Help with insurance!!

[x-Sonia-x]

Im after some advice about insurance. Ive just read a thread about IAM surety insurance and how much cheaper that is . Well.....when I passed my test, just over a year ago, my instructor advised me to put my car in my OHs name and put myself down as a named driver. Well I did this, and infact when I came to re-new insurance this year, I checked everywhere and it was still around £400 cheaper a year to keep my car in his name.

The main problem with this, is I will never accumulate any no-claims bonus for myself. Also my intentions are to join IAM and RoSPA long term. Soooooo my question is.......will I be better off putting the insurance in my name now and paying extra for the next couple of years????? or am I better off doing what im doing??? Thanx x x

[Porker]

In fact, the main problem with it is that if you were found to have made a false declaration on your insurance application (i.e. that you weren't the main driver when in fact you are) following a need to claim on the policy, you would probably find you were uninsured. You might also get blacklisted on one of the insurance industry databases.

While it's painful, I would be inclined to put the insurance back in your name, perhaps having the OH as a named driver. This can reduce the premium compared to having just one named driver on the policy, though I'm not entirely sure what the logic of this is.

P.

[x-Sonia-x]

Ohhhhhhhh...I didnt realise that could be classed as a false declaration In reality I am the only one who drives my car, very occasionally he will, but he doesnt like driving at all. He passed his test 19 yrs ago and we had car for about 2 years...and to be honest I couldnt hack getting in the car with him anymore...his driving scared me!!! So we havent had a car till I passed my test and now I do all the driving. I think I will be phoning insurance company tomoz x

[TripleS]

Right, now that Nick has got Sonia sorted out, please can somebody advise me about my current problem?

When I retired a few years ago I altered my car insurance to omit the business use, and went back to "social, domestic and pleasure" cover, or whatever they call it, but I've now had a rethink. I would now like to do a few driving jobs, and one example is small scale courier work, using my own car. What I had in mind was doing deliveries from local manufacturing businesses to their customers in the event of urgent need: breakdowns needing new components, etc. There appear to be possibilities for me here, but at the moment it looks as if insurance difficulties might kill the idea.

I don't want to spend a lot of time doing this work and making a business of it. All it would amount to is doing a few trips per month on an 'as and when required' basis.

There seems to be no getting away from the fact that this amounts to courier work, and most insurance companies aren't interested, including my present insurers, Liverpool Victoria. In addition to this, I would also need Goods in Transit cover, so it's all beginning to sound expensive, if indeed I can do it at all.

Any ideas?

Best wishes all,
Dave.

[Porker]

Have you tried Googling "Insurance for couriers"? It brings up a fairly decent list of online brokers and others that you might approach.

regards
P.

[x-Sonia-x]

I have just done an online quote for insurance in my name and with the company that we are with at the moment. Will this quote stand when I phone them tomorrow or will it make a difference that our insurance doesnt run out til next Feb?? The thing is the quote has come out £10 cheaper a month than what we are paying at the moment and I dont really understand why Ive gone for same options that we have at the moment Can anyone enlighten me pze

[daz6215]

Wasn't there an insurance company advertising no claims were gained if you were a second driver not so long ago on tv? try finding out who they were it may help Sonia.

[michael769]

Will this quote stand when I phone them tomorrow or will it make a difference that our insurance doesnt run out til next Feb??

Mosts quotes are only valid for 30-60 days depending o the insurer, so no

The thing is the quote has come out £10 cheaper a month than what we are paying at the moment and I dont really understand why Ive gone for same options that we have at the moment Can anyone enlighten me pze

Insurers review their premiums on a regular basis. While premiums go up over the long term as repair costs increase, in the short term other forces can cause premiums to go up and down on an almost day to day basis. They also usually offer lower premiums for new business. As the online system will be calculating a premium based on new business it is very unlikely to give you an accurate number.

