Thread: Car Insurance

So I am really peed off now.

When we get back to UK I was going to buy my Dad's car off of him as he is going to sell and buy himself a new C30 as he is retiring soon.

Anyway, he currently has an S60, Diesel, Top of the range 06 car. Just got a quote out of curiosity (because we're not back until June ish) and it came out at £1070 with a £3000 excess. I am more shocked about the excess to be honest.

The problem we seem to be having is that we have lost all "UK" no claims bonus because of where we have been living.

Please someone tell me that I can get a better quote elsewhere. I hate buying cars anywhere other than a dealer because I have been shafted before by private sellers, but I also hate paying dealer prices (I know I am a pratt).

G xx

Ps It was Forces Financial I got the quote from

Did you get a letter from your last UK insurer with your no claims/insurance history detailed in it to give to your new overseas insurer? If you did, you should be able to pass that letter and then a letter from your current insurer detailing your no claims status and pretty much every company will accept that. They should actually just accept the overseas insurer's letter but the more info you have the easier it is.

I was a bit worried about that when we were overseas for a while, but it was all OK in the end and wasn't affected by the move at all.

Thanks Bodger. I spoke with FF and they said that they wouldn't take into consideration a letter from my current insurers in Cyprus. Which I thought was very off. Maybe I just got a newby or not very knowledgable on the phone. Might explore another possibility just in case though.

How long have you been out of the UK?

If it's less than 5 years your no claims is possibly still valid with some insurers, also, it's worth actually phoning and potentially getting a letter from your current insurers and using the 2 of those to see what prices they will quote you.

The quote engines look at the worst case only, i.e. take everything at face value.. talking to a human will possibly get you a better price.

Jeez, you'd think Forces Financial were a bit more switched on regarding overseas insurance wouldn't you?!

Do you use the same insurer as most other Forces Personnel out there or have you gone 'native'? That may be the problem, UK companies don't recognise all insurers as being good insurers. That's according to the advice I got at any rate.

The excess must be a mistake. That's ridiculous! Car insurance has gone mental recently though.

Definitely agree with the advice to speak to somebody rather than use the quote engines. Direct Line came out for us at over a grand cheaper than the quote engines. Adrian Flux are supposed to be alright as well.

Even if you can't use your overseas NCB (which would make the premium price about right - we have a 55 plate 2.0 diesel Mondeo and we're paying £100 a month with 4 years NCB so I personally think your premium is alright!), I can't see why the excess would be so high. Maybe try a non-forces affiliated company?

AA and Directline, both took my no claims from Germany into account , even tho i was never bfg or drove in england before

£100 a month for a 6 year old Mondeo? What do you do with it? Play bumper cars round the gyratory?! I think you might have guessed I think that's a teeny bit expensive.

Oh - postcodes matter a lot with car insurance as well. If I put exactly the same details into a search engine but use my Mum's address in Darlington rather than mine in the car crime capital of the North, it comes out at half the price. Before you start panicking, make sure you're using the closest possible postcode to where you'll be living.

Also - try and fiddle job titles if you can. Read a brilliant article on moneysavingexpert about how your job title can affect the premium & excess so OH is down as a marine engineer rather than as forces. Not lying so it won't affect a claim (have checked this with a mate who works in Claims for Churchill) and I know he's instantly seen as less of a risk.

Originally Posted by bodger

£100 a month for a 6 year old Mondeo? What do you do with it? Play bumper cars round the gyratory?! I think you might have guessed I think that's a teeny bit expensive.

We live in Gipton which was TWOCer central a few years ago and car insurance hasn't caught up to the fact that there are so many flipping speed bumps now you can't go more than 10 miles an hour anywhere. Our road is an accident blackspot though (came home last year to find an Impreza upside-down on fire in my front garden) and apparently the inability of other people to drive will push our premium up. Next door are in their 50s and have a 2002 Toyota - they pay £50 a month so I think we've done ok with our ages. If I take OH off the insurance completely it drops to around the £60 mark so him being inconveniently 25 so still in the high risk category doesn't help!

Originally Posted by squirrel_pigeon

Oh - postcodes matter a lot with car insurance as well. If I put exactly the same details into a search engine but use my Mum's address in Darlington rather than mine in the car crime capital of the North, it comes out at half the price. Before you start panicking, make sure you're using the closest possible postcode to where you'll be living.

Also - try and fiddle job titles if you can. Read a brilliant article on moneysavingexpert about how your job title can affect the premium & excess so OH is down as a marine engineer rather than as forces. Not lying so it won't affect a claim (have checked this with a mate who works in Claims for Churchill) and I know he's instantly seen as less of a risk.

I did the post code thing so that isn't really an issue. The occupation thing may be an issue, but the problem is DH is infantry so I can't really class him as anything other than Forces. Maybe I should put me as main policy holder and him as occasional user. Which is actually what the situation will be anyway, at least until I get a job when I should get a company car (part of the perks of being a mortgage consultant with an EA).

Since the day we got married I was the one that was the insured, him the named driver. I've never really noticed a hike in premium to add him even when I list him as HM Forces (not that I have any choice, if I wanted to be Creative with the truth I'd have to change his job every two flippin years!).

Exactly. I just trialled with just me and the difference was £35. Not worth worrying about. Same excess. Might just have to live with this one or buy a cheap banger until we get a years no claims.

Still think the excess is a mistake - I've never heard of people even having the option to put it up that high. I reckon there's been gremlins in the computer or the person you spoke to read £300 as £3000.

Just re-did it and it came out at £480 with a £400 excess. Confuddled now..lol

Buy it quick before they change their minds!

Gremlins! Definitely gremlins.

that sounds a bit more reasonable.
I've just re-done my insurance (we've only now got 1 years no claims after a posting to Germany)
an 08 plate S-Max, 2 ltr diesel is costing us £460 with me as the main driver and business use. our excess is a voluntary £100.

It does depend on the post code though and it's not always logical. When we lived behind the wire in North Yorkshire it cost us twice the amount it did when we lived in London. Work that one out!

FF always seem to work out more expensive than some others for us. Last year they were over £200 more than the one we went with. This year we didn't even bother with a quote from them- we used a cash back website and saved a fair few quid with that too- worth shopping around.