Selling one of two cars in household - insurance questions

BiggaThanBen

Hello

 2 cars - 2 people, each is a named driver on the other policy (Privilege).

 Going to sell one of the cars as it is not used much, have some questions:

1. Insurance renewal is quite soon - may not be enough time to complete the sale before the renewal date.

  I normally pay the whole year in front is it is cheaper - will they give full refund during cooling off period (14 days, assume it applies to renewals), possibly minus pro-rata  days used.

  Or it is better to pay monthly  in this case ?

2. I think there is a multicar discount applied, once I sell the car should I tell them to recalculate, possibly incurring amendment fee, or that's something that is fixed when policy is purchased / managed by Privilege themselves.

3. NCB (currently 10+ years) - as I understand you can keep it by switching between main and named driver on a single car every year
4. Road tax - remaining amount gets refunded, right ?
5. What is the safest way to receive payment (few grand) for the car currently - bank transfer ? Can't it not be made from a stolen account or payment recalled ?

 

Thanks

Update Sep'23, some lessons learned:

1) V5 update can be done online, remaining road tax automatically gets refunded.
2) Outside of 14 day cooling period you get hit with £50+ admin fee (thought it was £10-20 before :O)
3) NCB is valid for 3 years with last provider and 2 years with other - need to swap main driver otherwise.

DullGreyGuy

1) Paying monthly will just mean you are paying interest on the loan they've given you, it'll only increase the total cost you have to pay them. Its still an annual policy even if you take a loan from them to spread the costs

2) I'd leave that to them to work out themselves... I know with some brands the discount will stay on the remaining vehicle until its renewed and then removed at that point

3) Normally its changing the policyholder rather than main driver

4) Depends on how you are paying

5) Cash is safest (or cash they deposit into your account), bank transfer is second. All payment forms ultimately carry some risks that subsequent checks show it was fraud

BreakingGlass

3)  Most insurers will accept NCB that is not more than two years old (i.e two years without being insured as policyholder).  When my two years without a car (or policy) was nearly up, I insured myself separately on my wife's car for a year to keep my NCB.  Thus for a year my wife and I each have our own policies on her car.

Herzlos

BreakingGlass said:

3)  Most insurers will accept NCB that is not more than two years old (i.e two years without being insured as policyholder).  When my two years without a car (or policy) was nearly up, I insured myself separately on my wife's car for a year to keep my NCB.  Thus for a year my wife and I each have our own policies on her car.

Aren't you better just alternating the policy holder each year? With spouses it could usually be either of you driving, and you'll both accumulate NCB albeit at half the rate of separate policies.

BreakingGlass

Herzlos said:

BreakingGlass said:

3)  Most insurers will accept NCB that is not more than two years old (i.e two years without being insured as policyholder).  When my two years without a car (or policy) was nearly up, I insured myself separately on my wife's car for a year to keep my NCB.  Thus for a year my wife and I each have our own policies on her car.

Aren't you better just alternating the policy holder each year? With spouses it could usually be either of you driving, and you'll both accumulate NCB albeit at half the rate of separate policies.

I would have done that but my wife still needs a couple more years to get full NCB. She lost hers when we lived overseas for an extended period. 

My ‘extra’ policy was only approx £170. It’s a low mileage one because I rarely drive. 

BiggaThanBen

DullGreyGuy said:

1) Paying monthly will just mean you are paying interest on the loan they've given you, it'll only increase the total cost you have to pay them. Its still an annual policy even if you take a loan from them to spread the costs

Just wanted to check that I would definitely get year's premium refund, I would rather risk £30 than £300. I will check it with Privilege during renewal, but sometimes they just don't know the answer if nor related to their department.

DullGreyGuy

BiggaThanBen said:

DullGreyGuy said:

1) Paying monthly will just mean you are paying interest on the loan they've given you, it'll only increase the total cost you have to pay them. Its still an annual policy even if you take a loan from them to spread the costs

Just wanted to check that I would definitely get year's premium refund, I would rather risk £30 than £300. I will check it with Privilege during renewal, but sometimes they just don't know the answer if nor related to their department.

There will be a charge for the time on cover, this may be at a higher "short term" rate, and any cancellation fee. Any remaining premium will then be refunded irrespective of if you paid monthly or annually. The only difference is 1) the interest you'd also be paying if paying monthly and 2) with monthly payments the refund may actually be an additional premium to pay if your monthly installments are low and cancellation charge high; much less likely to happen with annual premiums

Ectophile

How policies do refunds should be set out in the policy document.  Mormally, you'd get a pre-rated amount, based on the yearly fee, minus a whole load of early termination charges that will bill you for.

Paying monthly won't help in that respect.  You still have a year's insurance, and a credit agreement paying it off.  The chances are that if you cancel early, you will end up paying them fees.

It is possible to get short term policies, but unless it's very short, it may end up costing more.

Grey_Critic

Cpold of course insure for a shorter period whilst you sell it say 3 months.

400ixl

When is the insurance due and how long do you believe you need to complete the sale? Do you mean that you may still need use of the vehicle past the date when the renewal may be needed?

Do you have a buyer lined up, or are you now going to start marketing the car for a private sale? Is it worth selling it to the likes of We Buy Any Car before the insurance runs out, perhaps just before the end of the month so that you can claim any full months of road tax left, not need to re-insure it, and have a payment via bank transfer from a trusted source?

You may get a couple of hundred quid less, but avoid a lot of hassle.

On the insurance front, you will have to go to a new insurer, as a renewal will not come with a cooling off period. Equally with a new insurer they will still charge you for any days the policy is in use past the inception date as the service will have been provided. You would need to look carefully at what it means to cancellation once the policy is live and the costs involved. Have seen some that essentially mean you pay over 50% of the total to cancel even the day after commencement.

jimjames

DullGreyGuy said:

5) Cash is safest (or cash they deposit into your account), bank transfer is second. All payment forms ultimately carry some risks that subsequent checks show it was fraud

I'm not sure I agree, I'd think bank transfer was safest as the money is then in your account. Cash could be fake unless it's paid into a bank there and then.