Car insurance for the elderly- specific Q re fully comp verus 3rd party F/T

anonymousie

Hi

My Dad is 83. He drives short distances only. His car is an old toyota worth maybe 500 max. Current insurer (SAGA) has quoted a :eek: £500 plus to renew!!

THis is the last year he will drive he has decided. Seems obvious to me therefore that we can get some really quite cheap insurance for him.

SAGA say it is cheaper to have mum on the policy though she never drives

I have taken off the "protected no claims" totally irrelevent if you aren't going to have a car again and put the excess up to £200 but SAGA only comes down by £90!!

Going to attack the quote sites, but want info from you lovely folk as it seems TBH that 3rd party fire and theft would be enough- if the car is damaged it is low value and would be written off and they wouldn't replace it anyway.

What am I missing re comp/3rd party F/T benefits??

I tried to convince Dad to give the car up this year but he isn't ready..

mattymoo

TBH, the difference in premium between TPFT and Comp is pretty low since it is the third party claims that cost the insurers the most.

Make sure you have use set to Social domestic and pleasure only, i.e. no commuting. Also make sure the value is correctly stated at £500.
£500 does seem quite high, is there a medical condition or previous accidents / convictions that is causing the price to rise or does he live in an area with a high crime rate?

anonymousie

mattymoo wrote: »

TBH, the difference in premium between TPFT and Comp is pretty low since it is the third party claims that cost the insurers the most.

Make sure you have use set to Social domestic and pleasure only, i.e. no commuting. Also make sure the value is correctly stated at £500.
£500 does seem quite high, is there a medical condition or previous accidents / convictions that is causing the price to rise or does he live in an area with a high crime rate?

No special reason that causes him to be high risk except his age- quiet area, no convictions etc.

Car value might change things I guess, but it didn't with SAGA.

Needless to say I rang SAGA and the phone lady couldn't really help as she only knew how to quote and sell stuff, not about the details.

lisyloo

Does seeem quite high to me.
My FIL is 79 and his insurance is about £230 fully comp for a car worth £2500.

To answer your first question there is little value in having fully comp cover.
They would look at the car value (on which they are not known to be generous) and then deduct the excess, so he'd get a small amount of money back.
Very likely to write the car off at the smallest dent.

I suspect his age is the biggest factor.

Use the search engines and also try quido.
I got £120 cashback on my car insurance via quidco, so that would bring it down a bit.

Ian_W

Had this with my 81yr old MIL recently, she has a 21yr old Nissan which she uses about 3 times a month to travel 2 miles to and from some local shops - 80 miles between MOT's this year!!

Her renewal with Frizzells was £500 which was fully comp, protected NCD, breakdown and legal exes with £100 excess.
The nearest valuation I could find for a 4yr younger vehicle was around £200 so I discussed it with her and she agreed to just go with Third Party cover only as there would be a negligible or nil payout in the event of accident damage, fire or theft.
Checked a few online including Frizzells and all were a fraction of the renewal quote - went with Saga in the end at £120. Instead of phoning try a new quote from the website, there are usually discounts for new policies not available on renewals, the low mileage will also have an affect but if the policy is on auto-renew make sure it's cancelled before the renewal date.

Lisyloo's suggestion on Quidco is also worth trying - have saved a small fortune on my own insurances this year with them, but I don't think Saga have any cashbacks on there at the mo.