Goddamn insurance!

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Thu Aug 26, 2004 11:44 pm

oh and in agreement and then in dispute with groovycarrot...

do haggle with them as hard as you can, pit them against each other e.g. can you beat this quote with this level of cover..... for that amount of money they'll be happy to have you on board, because at the end of the day, they are raking it in any which way, and one bloke popping up to try and negotiate a better deal fades into the general sea of those who blindly fill out the renewal form, enclose a cheque made out to the full amount, and curse as they put it in the letter box. better to keep customer relations up and fall short by a few pounds (on the chance you'll keep with them, paying a disproportionate amount of money at 24 compared to your much reduced risk) than stick solid and lose you.

and if they *do* want to inspect the car (never heard of it personally, not when it's not been pranged, but who's to say)...... de-mod it as much as you think they'll believe, and give it a wash a couple or three days before they come round (not just before! needs to have a *little* dirt..). try to look decidedly average, not someone who's going to "love" the car incessantly to the point of polishing it every day, whacking a big wing on it and going street racing, but neither one who'll never wash the car (even to the detriment of seeing out the windows) or maintain the engine at all, to the point where it seizes up on the motorway one day and causes a pile-up....... which they have to pay for a million or more out of your 3rd party cover.

just a thought

** edit -- another thought i had was, oops... p'raps he meant, because you were declaring mods

in which case, yes... make as if they were on the car when you got it but you've only found out about them gradually while looking it over and making it roadworthy. have the alloys dirty, blow some dust into the K&N filter, etc

(that seizing thing? yeah... that was the girl that hit me... killed the escort's engine - on the m42 - by never putting oil in it, even though it was pretty obvious it had a busted gasket and was dropping large amounts all over the place. (un?)luckily, it was 3am and she made it to the hard shoulder)

PS Gti, what's an SP50??

GroovyCarrot · Post by **GroovyCarrot** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 12:10 am

Well, yeah, fair enough, don't pile s**t onto the windows and make it look as if you've never washed it or maintained it since you bought it.. but make it look like you couldn't really care less about it apart from whether it'll get you to the shops and back. If you hadn't already had the car for a while I'd suggest t-cutting some panels but leave patches discoloured, maybe a door or something, just makes it look all the more average

And definately act as if you didn't notice the mods and they were someone else's doing.

I don't know how common it is, but co-op wouldn't even give me a quote before they sent someone around to take a look at the car.. at the time I hadn't resprayed any of the rust, it'd just come up from it's old home in romford up the M11 in the middle of winter on a rainy night, the interior was dirty and bits were broken but it was clearly in good mechanical nick. That's the kind of condition you want it to be in

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 1:25 am

co-op eh, what a bunch of wierdos

before anyone else gets a chance... pot / kettle / black ...

PoloGTi · Post by **PoloGTi** » Fri Aug 27, 2004 4:04 pm

Tahrey1043 wrote:PS Gti, what's an SP50??

SP50 = Speeding on a motorway, 3 points, Â£60 fine.

Crisis · Post by **Crisis** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 9:23 am

I understand Karl.

Im 17, i've done pass plus. Im only a a 1.0L Mark 4. Paying Â£900 for insurance (which aint bad i guess)

I got a quote once for a Polo GTI (for a laff) it was Â£4000 ha.

Anyway main reasons for high insurance for our age is:

High Value Cars (keep em cheap, then if you do smash insurance company dnt ave 2 cough up as much)
Lack of experience (obviously)

James0121 · Post by **James0121** » Tue Aug 31, 2004 11:19 am

hey up

im 18, with a mk4 1.4 cl and have fully comp insurance and roadside recovery with norwich union and i have pass plus and i pay Â£1,100 a year which is ok i suppose but would still like cheaper.

james

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 7:05 pm

high value cars? remember you're talking about a mk3 here.... i think in terms of paying out a couple hundred quid (after the typical ludicrous & compulsory young driver excess) for the very rare 17 year old who goes fully comp, the insurers aren't worried.

its the fact that due to the lack of experience, and lack of self control (or potential of being a chav who hasn't yet either learnt their lesson or Darwinned), you may well end up wiping out your mk3 polo.... by t-boning a Bentley.

