Complex Car Insurance Situation - please help!

docsarah

I've searched about every engine out there, and talked to about 15 insurers on the phone... but my situation is quite complex, so I would be really really grateful if somone could help and shed some light! :heartsmil

I'm 23, and have had a German (EU) driving license for 4 years and 10 months (since 09/2002) - btw, is that 4 years or 5 years on the quote form? I've never had my own insurance, but have been a driver on my parent's insurance since I got my license (but this is insurance in Germany). I'm married, and work as a hospital doctor. No previous accidents, squeaky clean record. The lowest quote I'm getting with my EEC license is £690.

However...

1) I have the option of paying £45 to the DVLA and exchanging my license for a UK one. Even though it will say issued in 2007, on the back of the license it will state 09/2002 as the date when i got my license. If I try to get quotes saying I've had a UK license since then, it drops down to about £550. This is despite insurance brokers assuring me that it will make no difference whether I have a UK or EU license. Why would it make such a big difference if it's so easy to exchange the license??? It would take 2-3 weeks to get the UK license through - this probably means i would have to take temporary insurance while I wait for the UK license, and then take out my annual insurance, as i obviously don't want to give fraudulent information.

2) My husband really would like to be a named driver on our insurance. He has held a US license for 10 years and is 26 years old. however, because he's been in the UK for over one year, he may no longer drive on his US license and must take the UK driving test. however, once he has done this, it will mean he has held his full UK license less than a year, making our premium rise to £1400!!! Are there no insurers that will take into account his driving experience overseas? He even has NCD in the US!
I did however find a open drive (ages 26-59) insurance with quinnDirect for £844, which would cover him since he will have a full UK license. however, i'm only 23. When i got this quote, I was the main driver, so does this mean that it's me plus anyone over 26, or does it not cover me because of the age cut-off?

3) Question: would it help if I did pass plus, even though i have had a license for 4 years? I need to start insurance next week - can you get a discount even if you pass the course after your insurance starts?

I will be so so so grateful if you can give any advice... and thanks already for reading all this!

mrtg0525

docsarah wrote: »

I've searched about every engine out there, and talked to about 15 insurers on the phone... but my situation is quite complex, so I would be really really grateful if somone could help and shed some light! :heartsmil

I'm 23, and have had a German (EU) driving license for 4 years and 10 months (since 09/2002) - btw, is that 4 years or 5 years on the quote form? I've never had my own insurance, but have been a driver on my parent's insurance since I got my license (but this is insurance in Germany). I'm married, and work as a hospital doctor. No previous accidents, squeaky clean record. The lowest quote I'm getting with my EEC license is £690.

However...

1) I have the option of paying £45 to the DVLA and exchanging my license for a UK one. Even though it will say issued in 2007, on the back of the license it will state 09/2002 as the date when i got my license. If I try to get quotes saying I've had a UK license since then, it drops down to about £550. This is despite insurance brokers assuring me that it will make no difference whether I have a UK or EU license. Why would it make such a big difference if it's so easy to exchange the license??? It would take 2-3 weeks to get the UK license through - this probably means i would have to take temporary insurance while I wait for the UK license, and then take out my annual insurance, as i obviously don't want to give fraudulent information.

That one is a minefield. I've gone through exactly the same, including exchanging a German license. Even after living in the UK for nine years, I still get into the occasional discussion with an insurance broker because apparently a UK license is so superior to anything else out there that I clearly cannot have had a license since 1986 as I've only lived in the UK since 1998 :mad:.

Anyway, rant over. From my experience it is probably worth leaving the online quotes aside for the time being and talk to a more specialist broker where you can talk to a real person at the other end of the phone. Depending on the car you are planning to buy you may find that a good broker is able to arrange a better price for you due to the slightly special situation. Well, it worked for me...

And despite me having a sizeable NCB from Germany, taking the pains to get the documents translated and the insurer kind of honoring the NCB, I still pretty much had to start out with very small, cheap to insure cars again. So I got myself an old Mini, and then a succession of either very sensible or classic cars. It's taken about 6-7 years until I could get insurance again on the daft sporty things that I like to drive.

docsarah wrote: »

2) My husband really would like to be a named driver on our insurance. He has held a US license for 10 years and is 26 years old. however, because he's been in the UK for over one year, he may no longer drive on his US license and must take the UK driving test. however, once he has done this, it will mean he has held his full UK license less than a year, making our premium rise to £1400!!! Are there no insurers that will take into account his driving experience overseas? He even has NCD in the US!

I assume he has the documents for that? Some insurers (for me it was Norwich Union) will take the NCB into account. Again, you probably have to talk to a broker...

docsarah wrote: »

I did however find a open drive (ages 26-59) insurance with quinnDirect for £844, which would cover him since he will have a full UK license. however, i'm only 23. When i got this quote, I was the main driver, so does this mean that it's me plus anyone over 26, or does it not cover me because of the age cut-off?

Don't know about this particular policy but if it's only covering ages 26-59 then I guess you're out.

docsarah wrote: »

3) Question: would it help if I did pass plus, even though i have had a license for 4 years? I need to start insurance next week - can you get a discount even if you pass the course after your insurance starts?

Normally you can't get the discount after taking out the insurance, plus I found that most insurance companies that will give you a discount aren't that competitive in the first place.

Oddly enough, I found that brokers who deal with the more specialist end of the market (Japanese gray imports, classic cars, American cars etc) a lot more flexible than your average insurer, simply because the latter is designing average policies for average people, and we don't meet those criteria (trying to get your American spouse on your insurance is a lot of fun, too - I know because I am married to an American, too). So it may be worth looking into getting a 'modern classic' (ie, something that is a bit collectable/worth keeping and over 15 years old) or something similar instead of an utterly average, sensible car. Heck, that worked for me.

maclean2

Hi- suggest you telephone a branch of Aplan Insurance who are usually very helpful where flexibility over NCD and licences is needed.

Best Advice UK are a telephone equivalent of confused or moneysupermarket and are worth contacting on 0800 0851898.If they cannot help there is no charge and if you take up their quote they charge around £15.00.They are staffed by friendly and helpful human beings - no offshore call centres.

Best of luck