Car Insurance advice

nrishiraj

Hi

I'm going to buy my sister's car this saturday as she will be purchasing a new car. I've gone to confused.com and did a search on insurance quotes under my dad's name [policy holder] for me, my brother and sister [3 drivers]. The cheapest I've found is at £342 and its with Ecar and it says Refer to Company for the Courtesy car.

It says Legal Cover = Included, does this mean breakdown cover?

Should I try calling them on Saturday and haggling with the price and the courtesy car? Are insurance companies good with haggling prices?

Thanks

scheming_gypsy

Legal cover isn't breakdown cover its to cover any legal costs involved if there's a claim to be made... or something like that.

raskazz

nrishiraj wrote: »

Hi

I'm going to buy my sister's car this saturday as she will be purchasing a new car. I've gone to confused.com and did a search on insurance quotes under my dad's name [policy holder] for me, my brother and sister [3 drivers]. The cheapest I've found is at £342 and its with Ecar and it says Refer to Company for the Courtesy car.

It says Legal Cover = Included, does this mean breakdown cover?

Should I try calling them on Saturday and haggling with the price and the courtesy car? Are insurance companies good with haggling prices?

Thanks

You might want to start off by not misrepresenting the facts.

Given that you are buying the car, why are you telling insurers that your father is the main user?

nrishiraj

raskazz wrote: »

You might want to start off by not misrepresenting the facts.

Given that you are buying the car, why are you telling insurers that your father is the main user?

Because it works out alot cheaper under my dad's name.

anewman

nrishiraj wrote: »

Because it works out alot cheaper under my dad's name.

That's known as fronting in the trade and is technically illegal and can land you in lots of problems should you need to make a claim (i.e. you're not technically insured). Get it insured in your own name, when you build up the no claims you'll find it's much cheaper than it would have been if you used your dad's name and got insurance for yourself later. Any courtesy car would also be for your dad only so it would be a waste of time trying to get some sort of courtesy car cover under your dad's name for yourself.

Aso, if you can't afford the insurance you cannot afford to drive. Your only option would probably be to find a car which the insurance would be cheaper on.

Try https://www.ecarinsurance.co.uk for a quote too as I found them cheapest for me. Remember to try third party fire and theft also as for me this worked out cheaper than third party only.

Generally insurance companies will *not* haggle as it is usually a phone operator sat behind a computer typing the details you give and they can only do what the computer lets them. Usually the only way to get a cheaper quote is to lie about details, but that effectively means you are uninsured.

The best thing to do is get loads of quotes and go for the cheapest one that suits you best.

raskazz

anewman is right.

Have a look at this (recent) article on 'fronting':

http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/insurance/car-insurance/article.html?in_article_id=424629&in_page_id=35&ito=1565

Especially where it mentions that:

"Insurers can also refuse to pay for any claims or can settle a third-party claim and recover the cost from the parent as the policyholder"

I have personally seen cases where the insurer has had to pay damages to an injured third party (where they would not ordinarily do so, but were obliged to under the Road Traffic Act) and then sued the policyholder to recover their costs. I'm sure you would not want this to happen to your father. Get the insurance in your own name.

anewman

Oh yes and that article makes a good point that insuring in your own name and adding your parents as a named driver, even if they will never drive the car, can bring down the cost as a more experienced driver is on the policy. It's worth trying all possible combinations without giving false details to try get the cheapest quote.

The comment on the article about the advert where the daughter complains about not getting any no claims, seemingly legitimising the practice insurers try their best to crack down on, is a valid comment. However, the advert probably doesn't make it clear that the discount is only with them and they probably wouldn't be the cheapest insurer anyway.

pompeyrich

Try the PRU, they are offering free Green Flag breakdown, home start and get you home service with all new policies at the moment, if you go through quidco £130 cashback too. I got, probably nearer you Dads age, FC protected for £205, or £75 IF the cashback happens, that was for a 2L turbo diesel. For my son, 18 years, 1.0 L Corsa £1040 TPF&T with ecarinsurance was the best I could find.