Insurance to sell car

JEFFBOBEM60

Hi 

Id be grateful for some advice .

My car has been off road for approx four months while I have had a ongoing complaint with the Financial Ombudsman about the cancellation of my car insurance. Im pleased to report the Ombudsman has now managed to get the Insurance company to delete all records of the cancellation  on their system and i have received some compensation etc. 

Due to the ULEZ charge I will have to sell my car in January . The car is SORN , and without Insurance now . My questions are :

1) Is it worth getting temporary Insurance for a  short period ie say two months to be able to sell the car ? 

2) If I tax the car a year will i get an 11 month refund if I manage to sell the car after say one month ? 

3) Does a potential private buyer need his own Insurance to test drive my car ? 

I would appreciate anyone's help here  

BoGoF

1) Depends - you can't tax it without insurance and you can't let someone drive it without tax. You also can't tax it without an MoT, does it have one?
2) You will get a refund of complete months still left. So if you sold it after 1 month and 1 day you would only get 10 months.
3) Unless you had a policy that covered other drivers then yes they would - but if using any 'other cars' facility on their own policy they would likely only be covered 3rd party.

Brie

Don't forget that any change to an insurance policy including cancellation usually includes an admin fee so you may not get the 10 months refund suggested by BoGoF but maybe only 8 or something.  It will also depend on how you pay for the policy - you tend to get a better saving if you purchase it outright rather than paying for it monthly as that involves interest payments.  You might be better looking for a shorter term policy - there are some (so I'm told) that can be set up monthly.  

BoGoF

Brie said:

Don't forget that any change to an insurance policy including cancellation usually includes an admin fee so you may not get the 10 months refund suggested by BoGoF but maybe only 8 or something.  It will also depend on how you pay for the policy - you tend to get a better saving if you purchase it outright rather than paying for it monthly as that involves interest payments.  You might be better looking for a shorter term policy - there are some (so I'm told) that can be set up monthly.  

As I read it, the OP was talking about a potential refund of road tax not insurance so my answer relates to road tax..

Brie

BoGoF said:

As I read it, the OP was talking about a potential refund of road tax not insurance so my answer relates to road tax..

My mistake.  

JEFFBOBEM60

Thanks for both your comments on this . I do have MOT on the car until end of March so BoGoF as per your advice  I will Insure first then Tax. Brie, Ive seen plenty of Insurance companies offering temporary insurance so Ill check them out now.  

BoGof, as regards any potential test drives , from what you advise it seems important to check with the potential buyers if they have the ' other cars facility' on their Insurance. Can I ask though, whether this is what the official title/label the Insurer names it ?  What should I be looking for ? Many thanks 

DullGreyGuy

Temp insurance is vastly more expensive per day than an annual policy, this is fine if you want a few days cover but it can be expensive if you want a couple of months. It may be cheaper to find an annual policy with low cancellation fees.

JEFFBOBEM60 said:

BoGof, as regards any potential test drives , from what you advise it seems important to check with the potential buyers if they have the ' other cars facility' on their Insurance. Can I ask though, whether this is what the official title/label the Insurer names it ?  What should I be looking for ? Many thanks 

The official term is "Driving Other Cars" but to be more customer friendly some insurers use different language. You'll need to check the certificate of insurance in most cases, occasionally it will be in the schedule. Don't trust it being in the policy book as any insurer that offers it will have it in the policyybook and doesn't mean this particular customer has it. 

There are a few things to remember...

1) DOC is normally only for the policyholder, named drivers cannot use it
2) DOC is third party liability only, so any damage to your car isn't covered
3) If there are any problems, eg they show you a fake certificate then your insurers become liable but would have a right of recovery from you for you having allowed them to drive your car when not named on your policy. 

JEFFBOBEM60

DullGreyGuy , thats very helpful. Thanks . 

After having problems with my previous Insurer( online based ) , Im now concerned about obtaining Insurance from another online based company. I will be looking at companies who have a well rated call centre where I can speak to someone reasonably quickly to resolve any issues that might crop up. I wonder if there if there is anyone who may be reading this who may have any recommendations .  

400ixl

What car is it?

By the time you have insured and taxed it, would you make any more than just selling it to someone like we buy any car or just sold as seen.

DullGreyGuy

JEFFBOBEM60 said:
 I will be looking at companies who have a well rated call centre where I can speak to someone reasonably quickly to resolve any issues that might crop up. I wonder if there if there is anyone who may be reading this who may have any recommendations .  

Recommendations of insurers doesn't tend to go too well... most people buy insurance on price and so will just tell you whoever gave them the cheapest price. Unless you are a clone of that person your experience of pricing could be exceptionally different to theirs. 

Most of us don't speak to our insurers very often and therefore its very much based on luck... someone makes their one call a year and happens to call when there are low volumes of callers so gets through quickly and their call is answered by a senior agent so they have a good experience. Someone else calls the same company but does it at lunch time so has a 1hr wait to get through and happens to get the guy who's on his last warning and likely to be sacked by the end of the week. 

Ignoring companies I've worked with then Admiral were always a friendly bunch but they are cheap and cheerful policies and so can be a wait to get through to them. Not so certain about their Home offering now they've setup an off shore insurer to underwrite that product. 

TELLIT01

Is it worth checking the valuation on 'We Buy Any Car' or similar and having them collect the car.  Less hassle than taxing, insuring, advertising and test drives etc.  I have no idea what their offer prices are like.