Car Insurance!!

[schindler]

Passed my driving test last year and own a Nissan Primera SVE 02 plate car since last year(my first actually!!).

Insurance for the first year with Quinn Direct was 800 and the insurance muppets have now sent a renewal quote for £766 for the second year .

Genuinely surprised as I thought the second year insurance premiums are heavily reduced if u had no claims/accidents in the previous year.When called the insurer's Customer Support Junkie barked 'Thats the best price we could give u' and hung up on me....

I did all the price comparison websites and almost all the insurers quote around the 800£ mark.

Missues is leaving the UK for a long holiday(4 Months ) and hence her car remains at home unused.Can i just leave my car un-insured until she comes back and keep driving her car(she's got full insurance running into mid next year and her insurance policy allows spouse to drive her vehicle) and once she comes back to the Uk then will hunt for my own insurance deals.

If I do so will it invalidate my 1st year no claim status as I will have 'Gaps' in my insurance period!!

[DimPrawn]

My god! Two days pay for a years insurance. How can Contractors cope!

[BrianSnail]

My god! Two days pay for a years insurance. How can Contractors cope!

Two hours

[Tensai]

Passed my driving test last year and own a Nissan Primera SVE 02 plate car since last year(my first actually!!).

Insurance for the first year with Quinn Direct was 800 and the insurance muppets have now sent a renewal quote for £766 for the second year .

Genuinely surprised as I thought the second year insurance premiums are heavily reduced if u had no claims/accidents in the previous year.When called the insurer's Customer Support Junkie barked 'Thats the best price we could give u' and hung up on me....

I did all the price comparison websites and almost all the insurers quote around the 800£ mark.

Missues is leaving the UK for a long holiday(4 Months ) and hence her car remains at home unused.Can i just leave my car un-insured until she comes back and keep driving her car(she's got full insurance running into mid next year and her insurance policy allows spouse to drive her vehicle) and once she comes back to the Uk then will hunt for my own insurance deals.

If I do so will it invalidate my 1st year no claim status as I will have 'Gaps' in my insurance period!!

First, if your car's uninsured you need to get it off the road completely, i.e. driveway or garage. You could also (I think) complete a SORN Standard Off Road Notification and claim some of the tax back while it's off the road.

Not sure how it would affect your insurance - the way they calculate the premiums is byzantine in its complexity. But you don't "lose" your no claims bonus. In terms of driving her car while he's away, you're insured as long as the insurance company don't know she's away for a long period, check her small print for info about extended absences.

[EqualOpportunities]

First, if your car's uninsured you need to get it off the road completely, i.e. driveway or garage. You could also (I think) complete a SORN Standard Off Road Notification and claim some of the tax back while it's off the road.

Not sure how it would affect your insurance - the way they calculate the premiums is byzantine in its complexity. But you don't "lose" your no claims bonus. In terms of driving her car while he's away, you're insured as long as the insurance company don't know she's away for a long period, check her small print for info about extended absences.

Statutory

[Peoplesoft bloke]

.........
. But you don't "lose" your no claims bonus. In terms of driving her car while he's away, you're insured as long as the insurance company don't know she's away for a long period, check her small print for info about extended absences.

Not all companies will honour no claims if there's a gap. Keep the paperwork for what you had (written evidence that you were entitled to it this year) and some will do when you insure again. In any case it may not make a deal of difference - if their premium is huge, it may be cheaper to use a different insurer and start again.

As for you being insured "if the insurers don't know" I think this is bad advice - if they find out and there's an exclusion, or if she's named as the main driver of the car, you may lose out - always better to ask up front, otherwise you give them an excuse not to pay up when you claim.

[schindler]

Not all companies will honour no claims if there's a gap. Keep the paperwork for what you had (written evidence that you were entitled to it this year) and some will do when you insure again. In any case it may not make a deal of difference - if their premium is huge, it may be cheaper to use a different insurer and start again.

As for you being insured "if the insurers don't know" I think this is bad advice - if they find out and there's an exclusion, or if she's named as the main driver of the car, you may lose out - always better to ask up front, otherwise you give them an excuse not to pay up when you claim.

Cheers Guys...But more importantly what surprises me is that my premium has gone doen only by 50quid in the second year.Do u think it's normal?

[BoredBloke]

I'd call around. The more quotes you get, the greater the chance that the drunk blindfolded chimp will actually throw the dart at the revolving dart board and get a lower score. Hey presto lower premiums!

[VectraMan]

Cheers Guys...But more importantly what surprises me is that my premium has gone doen only by 50quid in the second year.Do u think it's normal?

With my second car policy I found the 1 year no claims made quite a lot of difference, but then I wasn't a new driver like you. If the price comparison sites are all coming back the same then you're unlikely to get better.

I'd suck it up and keep paying to build the no claims if I were you.

[TykeMerc]

Firstly I would advise you to learn how to write in English, txtsp34k is only used by complete morons and no insurance company (or any other business for that matter) will take a moron seriously.

Secondly car insurance is hugely dependent on your postcode, type and make of car you drive, how much you drive, points on driving license and critically the age of the driver.
No claims history is a lot less of a modifier than you would think, it's not a straight percentage off the total "cost" of the policy like it was 20 years ago, the modifier is often applicable to the basic value before other cost increasing mods are applied.

To put the mods in context if I lived approx 1 mile away from my current address which has an XX1 rather than XX3 postcode my car insurance would be almost 50% cheaper, insurance prices are based on risk profiles and no claims history is only 1 relatively minor reducing factor but obviously can be a major increasing factor if the claims history is bad.