insurance: how much do you pay?

racing_blue

Mikey, 5 cars + a camper van plus a house £1350 still sounds like a cracking deal, must be less than £200 per vehicle, wondered if this was a special multi car policy or if you are just good at shopping around?

paddedjohn

Car, van, scooter,house and contents and boiler all for about £920. All good untill we include the lads car into the mix, this is £1700 on its own.

bouncydog1

I hate questions like this. Nobody can compare their insurance costs unless their risk is identical e.g.

Property - same postcode, construction, building type, sum insured etc etc.

Vehicles - same type, driver profile, postcode, no claims etc.

Life - identical individuals with identical health profiles - unlikely to ever happen.

At the end of the day, if you are satisfied with what you are paying and the cover you have, taking into account what you may receive in the event of a claim, then you have paid the right price. If it's too high shop around! You might find out you can't reduce it!

mikey72

racing_blue wrote: »

Mikey, 5 cars + a camper van plus a house £1350 still sounds like a cracking deal, must be less than £200 per vehicle, wondered if this was a special multi car policy or if you are just good at shopping around?

I always shop around. Multi car policies are much dearer when I've had quotes.
I never buy from anyone with textspeak in the name, must have uk call centres, and be a name I recognise.
I check on comparison sites first, knock out the ones that don't fit into my rules above, then look on cashback sites.
The only exception is the camper, which I stay with the same company, mainly because of the included breakdown cover, but I always phone them and haggle to at least the same renewal as last year, sometimes a bit less.

House was £201, but then £60 cashback (building and contents)
Van was £325, but dropped to £264
Car1 £180, but then £28 cashback
Car2 £246, but then £80 cashback
Classic was £126, but then £28 cashback
Kit car was £108,
Daughters car £354, then £28 cashback.
AA was £150, then £50 cashback.
£1690 then £335 cashback

So actually £1355, (bit of rounding in my additions earlier)
I never take any extras on insurance, no legal cover, no protected ncd, no courtesy car, etc, and choose an excess that gives a reasonable price compared to the risk.
For example, I found one year changing form the £250 down to zero added about £2 on.
Another time, (on a car worth £400) changing from £250 up to £1000 nearly halved the premium.
Done with dummy quotes, with a dummy name and address, then when I know what I want, done for real in the first hit.
I know you can’t compare insurance, but it done seem unfair ours can be so cheap, and others appear to be paying a lot more than we do, for the same service.
For example my daughter now has 1 years ncd, driving for two years, and is just £350 (classic mini, her name, mainstream insurance) but it was only about £550 for the first two years from 17, first on a classic policy for a year, but the second year was mainstream still with zero ncd and 1 years experience.

InsideInsurance

Contents ("unlimited" cover - £50,000 valuables and £25,000 PP) - £145
Car - £360
Travel - "free"
Breakdown - "free"
Life (£300k) - £129
PHI (£5,000 cover) - £1,538
PMI (family cov inc pre-existing conditions) - £1,536
Professional indemnity/ Public Liab (£2m PI/ £5m PL) - £405

Total is too much but these are the joys of working for yourself

racing_blue

Mikey thanks for that really detailed answer. Some food for thought there & I love your approach. And you reminded me... RAC £84...

Bouncydog, what you say is surely true, your insurance choices may differ from mine, my granny's and those of the base-jumping guy across the road. But I'm still interested in chewing the fat & hope that doesn't cause anyone too much angst!

In another thread someone said "never insure agains risks you are happy to cover yourself"- do people broadly agree with that?

Ps. In the spirit of declaring interests, the bit in my first post about rather owning than paying insurance companies was genuine. Brit Insurance, Aviva, Resolution, Barclays and Lancashire Holdings currently kindly provide me with dividends, roughly equal to the amount of money I pay them back!

weighty1_2

racing_blue wrote: »

glad you asked weighty1

No income protection. No critical illness. If I lose my job or get critically ill, I'll adjust lifestyle and expenditure. Have sufficient savings to cover the adjustment period.

Tempted to cut the life insurance for the same reason (or at least make it single life as I'm not sure my partner would be quite so parsimonius if I died)

REALLY???

The average (yes, average) length of a claim based on LV's income protection stats is 7-years. Honestly, you've got that much set aside have you?

What about the critical illnesses from which there may not be an adjustment period - stroke, major head trauma, loss of limbs/paralysis, blindness, multiple sclerosis etc etc etc.

What happens when the savings run out. You could live on less than £5k? I know I certainly couldn't.

racing_blue

Weighty, the way I see it lots of households have 3 earners: husband, wife and their investments. Sooner or later 2 of the 3 retire, leaving only the investments working.

If one of us has to leave the table a little early, we'd adjust lifestyle to fit. Not sure it is worth insuring against this outcome, as am quite comfortable with the possibility our lives might unfold like that.

This is my point, really. Previously I have fairly blindly insured against a number of risks, because that is what I assume most people do.

But what if someone is quite happy to replace the tatty contents of their house out of savings in the event of a fire; or to downsize their lifestyle in event of a serious injury; or to pay to get their car fixed up if they have a crash; or to pay for a tow if they break down? Do they need insurance then?

Obviously there a are some risks that are too great and some insurances which are compulsory. But I reckon I could shave a chunk off that £1200+ per year and still sleep at night.

Buildings insurance, 2 lots of 3rd party car insurance, and travel insurance for N America/ winter sports. All with maximum excesses

hugheskevi

House insurance - £217 (buildings and contents, originally £250 with £33 cash-back, was intending to have buildings-only, but contents was less than £50 extra so took it primarily so there can't be any doubt in the event of a claim about what is defined as contents and what is buildings. Both have high excess).

Car insurance - £357 (amount after cashback, fully comprehensive as cheaper than 3rd party on one car for myself and partner. High excess.)

AA - £11 (basic cover, after cashback).

Life insurance - £270K for me, £170K for wife, part of occupational pension so no cost.

Travel insurance - free with my Nationwide bank account. Basic cover purchased for wife when necessary, last trip cost £6.51

Sickness - employer pays full salary for up to 6 months if ill, no cost.

Income protection - none, intend to review in 2015 and take risk until then.

Bicycle insurance (cycle to work) - none, intend to review in 2015 and take risk until then.

Medical insurance - none, will review much later in life.

No other insurance, happy to cover myself if required (boiler, emergency repairs, lost keys, debit/credit card cover, PPI, legal, courtesy car, water pipes, dental, optician, gadgets)

So a bit under £600 altogether.

mikey72

Actually, I've realised I missed a couple, landlord insurance, and public liability. As they're both busines expenses I tend not to think of them as a spend on insurance.

I have never bothered with medical or income protection.
Never took out life insurance.
(I've had jobs with life insurance included in the pension, I've had ones with medical)
I've never felt the need to take them out now I'm self employed though.
Even what's left of the mortgage has no insurance on it.
But any life changing circumstances will mean one of us just takes (very) early retirement now. (Although it'll be a fair few years until I get the pension to go with it)
I have only ever had travel insurance once, and that was for the states.
Any other trip we don't bother with. (Medical or cancellation)