesco Black Box insurance at the eye-wateringly high price of £2,800 (for monthly instalments) - the chap came to fit the Black Box last Thursday and proclaimed to our surprise that the car was 'modified'. The modifications consisted of an eroneous 'FR' sticker on the back, a cuff over the end of the exhaust tailpipe (attached by one screw) and the brake calipers had been painted red. This has resulted in Tesco asking us to cancel the insurance policy, as they will not cover the 'modifications.
We took the car to Kwikfit, who checked it over and wrote a letter to confirm that the car was completely standard and had not been 'modified' and that it would be approximately one hour's work to take off the sticker, tailpipe cuff and return the calipers to their original colour. This was not good enough for Tesco. I asked what the difference was between this and having a scratch resprayed on a minor bump - they couldn't answer me. This is essentially vehicular 'colouring-in' and what was a perfectly innocent mistake now has the potential to affect my son's insurance record for the rest of his driving life, if we don't get it sorted within the next 48 hours.
The fiinal kick in the teeth is having paid out a £500 deposit to Tesco, we have now got to find another £700 deposit to pay another insurer, as well as the £200 a month premium, all within one month... I think the car will have to be registered SORN for 7-10 days until Tesco pay back us the £250 they owe us.
Has anyone else had this problem with Tesco or any other insurer? My other concern is how many vehicles are driving around with decals innocently added to the vehicles, unaware that should they have an accident, this may be used as a reason for insurance companies not to pay out!
~ RR0 -
That sounds pretty ridiculous. But you might be better posting this on a separate new thread, because in your case it is irrelevant that the insurance is for a young driver. A separate post might attract the attention of someone who has specific experience of what to do when an insurer interprets cosmetic changes as modifications that are relevant for insurance.koru0
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I was intrigued, so I did a google search and found this guide:
https://www.moneysupermarket.com/car-insurance/articles/car-modifications-car-insurance-prices/
OMG, cosmetic changes CAN affect insurance!
Edit: specific mention of stickers here:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/feb/16/check-insurers-dont-mind-modifications-car
Edit: Looks like the Ombudsman often stops refusal of claims due to innocent failure to disclose mods, though I'm not sure they can force your insurer to give cover. http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/results.html?q=car%20modificationkoru0 -
It's a horror show, isn't it?!... Thank you so much for your research - I'll look into the results of the Ombudsman's findings further.
It's a slippery slope to having to pay for some kind of report from registered garages to verify a second-hand car's suitability for insurance when for some reason an MOT certificate will not suffice!... It's ALL about the money!
Do you still think I need to start a new thread?
~ RR0 -
Rodent-Rocker wrote: »Do you still think I need to start a new thread?koru0
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My other concern is how many vehicles are driving around with decals innocently added to the vehicles, unaware that should they have an accident, this may be used as a reason for insurance companies not to pay out!
If an insurer refused to pay out over a sticker then they'd be sued or taken to the ombudsman.
Much more difficult if they are just saying they don't want your business though.0 -
If your youngster is aged 19 or older and they only drive your car from time to time, you might want to try Cuvva: cuvva.com/sharing
So, you would insure your car just for you. And you get separate cover for the youngster on an hourly or daily basis, when they need to drive the car. This could work out a lot cheaper.
You need to download the app in order to find out how much it would cost.
The big drawback is that they need to remember to buy cover each time they use the car, otherwise they are driving uninsured.koru0 -
Hello everyone - I bought my son's Corsa Life from him in May, for my daughter to use when she's home from Uni.
It's insured for the three of us with Direct Line, and has a box.
She hadn't driven since passing her test three years ago and had a few lessons before driving again. She was away most of the summer so didn't drive it much, and is at Uni until next May then going travelling so will hardly be using it.
She has told me to sell it, but I'm wondering if I should continue to pay her car insurance?£216 saved 24 October 20140 -
Wouldn't that just be a waste of money.(Though unless you sorn the car till it's sold it must be insured)0
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