Hi all!
Wonder if anyone knows if I am getting an ok deal with my renewal on my insurance.
Im with Elephant. Passed my test Jan 04 (took me long time to get round to learning to drive!)
I rewarded myself with 2002 BMW Z3. I thought being new, and a model that holds its price, I would save myself money in the long run. After buying the car I realised my insurance was going to be massive! First year £1500 - Bought a 10 month bonus excellorater policy. Renewal has just come through at £994. I have to renew by 29th November and dont have this kind of money. I need to drive to get to work, but know having a convertable I wont find it easy to sell for the actual money its worth at this time of year.
Does anyone know of any insurance company that is likely to quote cheaper? I had so, so many quotes the first time round and Elephant was the cheapest, Im reluctant to go through this all again as all the searches show up on your credit history, and im in the process of trying to buy and sell a house. Also its very timeconsuming!
Can anyone let me know if this is good deal, or if I could get a better quote elsewhere? Or even a montly policy that does not penalise with interest for paying monthly.
Many thanks
Sophie
p.s anyone wanna buy a Z3? ;)
|
BMW Z3, for a 1st car? Mad or work in the city (same thing probably).
What I do is phone them and tell them that you have a better qoute from someone else, can they match/beat it. About £100 better I used to say.
Try Admiral always the cheapest for me.
Perversly, ask for "any driver" over 30 cover, sometimes works out cheaper.
Put your partner on the policy. Shows your stable & might get a lower quote. Why? Your partner could be mad as a hatter.
Arrange to pay for it over 3 months to keep the interest down. Pay by credit card with 0% int for 6 mths.
Hope you get to keep the car
|
|
|
Try www.confused.com
They compare many companies in one swoop for you.
--
Lee
Having a Fabialous time.
|
I'm 26 and with Elephant so I hope I can be of some assistance.
Firstly, if you can't afford to run the car then it may be that you will have to sell the car. I'm guessing that there is quite a lot of finance outstanding on the car but, assuming it has a sensible mileage (30k?), metallic, air con and alloys then you should ask about £14k for it. Sorry if that doesn't seem very much money but it is enough to get you something more economical and cheaper to insure and that could even be quite fun (if not as much as a Z3 though!)
The other problem you may have is that some companies may not recognise your 10 months claim free as being worthy of a full year's no claims. Bear that in mind, although obviously if someone else offers you a lower premium by way of an introductory discount, then that isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Do look at Tesco, Direct Line, Budget, Bell Direct (great if you're in London), Admiral and Diamond. The last three are part of the same group as Elephant and so they will recognise your no claims.
I'm single and live alone so I've put my mother on my policy. The fact that she will never drive the car is irrelevant - I've merely included the right for her to do so and yes, they know she's my mother and not an "older woman." She has a clean licence and no recent claims so she's a very good insurance risk and she's brought my premium down by about 10%.
As for whether your premium is competitive or not, it's hard to say. It could be extremely competitive, depending on where you live, especially as a new driver, but equally it may be beatable. It's hard to say until you shop around.
|
|
PS The searches won't show up on your credit history as applications for credit, though they may be recorded. My understanding is that only actual applications for credit will actually be used to assess any mortgage applications you make.
|
One place to try at the moment is Nationwide builiding society. They beat my fully comp renewal quote for a 2004 1.4 Fiesta fully comp ( OK OK nowhere in the same league but making a point) by 150 quid (down from 550 to 400 quid). I am only 22 with coming up to 3 years NCB and a member of the IAM. Its a good point to add the parents onto the quote especially if they are both "good" drivers in the insurance sense of the word.
It may be helpful to do some more driving qualifications e.g. the IAM or *shudder* pass plus, and for some reason some insurance groups like a community minibus driving test (which i had to do in order to use the uni minibus).
|
I have always found this site to come up with the cheapest quotes
www.guardian.co.uk/
Go to Money
Compare & buy
Insurance comparison
As was mentioned above, add an experienced older driver with an unblemished driving record (preferably female).
|
|
|
|
|
Actually I have a credit search on my credit report from Admiral although I've never made any application for a loan or insurance with them.
|
|
|
|
|
If you go to the AutoTrader website you can get quotes from over 30 different insurers at once.
They don't charge commission either, they just give you the insurer's contact details and leave you to get in touch with them.
I already had a low quote from Churchill and saved another £30 by transfering to Pearl. Interestingly enough, Churchill underwrite Pearl Insurance!
|
|
there's a lot of marketing invloved in some quotes, I was told by the lady from endsleigh when I was trying to sort out insurance for my son that they had a different discount amount available each day so although quotes were valid for (I think) 2 weeks it would be worth checking on the day I wanted to buy in case they could beat the original quote.
|
try esure over the internet. I did a complete review lasting about 6 hours of all quotations in october and esure have a 10% discount for all new customers. I saved 10% versus Direct Line who were my prior insurers.. (and about 15% or more versus everyone else).