You have two options. Cancel the current policy (there will be a penalty usually about 2 months worth of premiums) and re-insure in your name with another insurer as new business. Or have the policy transferred to you, this will result in a change to your premum, but as this would not be viewed as new business and you will not get the benefit of any reductions for new business that were in the online quote. It's hard to say if the premium will go up or down it depends on how they view the risk you represent as a driver compared to your OH. In general for inexperienced and younger drivers women are viewed as a substantially better risk than men, so it should not be too painful.

Be careful what you say to explain why you are making the change. If they get wind of a false declaration (even one you are owning up to before a claim is made) it's likely to result in a fraud marker being placed against you and your address in the industries' database. This will result is sharp increases in both car and household insurance for many years to come, not only for you but anyone else that lives at your address. It will also mean that any claims you may need to make would be investigated as a matter of course leading to delays in getting them resolved. It can also have a negative affect on your credit ratings as the fraud data is increasingly being shared with the credit industries fraud databases.

EDIT: Thinking about it you would probably be OK. As a couple the insurers assume that driving is being shared to a large extent and build that into the premium. What they tend to take a dim view of is parents insuring their kids car in their name to avoid paying the high premium.

[waremark]

I have had experience of insurance companies being willing to match the online quote when extending, adjusting or renewing by phone. Ask them to do so if their phone quote turns out higher.

So far as making the change is concerned, it must be reasonable to tell the insurer that you are now the main driver of the car, with your partner as a secondary driver. That should not trigger any fraud concerns.

Since you are going to insure in your name from now on, the possibility of finding an insurer who will allow no claims discount to named drivers will not make a difference.

[Custom24]

Wasn't there an insurance company advertising no claims were gained if you were a second driver not so long ago on tv? try finding out who they were it may help Sonia.

This was Direct Line, who I used to use. If you are a secondary named driver on one of their policies, you earn a No Claims Discount separately from the main driver, and you can use it if you take out a separate policy for yourself subsequently. However, it wouldn't be transferable to any other insurance company.

[x-Sonia-x]

Blimey...I do feel guilty !! When I first got my car I was very nervous driver, sooo in the beginning I didnt drive it all the time, I wouldnt drive in the dark or if we were going somewhere new, soo in theory I didnt make a fraudulent declaration. However I do now drive my car all the time so if I explain to the insurance company that I now drive it more than he does im sure that will be okay I hope so anyway

[ScoobyChris]

I think the easiest way to look at it is from an insurance company's perspective. They're trying to work out the risk on that car and the biggest factors in that will be who will be driving it. There was a big clamp-down on "fronting" recently whereby a new driver would insure their car in an experienced driver's name and thus the risk was skewed away from them and the premium was lower. If you haven't mis-represented the risk then you have nothing to worry about

In terms of moving policies, there may be financial penalties for cancelling early and you'll also lose this year's NCB. However, if it's financially viable then there is nothing to stop you doing it

Btw, confused.com is your friend

Chris

[jont]

Btw, confused.com is your friend

AIUI Admiral group owns confused.com, so it may not fully represent the marketplace. There are other comparison sites too - although equally they have their own agendas. It also seems increasing numbers of companies are refusing to appear on comparison sites (eg Direct line).

Meh, maybe it's just I've not had a car a "normal" insurer would be able to quote on for the last 4 years, although equally surprisingly, SWMBO has just renewed her insurance, and for the second year running we haven't been able to beat the renewal quote anywhere else.

[Porker]

Norwich Union (Aviva) have some very competitive premiums at the moment, at least for me.

P.

[x-Sonia-x]

Well I thought the best thing would be to phone the insurance company we are with. So I did....and actually im really happy with the outcome. I have changed register keeper of car to me, as that was an error that had been made too . I also just changed myself as main driver on the same policy. That way I wont get any charges for cancelling me policy early, the policy still stays in his name until I renew it in Feb, then I can change it to mine...if that makes sense I have to pay an extra £1.67 per month... ...I was expecting it to be much more than that!!! Everything is now above board and legal

Being an owner of a car is really hard work!!!

Thank you all for your advice........I will come back to this when my insurance is due next