Our daughter departs for Uni in a few weeks. Her car will remain at home. As for any 18 year old, the insurance cost is high and she can't afford to continue to pay for that whilst away. The simplest solution would be for the car to remain taxed and insured but not used. But her insurers seem unable to oblige in providing cover whilst the car is not being used and only offer a 'suspension' which actually provided no cover at all but preserves the no claims.
Another option may be to look at a multi car policy where my wife and I can use any of three vehicles, and my daughter can be added to the policy to use her own car for holiday periods. I recall an instance a while back where a car enthusiast had a number of vehicles and obtained insurance for all of them under one policy on the basis that he could only ever be driving one at a time.
Does anyone have experience of this type of situation and what the possible solutions might be?
|
|
The best idea would be to get rid of it then you have zero cost and no responsibility of a unused car hanging around.
|
actually assuming its a group 1 or 2 car, ie cheap(er) to insure the best policy is probably to have her insured to drive it 3rd party (cheapest cover you can get), so that her non claims continues to build up, so that she has some hope of being able to afford to insure a car in a higher insurance group in a few years time
the car can be simultaneously covered under a "garaged" policy which is fully comp as long as its in the garage, and these policies are ridiculously cheap
when she comes to use it again upgrade the 3rd party to comp cover and cancel the garaged cover
given the silly way NCB works in the UK i am surpised more people dont buy 100 quid group 1 bangers for their kids while they are at college and stick em in a field never to be used but building up NCB on a 3rd party policy
|
|
In one respect that's the way things used to be. When I started driving 30 odd years ago I was a poor student but needed transport. I, and most of my contemporaries who had cars ran ancient bangers which we maintained ourselves. Insurance was relatively cheaper then but our parents would not have considered buying us expensive cars anyway. I know life has moved on but some of my best motoring memories come from those days. We learned a lot about cars too.
|
|
|
>>given the silly way NCB works in the UK i am surpised more people dont buy 100 quid group 1 bangers for their
I'm told the best thing is to buy £50 50cc mopeds at the age of 16 - 1 year NCB when you are old enough to drive a proper machine.
|
|
|
|
|
|
You don't tell us the size of your household, but it seems to me that if your daughter has decided she doesn't need a car at Uni (and that may be a wise choice), keeping three may be a luxury, and not particularly good for the car either. Will you really need all three just for the vacations when she is at home, or would it make more sense to share until she needs a car full-time?
|
>>and not particularly good for the car either
If a car cannot cope with sitting idle for 8 weeks at a time, then it's not worth owning.
|
Having a car sitting idle does far more harm than using them. Tehre's a reasonable chance of the battery going flat and losing the radio code, fuel goes stale, oil drains out of the top of the engine, brakes seize, discs corrode and through the winter moisture gets in and leaves the upholstery mouldy.
Mice make their homes in the engine bay and live off the wiring. All cars like being used far more than being left sitting.
|
> Mice make their homes in the engine bay and live off the wiring.
So the answer would be to get a cat?
|
|
|
|
I don't think that maintaining cover with a 3rd party policy would work here. It would still be very expensive for an 18 year old, indeed could be more expensive than fully comp sometimes.
If she will have no use for the car for the duration of a, presumed, 3 year course then selling the car and accepting the insurers suspension to preserve the NCB would make the most sense economically.
I do like the idea of buying and insuring the cheapest moped available to build up the NCB. If the bike is not going to be used then there is no need for it to be taxed or have an MOT as the insurance companies do not ask for sight of these documents before they provide cover. However, I might be a bit naive here. Would the insurance company access DVLA data in this situation to discover if road tax was paid and an MOT obtained and in the absence of these would they be able to accuse you of fraud?
|
|
By the way, Wisp, you will feel less anxious if your daughter is not driving around away from home and making what could be long journeys to and from home in a car alone. This always worried me when my daughter drove from Sunderland to Leicester.
|
|
|
Why does it need to be used on the road to need insuring against fire and theft to name 2 parts of the policy doctorchris?
If it was my daughter and dilemma I think it would make more sense to sell thecar and put daughter onto wifes (or yours) car so that she could use a car when home and its needed?
Or alternatively sell the wifes car and let her use the daughters (adding the wife will be cheaper no dubt).
|
|
|
Where is she going to University? I ask because that might have a bearing on her decision.
|
|
|
>>and accepting the insurers suspension to preserve the NCB would make the most sense economically.
>>
IIRC any built up NCB normally dies after two years.
While my daughter was abroad for a year she got a policy from Footman James that was restricted to 1500 miles a year. 80 miles a month for me to keep it running and the balance for her.
Not sure if they will insure youngsters.
|
When my daughter was at university, she continued to use the car we had bought for her and which was insured in my name.
