11 Months of no Claims

logicturnip

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone

I don't know why I didn't think about just switching the cars, I think it was mainly to get the car back to my mum. I'm visiting her next weekend, so I can deliver it and get a train back, at which point I can drive my shiny new one Just hope I don't have an accident in those few weeks, as my old policy is only Third party fire and theft.

Tried ringing my insurer, but they closed at 5:30 so will contact them tomorrow. Is a good time to cancel my policy going forward anyway, as I can't see them beating my new quote with cashback too! MSE guides strike again!

Thanks once again MSE'ers

JQ.

logicturnip wrote: »

Just hope I don't have an accident in those few weeks, as my old policy is only Third party fire and theft.

Then just ask them to upgrade the policy to Fully Comprehensive for the last month, can't imagine it will cost that much as you'll be making a change and incurring the admin charges anyway.

dacouch

logicturnip wrote: »

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone

I don't know why I didn't think about just switching the cars, I think it was mainly to get the car back to my mum. I'm visiting her next weekend, so I can deliver it and get a train back, at which point I can drive my shiny new one Just hope I don't have an accident in those few weeks, as my old policy is only Third party fire and theft.

Tried ringing my insurer, but they closed at 5:30 so will contact them tomorrow. Is a good time to cancel my policy going forward anyway, as I can't see them beating my new quote with cashback too! MSE guides strike again!

Thanks once again MSE'ers

I hope for your sake that you are declaring Zero no claims bonus on your alternative quotation and you are aware of any cancellation charges your Insurer may raise.

Lum

^^What? He's switching his existing policy to the new car for the final month, and then when that expires starting a new policy which, providing he doesn't crash, will have earned 1 years NCB.

logicturnip wrote: »

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone

I don't know why I didn't think about just switching the cars, I think it was mainly to get the car back to my mum. I'm visiting her next weekend, so I can deliver it and get a train back, at which point I can drive my shiny new one

Drive the car to your mums and get the train back before your 7 days are up, make sure that the switchover is timed to happen as the 7 days are up, though most sensible insurers give you a few days of driving both cars anyway.

If you really want your mum to be able to drive the car immediately then buy some temporary insurance for her rather than for yourself, or have her buy the policy then hand the phone over to you to give your credit card number.

logicturnip

So the plan is:

1) Pick up the new car (polo) Saturday 3rd March
2) Drive new car for a week - Dealer Temporary insurance will expire Midnight on Friday 9th
3) Drive old car (Yaris) to my Mum's (150 miles away) on the evening of Friday 9th
4) Switch current insurance policy from Yaris to Polo on Saturday 10th. Upgrade to Fully Comp.
5) Yaris is now uninsured. My mum is happy insuring it on Sat (£250 annual policy - lucky thing!)
6) Train home. I can now drive the Polo again.
7) Current insurance is up for renewal 1st April. Cancel current insurance and accept new quote (with 1 year no claims)

Dacouch - I appreciate the concern, these things certainly aren't to be messed with! Like I said earlier, I risked driving an uninsured car 10 miles home from the guy I bought it off - and got caught. I broke the law so I take my punishment. In this instance fines and impound fees cost more than the car, and my insurance doubled. I'm sure I'm not the first to do this, but I'll certainly never do it again.

I read recently that you can get fined and penalty points for owning a car that isn't insured (and not declared Sorn). I don't want to leave either car uninsured for even an hour, as I'll probably get caught out, knowing my luck! (I know that the chance of this happening is infinitesimally small, but why risk it!)

Cheers to everyone for being so helpful!

rev_henry

Sounds fine to me. Yes there's a new thing called continuous insurance enforcement, but its not as draconian as you think. They'll send you a couple of letters saying 'your car is uninsured, insure it or SORN it', before they'll think about fining you, so a day or two should be fine.

ernie-money

Quentin wrote: »

Another (cheaper) way - take out policy, cancel during 14 days allowed for cooling off, then repeat. Then your "old" policy will have ended.

Paying 2 admin charges will be less than short term cover.

(Downside would be if you had a claim during this period!!)

I would definitely not recommend this option! I took out a policy for my OH's van 3 days ago TPFT only and then today I suddenly thought that I never ran a quote for fully comp, so I did that today. Found out it was actually cheaper FC, so rang the company to cancel the policy. They informed me that it would cost us £62.43 in total for the three days of cover we've had! £2.43 for cover, £50 cancellation charge to them (broker) and £10 cancellation to the insurance company!
Rang consumer direct & the financial ombudsman, and it's all perfectly above the board, as they state this in their terms and conditions...
Looks like the cooling off period isn't worth that much after all!
As long as you make sure there's not a massive cancellation charge you'd be fine, but do make sure to check!

Sorry - just read the rest of the thread, I see you weren't going to do this anyway!

logicturnip

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone, everything has gone smoothly! £80 quid for 3 weeks Fully comp cover, but that was about what I was expecting. Pick up the car tomorrow morning, its nice to have it all sorted in advance!
Got my cheap quote saved

ernie-money - I know what you mean about cancellation charges I was expecting a little refund for a previous insurance policy for a car I had scrapped, ended up paying them money! (it was a monthly policy)