Karl_CLCoupe · Post by **Karl_CLCoupe** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 7:31 pm

I don't like the sound of that! I'm still scouting, but things do appear to be getting cheaper. It pays to be patient I guess.

Karl.

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Wed Sep 01, 2004 8:08 pm

muhahaha......

endsleigh quoted me Â£980 on a 1.8 litre Audi 80E (that's the hi-tune version).... on the internet quote thing! I could probably knock Â£200 off that..... schweet.

ahem. not to gloat or anything. (or not that i'd be allowed to buy it)

hey karl, fancy a squareback 1-litre?

in your position, dropping 3 insurance groups would probably mean a couple hundred quid.

hell i'll swap it for your 1.3 coupe

Karl_CLCoupe · Post by **Karl_CLCoupe** » Thu Sep 02, 2004 10:55 am

Hmmmm, sounds like a promising offer, but.....

NO

Karl.

The Drummer · Post by **The Drummer** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 12:48 pm

Very interesting! It's quite interesting to hear what sort of prices you guys are getting for your insurance as that is what I do for a living. I work for the largest general insurer in the UK. Be careful if your car is in the parents name as you need to make sure that you are noted as the main driver. In the event of an accident and it turns out that it was noted that your parents are the main drivers, then the claim could well be voided!! Not a good thing.

bstardchild · Post by **bstardchild** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 2:23 pm

The Drummer wrote:Very interesting! It's quite interesting to hear what sort of prices you guys are getting for your insurance as that is what I do for a living. I work for the largest general insurer in the UK. Be careful if your car is in the parents name as you need to make sure that you are noted as the main driver. In the event of an accident and it turns out that it was noted that your parents are the main drivers, then the claim could well be voided!! Not a good thing.

I've heard this before but thankfully never experinced it......

I thought it was a false economy as you couldn't build up any NCB if you were only a named driver on a family members policy (maybe things have changed)

I know when I got quotes for the better half on the old Polo MKII it made absolutely no difference to the quote price with her as the policy holder (36 yr old "L Driver" under instruction) and me as a named driver or viki verki

So I did it with me as the main driver!!!! Incidently I am still the main user....

Incidently I pay more to insure the Polo with max NCB and a squeeky clean licence (touching lots of wood here) than to insure the Lotus with no NCB at all.......

The Drummer · Post by **The Drummer** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 3:16 pm

It is a false economy to be a named driver. You do not earn any NCB this way, only the policyholder does. As for insuring the Lotus and it being cheaper, not sure don't know full details. Seems a little strange though. The best way for you young drivers is to do Pass Plus (if you haven't got any NCD of your own). With Norwich Union Direct you will get the equivalent of 1 years NCD as a discount 51% to be exact. As you can imagine this is a lot of money back! All they need is your Pass Plus certificate number!!

Any other insurance questions just post them on the board and I will answer them (as best I can).

GroovyCarrot · Post by **GroovyCarrot** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 4:32 pm

It may be a false economy in the long run, but the way I look at it, I'm going to do better paying Â£450ish under my dad's name for two years, then go to university where I won't have a car, and start getting insured under my own name when I'm a) over 21 and b) have a better job than stacking shelves in Waitrose than I will to get a year's NCB now paying vast rates for insurance under my own name, then not use it until I'm over 21.. I'd do pass plus, but even with that insurance with norwich union would be more than I'm currently paying. I might do a bit of shopping about though, guess it might be slightly more bearable now as I'll be 18 on thursday and will have been driving for a year (although only a full license for 9 months..)
Anyway, if anyone can suggest a better way of doing things than this by January (insurance renewal due..), I'll be looking into it..

Tahrey1043 · Post by **Tahrey1043** » Mon Sep 06, 2004 7:33 pm

start getting insured under my own name when I'm a) over 21

yep..... tho apparently the age barriers dont really exist any more, its all smoothed off...

and b) have a better job than stacking shelves in Waitrose

dont kid yourself mate, the job market sucks for students and graduates, unless you get a 2.1 and are prepared to suck some bank or insurance company's corporate cock...

But the way you're describing it is exactly the way it worked out for me (though not anywhere near as planned) and it seems to have done just nicely. The first year was a bit sticky (Â£700 odd) but it got better, fast.