Car insurance - infrequent driving

JohnBravo

Mildly_Miffed said:

JohnBravo said:

What parameters of a car do impact the price of insurance?

Only insurers know exactly how their underwriting models work in fine detail, but broadly speaking the main factors are:

Car:
Performance
Cost of repair
Availability of parts
Frequency of claims

Driver:
Age
Driving history (claims, points)
Occupation
Location

Make sense about the miles.

Regarding these parameters of a car and location.
Are there any online tools free or paid ones where I can see e.g. how a post code affects my premiums?

Can the insurer actually tell you what impacts the price from their perspective?

Mildly_Miffed

Ask a passing meerkat. Change one thing at a time.

But the difference it'll make to insurance will pale into insignificance compared to the cost of relocating around the country every year or three...

cw8825

JohnBravo said:

Mildly_Miffed said:

JohnBravo said:

What parameters of a car do impact the price of insurance?

Only insurers know exactly how their underwriting models work in fine detail, but broadly speaking the main factors are:

Car:
Performance
Cost of repair
Availability of parts
Frequency of claims

Driver:
Age
Driving history (claims, points)
Occupation
Location

Make sense about the miles.

Regarding these parameters of a car and location.
Are there any online tools free or paid ones where I can see e.g. how a post code affects my premiums?

Can the insurer actually tell you what impacts the price from their perspective?

The insurer will never tell you what impacts the price but you can make an assured guess. 

theres no hard guide out there to lowering premiums. All insurers rate different things at variable rates

From the list above there the only realistic thing you can/would change is the car

DullGreyGuy

Mildly_Miffed said:

JohnBravo said:

What parameters of a car do impact the price of insurance?

Only insurers know exactly how their underwriting models work in fine detail, but broadly speaking the main factors are:

Car:
Performance
Cost of repair
Availability of parts
Frequency of claims

Driver:
Age
Driving history (claims, points)
Occupation
Location

Performance and cost of repairs are a bit of a red herring. 

What ultimately impacts the premiums is what the claims experience is of the insurer with other people that own the same vehicle which whilst the above may be a factor, plus safety features, is dwarfed by the type of person that owns the car.  Hence from personal experience a £90,000 SL500 was cheaper to insure than a £25,000 Mini Cooper S despite the SL being more than triple the value, vastly better performance and much more expensive to repair. 

As a rule of thumb you want a car that a 18-21 year old lad wouldn't be caught dead in or has no way of affording. 

Ectophile

JohnBravo said:

Ectophile said:

Have you looked at limited mileage policies?  If you agree that you won't do more than an specfied number of miles a year, then they may offer a lower premuim.

Good point. I have to check on my MOT how many miles I do in a year.
I usually declare 5k miles per annum. Should I go lower than that?

I checked my history and in the last 2 years it was around 3k miles but it could go up to 5k from historical standpoint.

cw8825 said:

JohnBravo said:

Hi All,
I hope you are well. Since car insurers ramp up their insurance costs are there any alternatives e.g. insurance per day rather than as ongoing monthly / annual cost?

I don't drive every day, perhaps once or twice a week.
I think insuring a car for daily driving considering the most recent price hikes is no longer financially viable.

I also don't like wasting my time on these annual quotations to look for better deals. A lot of my personal data is stolen in the process by all these comparison websites. Once the insurer knows my phone number then they harness me with phone calls and texts well over a month before the policy expires.

Couple options I can see
change car for cheaper insurance
pay what’s quoted for annual 
pay per mikes policy (which will be an issue if you have any longer journeys)
stop driving

What parameters of a car do impact the price of insurance?

When I had a limited mileage policy, I looked at past MOTs, then added enough safety margin that I wasn't going to go over by mistake.  If you think that you might possibly do 5000 miles, then put that.

But at 5000 miles, you're not actually doing that low a mileage really.

It's not easy for a consumer to work out what features of a car affect insurance premiums.  It can be some combination of:

 * Performance.

 * Cost of repair and availability of parts.

 * How easy the car is to steal, and how desirable it is to thieves.

 * How much that car is driven by boy racers.

The last reason is why a little hatchback could be more expensive to insure than an estate car.

JohnBravo

Makes sense. Thanks everyone.

JohnBravo

I don't think the make and model of my car is boy racers' favorite but I get the point.
I think I upgrade to an SUV because this is a safer car than a sedan.

I never paid for insurance on a monthly basis. If I am thinking about changing the car should I go for a monthly plan or it does not matter (no penalties)?

Mildly_Miffed

JohnBravo said:

I never paid for insurance on a monthly basis. If I am thinking about changing the car should I go for a monthly plan or it does not matter (no penalties)?

You're still buying an annual policy - you're just taking out finance (with interest) to pay for it on tick.

400ixl

Rarely is paying for your annual policy in monthly instalments cheaper.

And a true month by month cover is rarely cheacher than an annual policy.

Bigwheels1111

Have you tried Bymiles, you plug a little black box into the OBD2 port and it tracks your miles.
My car is expensive to insure around £1300, it’s a 1.6 diesel auto 5008. Know idea why it’s so much.
With Bymiles I paid £110 for full comp, legal, protect bonus and hire car. That is the parked up price.
Then I’m charged 12.5p a mile with a limit of 150 mile max charge a day. Even if I drive 300 miles I get charged for 150.
Billed on the 28th of the month like a mobile contract.

To get the best price get a quote for your car, but the same make and model with a different reg from autotrader.
Use you age etc but fake name.
This way if the quote suits you, you can get a referral from someone who has a policy with them.
They get £100 of free miles, some will send you some cash back to say thanks.
Put in say 500 miles as your mileage as they now charge that up front for new members.
If you go over you are then charged per month. Like my policy.
Been with them for 5 or 6 years now.