Two insurance questions *roll eyes*

[Ryannn]

Morning

Just two things I've been pondering whilst sorting some insurance out.

Is it going to increase my policy if, when I put my reg in, the search machine can't find my car and I have to enter it manuall?

and... who thinks there's some truth behind the idea that entering a low value of your car (if it actually is low) does just as much harm as having a £20,000 motor. Under the idea of... if it's worth less you'll smash it about...

Anyway... your thoughts would be appreciated...

Have some hard to insure cars... I suspect... ;D

[scruff]

If the machine can't find your car then expect a struggle with the computer interface operative at the other end of the phone! Shouldn't increase premiums though.

Assuming it's a 924 you are insuring are you old enough (>25 usually) to get classic insurance? Much cheapness to be had if you can....

[akku]

2 answers...

1. Only if you use those quote-my-meerkat websites. Avoid them for any specialist type car. Seriously. Phone a proper insurance company and they will work from your make, model, stated mods, etc.

2. Risk is based on likelyhood of claim and likely cost of claim. A £500 car is less likely to be a claim as its not worth losing your NCB over so. Also they know what cars are worth. "I have a 2008 Bentley Continental, value £1500" not going to make any difference. They'll use some guide for pricing because no matter what you say its worth you get offered a "industry standard market rate" if there is a loss. Unless you have a specialist policy with agreed value

Speak to a proper insurer.

[Deleted]

There is truth behind the rumour and I've had two friends confirm it. One friend discovered the truth when ringing around companies and was told if he'd valued his car higher his premium would be lower (when asking about how he could bring the premium down) but because he'd already told them what value he thought the car had, they wouldn't then change it for him.

Another friend actually works providing programmes for varies companies including the comparison sites. The same system is in place to offer lower premiums for higher valued cars.

Rule of thumb is to value your car in the £1000-5000 bracket for most of your average retro cars, regardless of how much you actually paid for it. The value should be how much it would cost you to find a replacement that's comparable to what you've got and should be a liberal estimate at that, just don't be too liberal.

[Seth]

Jul 12, 2011 12:35:08 GMT akku said:

1. Only if you use those quote-my-meerkat websites. Avoid them for any specialist type car. Seriously. Phone a proper insurance company and they will work from your make, model, stated mods, etc.

Speak to a proper insurer.

This /\

Over and over again.

[martinb]

I work for a large insurance broker who specialise in modified & classic cars (been there over 14yrs now!) etc. To answer you questions from my own experience...

1. Its not unusual for the Reg search not to recognise some older cars, as long as you can manually select the correct model you will be fine as obviously, when getting quotes many people don't even know the reg of a car they may wish to buy so have to get quotes this way. If, from this, I am correct in assuming you are doing quotes through Insurance aggregators (MSM, Confused, Go Compare etc), as someone else correctly pointed out its worth going direct to a specialist - We also do "normal" cars and as such are on these websites but not all our classic schemes are made available through these sites as they pick up too many non "classic" risks (eg cars that qualify purely because they are old, not because they are cherished etc).

2. You are correct, many insurers (particularly Classic insurers) will quote load premiums for low value cars as they think you will take less care of the vehicle and if nots not worth anything it may not be as well maintained etc. Some classic insurers will even have a minimum value as they want cherished cars and enthusiast owners, not just people who have a "banger" that is old enough to qualify. Usually this is below around £1500 but it varies with underwriters. Agreed values, again are a must though.

Hope that helps.

Martin

[Ryannn]

Thanks, puts my mind at ease

I have started ringing people this week as the Post Office wanted £800 from me to transfer my policy, i only have one month left!

Ryan

[akku]

Hi Martinb, always good to have info from the horses mouth as it were.

[rob0r]

I've found in practice that 2. is correct, it's confirmed above anyway but here's what I've learnt. When trying to insure BMWs as £200-£300 (around the value I paid for the cars) I wasn't even getting quotes, they refused me point blank, one of these companies let me onto the fact the value wasn't high enough and implicated high risk. Since then I have a staple £1000 value for my cars and what do you know... reasonable quotes! Well that was until I got my trade insurance and now life is hunky dory.

[martinb]

Jul 13, 2011 10:13:59 GMT akku said:

Hi Martinb, always good to have info from the horses mouth as it were.

No worries, feel free to ask - I will help if i can

Jul 13, 2011 12:34:15 GMT rob0r said:

I've found in practice that 2. is correct, it's confirmed above anyway but here's what I've learnt. When trying to insure BMWs as £200-£300 (around the value I paid for the cars) I wasn't even getting quotes, they refused me point blank, one of these companies let me onto the fact the value wasn't high enough and implicated high risk. Since then I have a staple £1000 value for my cars and what do you know... reasonable quotes! Well that was until I got my trade insurance and now life is hunky dory.

If you got the E21 in your sig for £200 - £300 then i hate you .

Often you will be asked how much you paid for the car not what it is worth. You should not profit from insurance so stating "I got a good deal" will often not wash with them...if you pay £300 for a car but try to insure it for £1000, they may think that if that car then gets stolen you will have made a healthy profit....! If you do get a car cheap and want to cover it for more then you may be asked to justify why its worth more e.g details of restoration work etc

Unfortunately some of the BMW's have a bad rep with insurers so you can find classic insurance harder to come by...

[khaOs]

Quick question. I'll be moving to Glasgow in a couple of months and will probably need to get a car and all of that. Will insurance be more expensive because my license is portuguese? And what kind of documents will i need?

[akku]

Jul 13, 2011 22:17:00 GMT martinb said:

Often you will be asked how much you paid for the car not what it is worth.

Yeah, exactly, and I have to squeeze "I swapped it for an Oldsmobile" in for my Trans Am and "inherited in a will" for the Capri and other things too. "swapped for a pushbike, stereo and spare heads for a AMC290 V8" LOL

My insurers love me.