She drove 200 to 300 miles and back on numerous occasions to see friends or further her education and never had an accident during her three years at uni.
If you mollycoddle the young it's the biggest mistake you can make.
|
Stuart - to me, your first paragraph is at odds with your third... "the car we bought her" & "insured in my name".
And your second para - well, running a car "200 or 300 miles on numerous occasions" is, I'm afraid, out of reach of many students these days, with non-catered Halls costing over £4k before any other bills...
Other than that, good post ;-)
Whatever, most uni's positively discourage students taking cars to uni these days - with policies such as no (or very expensive) parking at halls etc, unless your course requires a car (e.g. my oldest is doing Nursing @ Birmingham where they have 6 week placements anywhere in the Birmingham health district, any shift, alternating with six weeks in college.). She has had one accident up there, running into the back of a bus (lucklly the bus driver didn't even notice, but my wallet did!!).
Back to the point, my other daughter is at Bristol for another two years, her car stays here fully insured in her own name for holiday use - after all, the holidays are longer than the terms as far as I see!!.
Edited by smokie on 23/08/2008 at 02:06
|
|
|
>>She drove 200 to 300 miles and back on numerous occasions to see friends or further her education and never had an accident during her three years at uni.<<
My daughter took her car to Uni, and although she had no accidents, her cambelt went 120 miles from home, soon after a 50K service when it should have been changed. And my niece had a car at Uni and was lucky - among her circle her old 309 was the only car not broken into. So there are several considerations here.
|
I agree with Mapmaker, it should be fine for 8 weeks idleness, especially if you run it up every couple of weeks and move it back and forward a few feet... thats what we've done with my daughters car whilst at uni and its been fine...
Surprisingly many Group 2 and 3 cars can be as cheap to insure and run as Group 1, especially when you are in the "banger" class - ours is a 1.4 60bhp Polo from the mid 90s, over 100k, cost £500 and has been fine for her to learn on and use during hols and I use it too!
|
|
Re the insuring of a moped. I think years ago most insurers would not accept bike ncb against a car policy. I believe Direct Line do but they may be an exception.
|
|
Mine did a few years ago when I transferred a bike insurance to a car, but I'm sorry I can't remember who it was with!
|
|
|
|
>>especially if you run it up every couple of weeks and move it back and forward a few feet...
>>
IMO it is even better to run it a little longer to avoid the " failed to restart" problem that is the modern equivalent of flooding the engine.
AA informed me that the electronics can get confused. A common situation when a car is just backed out of garage to wash it. Many think the wash has wetted something critical - not so.
|
|
|
I agree with Mapmaker it should be fine for 8 weeks idleness
Yes, I agree too, but it's only Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham which have 8 week terms and the OP didn't specify the destination. Pretty much everywhere else students are expected to put in some effort in return for their degrees and the teaching period is 12 weeks with a further fortnight or three weeks for assessment. She will no doubt visit in the mean time, but even so I'd sell her car, give her the cash to spend on drink, drugs, dodgy boyfriends, and pregnancy testing kits, and let her use one of yours. University of life, innit? ;-)
|
>> I agree with Mapmaker it should be fine for 8 weeks idleness Yes I agree too but it's only Oxford Cambridge and Durham which have 8 week terms Pretty much everywhere else the teaching period is 12 weeks
Ours is at Leicester with 12 week terms - I found just running the engine every few weeks and moving it up and down a few feet worked - in my case she's rather have the car to use than all the drugs, etc... and I hope that view continues in her second and third year!!
|
UCL first year started in September and finished at the start of April. Good thing about this was there was a whole term to earn money - she worked as a infant school classroom assistant.
In her second year when they are out of Halls, we regretted she did not have a car as she lived in a really rough area and the ex-policeman (fellow student) who shared with them insisted the girls rang from the train for an escort home. She had a car for her third year!
We paid for the insurance for our own peace of mind although she was in a slightly better area for her third year.
Another consideration when debating having a car at university is what activities does your daughter do? Ours joined the sailing club (best social life, fittest men and more fun than the gym I am told) and spent many weekends travelling to other University towns to compete and Wednesday afternoons at the Welsh Harp near Wembley for training - all made easier with her car and increasing her popularity no end!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
re. earlier comments about third party insurance being cheaper; it is not always so:
www.fool.co.uk/news/your-money/insurance/2008/02/1...x
"When Fully Comp Is Cheaper Than Third Party
... basing premiums purely on statistics can throw up little anomalies. One of those anomalies can lead to insurers making fully comprehensive insurance policies cheaper than third party, fire and theft! "
|
|
|
|
If it's secure at your house, and not on the road, it could be covered by your household insurance (but you may have to make extra provision if it's "valuable").
|
|
|
