Car Insurance Article Discussion

gaviebaby

Just wanted to share my experience of finding cheaper car insurance....

Received the obligatory renewal notice from Norwich Union of £375 for my 4 year old Vectra. This was an increase of £50 from last year. Tried the comparison websites (all of them!!!) and was debating about A&L or Churchill. Lo and behold as I was 'finalising' my details I got a phone call from Bell and after some (ahem) 'discussion', in fact downright haggling, - i got a fabby quote of £248 with an all-singing and all-dancing policy.

:A I have to admit that I did say that the best quote I had received was £260......:A

klint

You mean your best quote wasn't £260? Now there's another moral thingy. One might say you obtained the insurance policy dishonestly. Another might say as long as you've given them all relevant details about your driving history, and the company is willing to insure you for such a low premium, what's the problem?

mister_bojangles

I'm disappointed in MoreThan, and their what-I-regard as deceitful 'Protected NCD for life'. They tout the claim that no. of claims will not affect your NCD if you are protected for life. But after i made two claims in two years, I found that I was no longer 'protected for life'.

With the astronomical premium they quoted me, (which of course they termed the BEST value I could get), I had no choice than to move to another company, with reduced NCD and higher excess. So much for 'protected NCD'.

greenmoneysaver_2

Has anyone got good/bad feedback for Diamond or Elephant?

They keep coming up as the cheapest by far, and tick all the boxes, so how can they be so cheap?

I am currently with Ford, as they were cheapest last year which was my first year with a car insured in my name, but they have put premium UP by £50 this year so its nearly £500 for a Ford Ka and I'm 33!! Diamond or Elephant will do it for around £250!

Any insurance advice welcomed!

losthour

greenmoneysaver wrote: »

Has anyone got good/bad feedback for Diamond or Elephant?

They keep coming up as the cheapest by far, and tick all the boxes, so how can they be so cheap?

I am currently with Ford, as they were cheapest last year which was my first year with a car insured in my name, but they have put premium UP by £50 this year so its nearly £500 for a Ford Ka and I'm 33!! Diamond or Elephant will do it for around £250!

Any insurance advice welcomed!

I find the Admiral group (Admiral, Elephant and Bell) to be by far the cheapest for me. I think for younger drivers they generally are. I'm 23 with 2 years no claims and the difference between the Admiral group and other is double.

Chepeast I can find with a £150 excess is £381 for me- considering it was £478 last year makes me reasonably happy. As long as I keep on avoiding driving convictions and dont make any claims, it should be lovely and low when I hit 25 with protected NCD...:D

Keasby_2

Folks, some information here that someone will hopefulyl find useful. After following the moneysavingexpert.com's advice on getting cheaper car insurance, I got a quote from elephant.com that i was very happy with. Whilst continuing to follow the sites instructions i was unable to get any cashback, but was eligable (or so i thought), for a £30 discount on my offer from First Line Direct (there's a link to their site from this one). They say they will give £30 discount on any insurance quote providing you supply it to them in writing.
Unfortunately what they mean is from your previous insurer, i went to the elephant website, filled out my details and got the same quote that i did though the linked sites. I printed this out and sent it to First Line Direct (assuming that because i've all but paid for it, it would be as good as an previous policy).
I received a letter from First Line Direct a few days later saying that it was unacceptable as it was not from my previous insurer.
Were I to send them my previous insurers' quote I'd save next to no money.
So if anyone ends up in the same situation here, please don't use First Line Direct's incentive of a £30 discount as they won't accept any new quotes, it has to be from your previosu insurer (though why is completely beyond me, because if i bought the policy, then cancelled it but still kept the paper work i'd be elligable for the £30 discount....very strange)

somnerd13

Here's something that some of the younger drivers may find interesting.

I'm a 21 year old male, with a provisional license and no previous car insurance, and a Vauxhall Corsa 1.2 automatic 1199cc. I've recently been looking at car insurance (finally bought a policy yesterday) and my younger brother had mentioned that the cheapest he could find was with Quinn Direct. I had a look on all of the comparison sites as well as a few insurers websites and no surprise, Quinn came up cheapest for me - in the area of £1000. Before I took the policy out I decided to see how much extra it would cost to add my fiancee (21 year old female, provisional license, no previous car insurance) to the policy as a second driver (note: me as the main driver). Guess what? It was £200 cheaper.

This policy is fully comprehensive, £250 excess, breakdown cover + homestart, car key cover, possessions cover and audio equipment cover.

Marru

Hi,

I have a bit of a problem with my car insurance. I imported my car to UK and registered it here in 2002, before importing it I changed the name of the owner in the country of first registration to be my partner's. All this time he has been insuring the car (I have paid the insurance) and I have been named driver on the policy. Now we have separated and I want to transfer the car back to my name but my problem is that as I haven't been the policy holder I won't be having any NCD.

Would anyone know an insurance company that would acknoledge the fact that I have been the main driver of this vehicle all this time with no incidents or claims and would be willing to give a discount and also accepts imports?

I would be so grateful for any tips. Thank you,

Marru

klint

Many insurance companies allow named drivers to carry forward their NCD to a new policy as main driver. If yours does, you will have to stay with the same insurance company to get you NCD. After a year, you will be able to carry your full NCD to any other company.

However, you may have committed fraud if in fact you were the main driver but were insured only as a named (not main) driver on your partner's insurance and so if you tell your insurance company you were the main driver they may want to charge you extra premiums for each year that your partner was insured. This wouldn't be a problem if you were a secondary driver. You would still be able to get your NCD, for example, if your partner was the main driver and owner, and has now sold the car to you and you are now the main driver.

Marru

Hi,

Thank you so much for this. I will look into it. We both used the car and there were times when his car was for long periods off the road so he was using mine. It has just been only since our separation that he hasn't driven it at all. So it should be ok.

Marru