Specialist insurance for 'occasional use' car

regency_man

Hi,

My sister and I and our partners hatched a plan to team up and buy a small soft-top roadster between us, to share for use on weekends and trips.

It's going to be stored at my sister's as she has plenty of garage space and we'll all have keys to use it.

What's the best way to insure this? Are their special policies available for 'shared' and occasional use vehicles?

In reality I expect this car to get less than 20-30 days use a year - I wondered if there are 'pay-per-day' policies around?

We agreed we'd only insure it 3rd party, we would 'self insure' against it stolen or burned!

Ta!

charlotte1994

I don't think I have ever seen occasional use policy, all I could say is that you will put low mileage down on policy, that should bring the premium down. You can still get one day insurance, https://www.confused.com/car-insurance/one-day but it would cost you more in the long term. I would get quotes for the year, personally I would think it was worth it. With 2 people on the policy, 3rd party only AND low mileage, it shouldn't cost you a lot at all to insure for the year.

After all, what if you decided to go on a spontaneous day trip, or have an emergency and you didn't buy insurance beforehand? It's not worth the risk.

I think it would be cheaper to get insurance for the year, maybe even 6 months. It'll be peace of mind as well

tonyh66

standard policy with 4 named drivers(if all 4 drive), car has to be insured even if its sitting in the garage. Who gets the sunny days and who gets the winter? sounds like a great way to fall out.

DUTR

regency_man wrote: »

Hi,

My sister and I and our partners hatched a plan to team up and buy a small soft-top roadster between us, to share for use on weekends and trips.

It's going to be stored at my sister's as she has plenty of garage space and we'll all have keys to use it.

What's the best way to insure this? Are their special policies available for 'shared' and occasional use vehicles?

In reality I expect this car to get less than 20-30 days use a year - I wondered if there are 'pay-per-day' policies around?

We agreed we'd only insure it 3rd party, we would 'self insure' against it stolen or burned!

Ta!

Perhaps an annual low mileage with all of you as named drivers may still work out to be the most cost effective policy.

TonyMMM

I have such a "fun" car .... insured under a classic car policy. The price - including breakdown cover(throughout UK/Europe), and an agreed value comes to £89 a year. Would have been £5 less but I wanted to include business cover for occasional travel to meetings on sunny summer days.

The downside is a mileage limit (3,000 a year), but which is plenty for the use I currently give it. I think the max mileage can be increased to if I want to under the policy is 5,000 .

AdrianC

regency_man wrote: »

My sister and I and our partners hatched a plan to team up and buy a small soft-top roadster between us, to share for use on weekends and trips.

(Semi-)Modern? Or classic? If classic, then a classic policy is by far and away the best plan. And trivially cheap.

What's the best way to insure this? Are their special policies available for 'shared' and occasional use vehicles?

Just get it on a policy in somebody's name (who's RK?) with the others as named drivers. Remember, you can't "re-use" NCB, but you might be able to negotiate duplicating it as a marketing tool.

In reality I expect this car to get less than 20-30 days use a year - I wondered if there are 'pay-per-day' policies around?

Yes, but they're relatively expensive, and they don't put cars onto MID. And without being on MID, they can't be taxed.

We agreed we'd only insure it 3rd party, we would 'self insure' against it stolen or burned!

You may well find FC no more expensive.

Chrishazle

Try ClassicLine. I've had an "occasional use" car for many years, currently a 26 year old cabriolet. 2 named drivers, fully comp, includes full UK/EU breakdown and recovery, 5000 miles pa, £200pa. Adrian Flux is another broker worth trying.

regency_man

Thanks all! It's what I'd describe as a 'modern classic', a BMW Z3. I'll see if the 'classic' insurers will take it!

AdrianC

What age of Z3? I'd have thought most classic policies won't go near any but the earliest E36/7s yet. As a rule of thumb, 20yrs is the minimum age.

caprikid1

I can only suggest shop around and go to some specialist brokers.


Some to suggest for a classic policy would be Lancaster Insurance, Adrian Flux and Footman James.


I added another car to my fleet (6 in total) they suggested an occasional use policy for the MX5.


I would suggest you explore a classic car policy on a Z3 I would be surprised if you don't get it.


It is important to remember a refusal from one to insure it as a classic is not a refusal for all. My 2.8 Capri was insured with Lancaster for years as others did not recognise it.

Pension_Geek

I would definitely recommend all year round insurance. A guy near where i live had an uninsured Audi R8 stolen from his driveway. He got it back, but was lucky.