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3rd party or Fully Comp? - Dougie68
I'm a new member of this website after reading HJ's column in the Sat Telegraph and thought I would ask a question about Insurance.

I'm not sure whether to just go TPF&T due to my Polo being 10 years old and 107,000m, or remain Comprehensive. I feel that £222 for my renewal is a bit steep for Comp and can get TPF&T for £137. Not sure of pros and cons of this. I'm a bit worried that you get neglected when not Comp.

The car's showing it's age now too, so might the Insurer just right it off even after a small dent? Is there a somewhere I can check the current value just as a rough guide?

Many thanks for any comments and help for this old geezer.

Dougie
3rd party or Fully Comp? - oldnotbold
I've just sold a ten yr old 1.4 CL auto Polo on Ebay for £1600 - only 24,000 miles and full service history. Yours will be worth no more than £1,000, perhaps less.

If you damage your car when insured TPFT then you pay to get it fixed, regardless. If you damage your car when insured Comp., then the ins. co. gets it fixed, or writes it off and pays you (in the case of a 10 yr old car) a meagre sum that may not get you another car as good. In either case, if another driver causes the damage to your car, then their insurance covers the cost of repair/replacement.

Essentially you are being offered £80/yr to take the risk that you crash, and if you do, then pay for the repairs/replacement on your own.

Have you used confused.com or moneysupermarket.com to make sure that this is the best premium possible?
3rd party or Fully Comp? - qxman {p}
Don't forget that there will be an excess on the fully comp. Let's say its £250 XS. Would you want to spend £250 of your own money on the car after a minor bump and then a bit more money on insurance the following year because you've made a claim?
3rd party or Fully Comp? - adverse camber
watch out for other side benefits - windscreen cover and drive other vehicles are not common on tpft. That may or may not matter to you.
3rd party or Fully Comp? - Falkirk Bairn
Try a quote online with your existing Insurer

Try Comp with a huge excess - say £1000. It may surprise you that the quote for Comp with a huge excess is less than the cost of 3rd Party - that way you may get some of the additional benefits of Comp whilst paying 3rd party only prices.

If it is illogical it is either insurance or a Citroen.
3rd party or Fully Comp? - Dougie68
Thanks for your comments.
3rd party or Fully Comp? - MikeTorque
With fully comp you get perks that TPF&T doesn't provide. Were your car to become a write-off in an incident then with TPF&T you'd get nothing, whereas with fully comp you'd get book price less the excess and probably a courtesy car as well to keep you mobile whilst things are sorted out.

For the relatively small sum of cash you're looking at to have fully comp it seems like the better choice, and you'll have a lot more peace of mind should an incident occur.
3rd party or Fully Comp? - Mapmaker
TPF&T - or even better TPO if you can.

£85 is a lot extra to pay each year for something that probably gives you no benefit other than windscreen cover - and when did you last claim on that?

If your car is worth £750, then with a £250 excess you'll be getting £500 if you're lucky - in exchange for losing your NCB AND having your premium loaded for the next three years. All in all, you'll probably be worse off claiming than not claiming.

A replacement car is all very well, but realistically, if you have a prang, you will be straight out there looking for a replacement car. A couple of days' car hire will be plenty.

You can pay an awful lot in insurance for something that is essentially not worth having.
3rd party or Fully Comp? - astrabob
My wife has a Citroen ZX which is 10 years old and worth very little. She has TPFT insurance.

A couple of years ago, someone drove into the back of her car, causing minor damage to the rear bumper. She continued using it, and her solicitor claimed almost the full value of the car from the other insurers. Last year, the same thing happened again. She is the only person I know who is driving around in a car which has been written off twice. (It does have an up to date MOT).

Had it been comprehensively insured, in both cases she would have taken it along to the approved repairer, and after a couple of days would have learnt that it had been written off. The net result would have been that she would have been far worse off being comprehensively insured.
3rd party or Fully Comp? - oldnotbold
"her solicitor claimed almost the full value of the car from the other insurers. Last year, the same thing happened again" "a car which has been written off twice"

While you can use a solicitor, there's no need. Very simple procedure that any lay person can do. The car has not been written off - she's received compensation for damage. A write off would be recorded on the insurers' database, and could mean an increased premium.