Direct Line Car Insurance!

Lavendyr

Alloy wheels, whether manufacturer "standard" or not, typically seem to attract a higher premium. I understand it's something to do with the "nickability" being higher (forgive me for making up silly words, it's late ) - either a car is more likely to be nicked if it has alloys fitted, or the alloys themselves are more likely to be nicked than standard hubcaps. I have a Ford Fiesta with alloys and have to pay a higher premium for the pleasure.

Has your girlfriend got any no claims bonus built up? If so it may be worth trying the AA car insurance, they brought my insurance down from around £400 with Elephant to £227. It helps to call insurers sometimes as well as they can often do a better deal on the phone (AA brought my contents insurance down by £15 over the phone for instance) - even without the online discount that many insurers offer, it could still be cheaper to call them.

Have you tried putting her as a named driver and someone with a decent no-claims as the main driver? Or what about decreasing the mileage, or storing the car more securely (e.g. in a garage rather than on the street), or getting an immobiliser fitted?

HTH

msmicawber

They're a weird company. I used to have a Saab 900i (i.e. injection, not turbo) and they told me they couldn't insure it because it was a sports car (if only).

Poppy9

Go through www.Quidco.com for insurance quotes and the cashback might make the policies more competitive.

pulliptears

Lavendyr wrote: »

Alloy wheels, whether manufacturer "standard" or not, typically seem to attract a higher premium. I understand it's something to do with the "nickability" being higher (forgive me for making up silly words, it's late ) - either a car is more likely to be nicked if it has alloys fitted, or the alloys themselves are more likely to be nicked than standard hubcaps. I have a Ford Fiesta with alloys and have to pay a higher premium for the pleasure.

Yes, but the point we are making was, adding manufacturers alloys later will attract a higher premium, but having them from the start will not.

If I search for a price on our PT Cruiser without alloys and with alloys the quote is exactly the same. So why should I be charged an extra £80 if I fit them 2 months into my policy?

darich

Changing the wheels means you're effectively driving a modified car.

Lavendyr is correct in that it makes your car more "nickable" (copyright Lavendyr ).
When i was young and drove a GTi, Turbo, GTE etc, then changing the wheels or even putting on a noisy exhaust made little or no difference to the premium because the performance of the car already made it very "nickable".

For more basic cars though, changing the wheels adds an attraction that wasn't there to start with so the premium increases.
The other thing to remember is that Direct Line don't (in general) like sports cars so making your car resemble a more upmarket model makes it less appealing for Direct Line to insure.
That may also be why i noticed virtually no increase in premium on my GTi and changin the wheels - i was with a company already facing the risk of my hot hatch being stolen.

Lavendyr

pulliptears wrote: »

Yes, but the point we are making was, adding manufacturers alloys later will attract a higher premium, but having them from the start will not.

The quotes I got for my car insurance with and without alloys were different from the start - initially I forgot to add them to the quote, and they quoted me a lower price, then later in the same phone call I remembered to mention them and they brought the price of the premium up.

MarkyMarkD

I think that after-market mods cost a surprisingly large amount in additional premium not because they increase the risk of theft substantially, but because they say something to the insurer about the type of customer they are dealing with.

Obviously I don't wish to offend the OP, but the average customer who upgrades his wheels/tints his windows/whatever is more prone to showing off in his car and more likely to have a crash. Hence any upgrade is a reason for the insurer to increase the premium as the risk of accident is greater.

pulliptears

Lavendyr wrote: »

The quotes I got for my car insurance with and without alloys were different from the start - initially I forgot to add them to the quote, and they quoted me a lower price, then later in the same phone call I remembered to mention them and they brought the price of the premium up.

Ahh thats where it differs then, our quote is exactly the same, with and without the wheels. That was my gripe really, had there been the £80 difference they wanted to charge us I wouldnt have minded. It just seemed unfair to be penalised for something when if I had waited until I insured again it wouldnt have cost me any extra.

Incidentally, I put manufacturers alloys on my Clio recently and there was no increase with my insurance.

Dave_Brooker

swift_gti wrote: »

I can't stand insurance companies that charge an earth in premiums for little return if you actually have an accident.
That coupled with rediculous policys eg;
My girlfriend drives a 56 plate Skoda Fabia only a little 1.2, she didn't like the steelies and hub caps it came with so we have just bought set of genuine Skoda Fabia alloys (basically come from the next trim model up from hers) and thought we'd be ok since they are Skoda wheels.
I told her to let the insurance company know so she phoned up Direct Line today, and even though they are proper Skoda alloys which would have been fitted to the car if she'd bought a different trim model they said they won't insure her...
Apparently they class it as a modification even though they are OE wheels... !!!!!!!?!

Why bother tell them?

It's not like they're ever going to see the car, even if it gets written off it will just end up at a contract yard somewhere, and is the busy assessor going to care?

MarkyMarkD

Whilst I hate to agree with anyone doing what Dave suggests, when they are manufacturer's original wheels I suspect he's absolutely right.

If you have non-standard, non-manufacturers' wheels, though, I am sure that any assessor would notice and it would stuff your claim.