Car insurance on very old Micra?

lukrezia

Hi, can anyone advise?

I have a 22 year old Nissan Micra, worth about £400 in a fair wind, and as a retired lady I now drive only about 2000 miles a year, if that. It's a great little car and regularly passes its MOT, but insurance ( renewal due in 2 wks) is ridiculous! I've done my comparisons but can't get it down below about £200, whether fully comp or 3rd party only. Is there anything I can do to tweak the variables to get that insurance down?

forgotmyname

Put 4000 miles or more and the premium may drop.

Get a newer car, when doing quotes for my little one anything over 10 years old increased the premium.

agrinnall

Why do you think £200 is ridiculous? Just because your car is only worth £400 doesn't mean your insurer won't face a claim for £millions for lifelong care should you run down a pedestrian, or a claim for £100,000 if you run into a brand new Ferrari.

Aretnap

Is that £200 per year or per month? If it's per year then it's already pretty cheap - not many people pay less than that. (If it's per month then it is surprisingly high - but my guess is that you mean per year)

Doing a very low mileage doesn't always mean that you get a cheaper premium. People who drive very low mileages are often nervous, inexperienced drivers, so their accident rate as a group isn't necessarily lower than people who do average mileages. Plus there are people who dishonestly claim much lower mileages than they actually drive in the (mistaken) belief that it will reduce their premiums, and skew the statistics. If you drove a few more miles you might find that your premium actually came down a bit.

Likewise the value of your car makes little difference, because the bulk of insurance costs these days are third party risks. Your insurers aren't charging you £200 because they're worried about having to replace a £400 Micra - they're worried that you'll drive into a new £40,000 BMW, or worse still cripple someone for life and leave them with a bill for £23 million. You're just as likely to do that in an old car as you are in a new car. In fact, if anything you're more likely to do it in an old car, because an old car won't have a modern car's safety features, and is more likely to be in poor mechanical condition.

ThinkingOutLoud_2

As above.

You could try increasing your voluntary excess up high ,which remember would apply whether the car is worth that much or not and have to be paid if you claimed or if someone claimed against you.

I am assuming you are if possible confirming you park it in a garage or off road - so it cannot be struck by other passing cars.

lukrezia

Thank you for your answers, they have certainly given me food for thought.

EdGasket

ThinkingOutLoud wrote: »

As above.

You could try increasing your voluntary excess up high ,which remember would apply whether the car is worth that much or not and have to be paid if you claimed or if someone claimed against you.

I am assuming you are if possible confirming you park it in a garage or off road - so it cannot be struck by other passing cars.

That is incorrect; the excess is generally only payable for own fault claims for your own car; not for damage to third parties.

Mr.Generous

Remember the insurance policy tax has gone up too, so everyone's insurance is going to increase. I guess that at some point age starts to count against you too, my step mother was stealing £45 per month from my dementia suffering fathers care account to pay her insurance on a Nissan Pixo which is like a smaller and possibly (really?) uglier version of the Micra.

ThinkingOutLoud_2

EdGasket wrote: »

That is incorrect; the excess is generally only payable for own fault claims for your own car; not for damage to third parties.

Good spot. Sorry wasn't clear / correct. Missed off "if you were at partially or wholly at fault". But as said, only applies to damage to your own car.

colin79666

You can get £50 or there about Quidco cashback from some providers so £150 for a years worth of cover isn't too shabby. As above, your car might not be worth much but you could do just as much damage to a Ferrari coming the other way as in another, more expensive, car. Also check the excess, I'd have at least £250 as long as you could afford that.

marlot

Here's an alternative?

My mum similarly did about 2,000 miles a year.

A couple of years ago, I persuaded her to put the car money into a taxi fund instead [not easy for her as she'd been brought up to be frugal, and saw taxis as an extragance]. At the end of the first year, she had about half of the kitty left - which she donated to charity.