Not driven for years = extortionate premiums! Any help please?

DonGotti

Hello all

I passed my test 10 years ago but sold my car around 5 as living in London I found it was an unnecessary expense.

However changes in circumstances mean I now need a car. I have just tried online for a quote on third party, fire and theft and it comes to £1,600! This is almost as much as the cost of the car!

I understand I haven't driven for a number of years and therefore pose an enhanced risk to insurance underwriters, however I cannot justify spending this much. Therefore:

1) Are there alternatives? i.e. would a broker be able to find me a cheaper deal and if so, any recommendations; or

2) If I joined a car club like Zipcar, would using that claim-free for a few years could towards a no claims discount/bonus?

Thank you for any help

vaio

Certainly look at full comp as it's often cheaper, other than that, if you have any old no claims try a broker who might be able to arrange some sort of discount to reflect your experience

dunstonh

Cost of the car is largely irrelevant as it is often the lowest cost thing in a claim.

How does fully comp compare? It is not unusual to see TPF&T more expensive nowadays as far fewer use it than they used to and the smaller the spread of risk, the greater the cost.

Quentin

Try fc with as big a voluntary excess as you can take (swiftcover (not a recommendation) let you take £1000 irrespective of the car's value).

Also try adding a mature female with a good driving history and clean licence as a named driver (even if she will never actually drive it)

InsideInsurance

With NCD representing up to a 70% discount and the vast majority of people holding full NCD it is not surprising that you feel your quotes are high when you have no NCD.

As has been said, the concern insurers have are around personal injury claims from third parties and the value of your vehicle has very little to do with these.

There is tips on this site on how to reduce your insurance legitimately but you are basically going to have to suck it up for a few years until you rebuild your NCD. I dont know of any insurer that would accept a car club as NCD, only some accept company car cover and there you have a much better link between a person, a vehicle and their frequent use.

DonGotti

Thanks for the responses everyone, comprehensive was just as pricey. Can't believe it will cost so much to insure a car I will only be driving approx once a week.

Quentin

DonGotti wrote: »

....Can't believe it will cost so much to insure a car I will only be driving approx once a week.

Do the sums and see if it will be cheaper by taxi or hire car.

duchy

There are some restricted mileage policies-Maybe that'd be cheaper.