Unfortuantely I don't drive a Z3 and am not under 30:-)
madf
|
(Posted again at bottom of thread - I posted it half way through for some reason)
Thanks for all the responses! I will try to use some of the insurance aggregators and see if they can get me a better deal here.
Costablancabloke - Yeah I was a bit mad for first car. Not in city tho'. lovely rising property market paid for my car ;) I do need to sell it but I think I would prefer to wait until the summer hits as I will get no offers or silly offers me thinks at the moment for a converitble..... bbbbrrrrrrrrr
I do already have my boyfriend on the policy and policy renewal quote. He is 37 and been driving 20 years. One speeding offence over 5 years ago so do you think that is already going in my favour?!
Sophie :)
|
Ummmm Im a bit shocked actually. I just did a quote with Bell Direct - part of Admiral as my current insurance company are. They quote £160 less than my renewal quote (same benefits). I then did a quote on Elephant (the company I am with) and they quote me £50 less than what my renewal quote is!
|
I have been with Bell direct before and swore I would never go back with them. I ended up losing about £500 when someone drove into the back of me.
This may sound strange, but have you considered taking your boyf of the insurance to see how much it is without him? I have 9 years no claims bonus, 29 years old, but the insurance of my girlfriends car shot up when I was put on it even though she only had 2 years no claims bonus.
|
Found Admiral (Bell & Elephant's parent company) will now do even cheaper. £812 for 10 months. I just tried the quote without my partner and its £1040! So he does have some benefits... lol
Anyone any nuggets of information on Admiral claims? Had a hard time? or are they good?
Sophie
|
It's often the case that a 'fresh' quote with your existing company comes in cheaper than the renewal offer. Mine did. I just rejected the renewal and took up the fresh quote, they were still the cheapest for me (Churchill). The only explanation I can think of for this is that 'new' customers get a better deal than existing ones.
You shouldn't declare you're boyfriend's speeding conviction 5 years ago. SP30s are wiped from your license after 3 years (assuming it was an SP30), so you can say it's clean.
|
>>SP30s are wiped from your license after 3 years
1) no they're not
2) its not relevant anyway
If I recall correctly, and I may not - then the court may take it into account for three years and its on your licence for 4 years if it is a "normal" offence.
A court may take it into account for 10 years and its on your licence for 11 years if your conviction involved drink, drugs or death.
However, I believe insurers can ask upto 5 years, although I stand to be corrected since the memory on this is now very vague.
Although it is true to say that at 5 years a speeding is not relevant.
As for your insurance, start looking at the ones that let you pay by instalments which are normally something like "no interest" over 3 or 4 months and "with interest" at upto 10 or 12 months.
|
|
Well when I got my SP30 they told me that after three years I could return my license to have it struck-through and removed from the records.
|
|
Its that communist plot again.....
|
|
Nah, surely the facists this time??
|
I had to stick my insurance on my credit card.
However, Elephant's APR for me was something crazy - it worked out about 20% flat rate and there's nothing wrong with either my income or credit history, at least as far as credit scoring is concerned.
Avoid - even a credit card is a cheaper way of borrowing money.
|
Mark is right (of course)!
Insurance companies can ask what they like on a proposal - 10 years if they really wanted to I suppose.
SP30's and the like - 3 pointers are on your license for four years. The three years if for 'totting up' for a ban.
right at the bottom of www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/endorsem.htm
Endorsements remain on a counterpart licence for:
11 years from date of conviction for offences relating to drink/drugs and driving, causing death by careless driving whilst under the influence of drink/drugs and causing death by careless driving then failing to provide a specimen for analysis
4 years from date of conviction for reckless/dangerous driving and offences resulting in disqualification
4 years from the date of offence in all other cases
Martin
|
All the companies I went to recently asked:
Have you received any speeding fines or endorsement etc in the last 5 years?
Have you been involved in any accidents, losses etc in the last 3 years?.
Next year with any luck I will have a better driving record than the wife!
Hugo
|
|
Glad to see that you got a result with Admiral.
Your boyfiend probably helps because us blokes insist on driving (on the way there at least) and they could use his insurance to claim on.
Always worth getting on the phone to talk to someone. You can't negotiate with computers, they don't understand pink fluffy poodles!
Paul
|
|
|
|
PS never heard another word from Admiral after first explaining what happened in an accident,. Can't fault them.
|
|
|
|
|
