Insurance

Hi every one
I have just received my insurance quote for 2017/18 from Safegaurd for my 2009 van at £423 (paying by instalments) can I ask what other people are paying and if you have had a claim was it dealt with quickly and satisfactory
Thanks
Bob k

Ours was £360 ish from Comfort Insurance and includes euro/UK breakdown cover.

Haven't made any claims.

I'm with Adrian flux was about 240 a year paying in instalments but never had a claim it's a 04 aircooled value 25k they never quibbled that either

My Initial in 2014 was about £270. I renewed with a company in NI called Brady who put me with the same underwriters (LV) for about £210. 2016/17 was about the same. May get a bit of a shock this time though!

Comfort. 6000 miles per year. Euro Breakdown included. Friend as additional driver.

£326.

Comfort for me too , paying around £300 with Euro breakdown. Only had to claim for windscreen which was painless.

We're with Scenic, £383 with Euro breakdown, any driver over 25. We wanted to insure our children, and it worked out much better with Scenic than anyone else.

Comfort - £300. UK & Euro breakdown, one named, max 6k miles a year.
I did shop around when it was last due but couldn't find anything that matched.

I was originally with Comfort but shopped around and got it cheaper with Scenic on renewal. About £450, including breakdown UK & Europe, 8000 miles pa.
We did need to make a claim & the broker was not actually very good, but we got through it & got an apology. You gets what you pay ?

P.S One thing I did find is that the cost of insurance seems to be based on your postcode.

Most insurances have a rating factor that includes your home address. Claims stats vary widely even in neighbouring postcodes and the amount you pay will reflect where you live.

When our daughter moved from Leyland to Cheltenham her premium reduced significantly. Lancashire has some notorious "cash for crash" areas, although PR postcodes aren't as bad as BB for instance.

Other rating factors will include your age (although not your sex any more - allegedly), your claims history, where your van is kept overnight, whether you use it for work or commuting, how many miles you do and any modifications you've added.

That will give the insurers a base figure which they'll completely forget about when you tell them you've had a better quote somewhere else!

Tallulah wrote:

Ours was £360 ish from Comfort Insurance and includes euro/UK breakdown cover.

Haven't made any claims.

8k miles and business use/commuting.

Scooby is with Adrian Flux
Always found them to be competitive.
Mileage limited to 7k a year with a premium of around £260 - I think!

That is without breakdown cover Scoobs ?

Yes it does not include breakdown cover - have full breakdown cover with AA for various vehicles

Rachelvw wrote:

I'm with Adrian flux was about 240 a year paying in instalments but never had a claim it's a 04 aircooled value 25k they never quibbled that either

Exactly the same as mine but one off payment £240. Instalments are more expensive though.
Guaranteed value is an extra £42

My advice (and it is an area I know a little bit about) would be to pay extra for Agreed Value.

In my experience, the biggest issue with large bent metal claims is always around quantum and rarely about liability. Most insurers won't understand our vans and will try to pay as little as possible in the event of major damage and may want to write off your van because they don't believe the repair is cost effective.

The other area to consider is around any modifications you've done to your van (and most of us have done something). If you don't tell your brokers/insurers (and get confirmation in writing) then you're leaving yourself wide open to having your claim repudiated. Arguing that the mod wasn't relevant to the accident is much more difficult after the event than informing them beforehand.

The latest Insurance Act has put more power in the hands of the consumer in terms of fairness, but this has led to insurance companies tightening up their terms and conditions at the inception of the policy. If you don't read the policy when it's issued and they've pointed out the main exclusions and conditions you'll find it very hard to obtain settlement after a claim, if you're in breach.

Insurers are losing money on car insurance at the moment (it's one of the few commodities which has a near perfect competitive market place in the UK) and the recent changes to compensation law will hit them very hard. Add in a Govt enforced increase in Insurance Premium Tax to 12% and you can expect your premiums to rise substantially this year.

Well, having gone through the insurance renewal process, I can make the following observations about the different companies I dealt with; here are some thoughts about their processes, staff and the all-important financial sum.

Our current insurer is via Carole Nash specialist insurance, which we've been with for two years, to date.

I was quoting for 8,000 miles (I wish!), for Monica and me, with UK and European breakdown included and £200 excess for any claim (2015 premium was about £230).  Each time, I mentioned the fact I'd had Litesteer fitted (as a modification) and details of where Bumble is stored, security etc.  I also mentioned this forum and asked if it made a difference to the price:-

Comfort insurance 0208984 0777 - good process and people, insurance was underwritten by Aviva and the moment I was told that, I knew it was going to be more expensive that my renewal quote - it was, circa £355.

Herts insurance 0344 381 4524 (had them the first year via Just Kampers quote) - good process and people, very competitive quote with £100 excess, which got better with £200 excess.

Adrian Flux 01553 845881 - good process and people, however their quote was off the scale!

Carole Nash 0800 116 4572 - good people and processes (apologised for putting me on hold - I didn't mind if it resulted in a lower quote!) I used the information I had gained from the other quotes to come to a good figure for renewal with them, that was almost identical to what we paid in August 2016.

As Martin said above, they will all go through the complex rating process -

AbsintheKombi wrote:

That will give the insurers a base figure which they'll completely forget about when you tell them you've had a better quote somewhere else!

And it was ever thus!

Conclusion - I would highly recommend Carole Nash specialist insurance (originally picked up a leaflet at 'Dubs in the Park' ) and said I would write a recommendation on here (after they'd agreed the price, not before!)

www.carolenash.com

Hi quick question has anyone used Admiral, when we were first looking they have a VW Danbury as one of their options and the quote was very competitive.  As they are a mainstream insurer i'm wandering if i missed something?

T2D2 wrote:

Hi quick question has anyone used Admiral, when we were first looking they have a VW Danbury as one of their options and the quote was very competitive.  As they are a mainstream insurer i'm wandering if i missed something?

All our other cars are on an Admiral multi-car policy, but not Bumble.

P.

I am with Adrian flux and it's about 230 this year as was last year so didn't think that was bad.

Best quotes are from comfort, carole Nash and just kampers. They are all pretty much the same in price any recommendations either way?

Comfort will give you European breakdown cover. Is this included with the others?

yep all have eu breakdown.

T2D2 wrote:

Hi quick question has anyone used Admiral, when we were first looking they have a VW Danbury as one of their options and the quote was very competitive.  As they are a mainstream insurer i'm wandering if i missed something?

How did the Admiral quote compare with the others? We have our other vehicles insured with Admiral, and they allow more named drivers than most other insurers.