It's insurance renewal time for my car. Since my current insurer wanted an increase of over 80% on my current premium (and won't compromise) I am shopping around.
I've noticed that all the quotes so far include "Free" insurance cover if I take my car to an EU country, but only for 30 days.
I've no intention of taking my car abroad, and the vast majority of people don't want to either. The latest data that I found showed that a maximum of 16% of drivers were even considering it. Which means that five out of six drivers -at least- don't take their car abroad.
Is this another way of squeezing more money out of the punter by forcing them to pay for a service that they won't use?
It's got under my skin so much that it made me start a new topic. Grrr!
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I'll be interested to see the answer to this one cos I thought I understood years ago that your insurance covers you already for abroad (EU countries), it has to.
However I have a feeling that there is something like it only covers you for the minimum in each country, which in some cases is higher but in most cases is much lower than fully comp.
I'm off for 14 days driving round Germany in a week or so, must call More Than and see what I need to do...
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Diametrically opposed to OP in our respective positions on this.
No idea what percentage of UK motorists take their cars abroad each year but I'm one who does. Not just the family holiday but the odd w/e or day trip on impulse too. Just yesterday I took The Lad and his g/f over to the Calais Boulogne area for day - cheap deals on ferry /shuttle now schools are back.
EU only require min cover to be provided - this could be less than UK 3rd party. Most customers will want their usual cover extended to countries* they're visiting. Depending on insurer that's either standard, or 'on request' for each trip.
I'm bu**erd if I'm going to be required notify insurer in advance and wait for an extended certificate before leaving, never mind pay £*** for the privilege.
LV provide plenty cover, 180 days in a year with max 30 days in one trip IIRC. It's a menu add on at renewal like courtesy cars or 'legal cover' and costs maybe £20pa.
I think OP is just seeing segmented marketing. If you don't want EU cover ask for a discount for it to be excluded.
*Cover for common destinations - France, Spain, Germany etc is easy enough. Maybe problematic in fringes of EU and certainly or places just outside like Macedonia.
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Wed 9 Sep 15 at 20:28
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>>I've no intention of taking my car abroad, and the vast majority of people don't want to either.
But half the ones that do go abroad completely fail to speak to their insurers to arrange specific cover.
And half of the ones that actually do tell their insurer make such a song and dance about it that it costs an admin fortune.
And the other half worry about how much it costs them because they;re having to pay for the uninsured half as well.
Cheaper just to give everybody a month's cover, charge everybody a little bit and make the idiots, the whingers and the uninsured go away.
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Its a fantastic idea, Like brompy says, you can just hop onto a shuttle at short notice to take advantage of cheap deals, without too much in the way of personal admin hassles.
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Never taken my car abroad but most years one of the Harleys goes; I always inform my insurer as a matter of course. After suffering an annoying inconvenience with my credit card a few years ago (it was suspended and it cost me a few bob in phone calls to sort out) I also make a point of informing my bank.
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Haven't done it for a while but I can't remember it ever being difficult or a big deal. You just bung a bit extra to your usual insurance broker or company surely?
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>> Haven't done it for a while but I can't remember it ever being difficult or
>> a big deal. You just bung a bit extra to your usual insurance broker or
>> company surely?
Compared with say reporting an accident I agree, provided the insurers call centre set up works, it's no big deal. Maybe not an issue if you just take the occasional holiday.
But on the other hand having the cover included removes the need to do it and the possibility of forgetting.
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I got an online quote from LV last night, you can add the European travel option for about £20 for the year, for trips up to 180 days IIRC. When I did that the cost (and cover) was comparable to More Than but I have to pay them each time to take the car abroad. Last time was about £24 for 5 days. I am shortly going for 14 days which will obviously be more. As this may be more of a feature of my life going forwards I am going to look at chopping in the More Than cover early unless they can match.
btw LV premium was only about £170 for the year, with myself, wife and daughter, so shelling out £20s here and there is a reasonably high proportion...
Last edited by: smokie on Thu 10 Sep 15 at 09:18
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>> btw LV premium was only about £170 for the year, with myself, wife and daughter,
>> so shelling out £20s here and there is a reasonably high proportion...
>>
I don't think you can look at it like that, though - you need to decide the package you want and get quotes for the total.
LV's old policies (which they don't offer any more) used to have very wide ranging inclusions - European cover was standard, no mileage limit etc etc, but the cost became ridiculous and and their new policies pare down the cover and have all the other bits as options.
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OK, as the OP I have to come clean a bit about the whole picture, even if that causes me embarrassment.
I need to get the cheapest quote available, because since my job was "globalized" two years ago money is very tight.
The cheapest quote that I can get using the comparison websites is £425 (with clean licence, low mileage). Possibly living in London has something to do with it.
The above quote is with a famous insurer, but includes three things that I don't want to have to pay for:
a) EU driving cover
b) Valuable contents cover
c) Enhanced cover for expensive in car entertainment systems
The insurer will not negotiate on removing them to adjust the premium. All the other quotes for insurance that I get are in the £450-£650 mark.
Now, each of these items only probably add a bit to the policy, but I'm fairly desperate to get the premium down due to my financial embarrassment.
My point is that these options should be extras, especially since THE VAST MAJORITY OF DRIVERS WILL NOT TAKE THEIR CAR ABROAD (as I stated in the OP). The base policy should be set for "the many not the few". I would have thought that certain of the posters here (no names) would have appreciated that philosophy.
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>> The cheapest quote that I can get using the comparison websites is £425
>>
>> The above quote is with a famous insurer, but includes three things that I don't
>> want to have to pay for:
But perhaps the reason it is low is that they don't have to do 'specials' for those that do want those extras. Make them optional and the price for not having them might go up. (Apologies if I'm repeating a previous post.)
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Living in London will certainly make it loads worse.
Have you tried things like restricting the mileage, increasing the excess (careful with that one), restricting the drivers, making it SD&P only, unprotected bonus (careful with that one also), reducing cover, changing whether the vehicle is garaged or parked on the road?
What about something for the drivers? Advanced driving courses, membership of employment or social organisations, insurance offers linked to credit cards or bank accounts, age related or occupation related offers etc. etc.
On you original point the insurance cost will be lower because its a sausage machine making identical sausages for everyone. Any shop offering individually cut and shaped sausages will charge more.
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>> OK, as the OP I have to come clean a bit about the whole picture,
>> even if that causes me embarrassment.
>>
>> I need to get the cheapest quote available, because since my job was "globalized" two
>> years ago money is very tight.
The cheapest quote is the cheapest quote, regardless of how you try to pick holes in whats offered.
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>> The insurer will not negotiate on removing them to adjust the premium. All the other
>> quotes for insurance that I get are in the £450-£650 mark.
>>
I'm kind of bemused by your thought process - it doesn't really matter what's included, the cheapest is the cheapest! Obviously the other companies are ripping people off as the add-ons cost so little the cheapest company is including them anyway.
Having said that when travelling alone on business it often irks me that hotels include breakfast for two!
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>> Having said that when travelling alone on business it often irks me that hotels include
>> breakfast for two!
Sounds like a great way to start the day! :)
Last edited by: Focusless on Thu 10 Sep 15 at 13:03
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>> Having said that when travelling alone on business it often irks me that hotels include
>> breakfast for two!
Eat more
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 10 Sep 15 at 13:36
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@Bill Payer "I'm kind of bemused by your thought process"
Even I myself am uncomfortable with it. I wouldn't have thought this way two years ago, but when you are short of money you kind of get desperate in looking for ways to make savings.
@No FM2R - Excellent suggestions. Sadly, I've tried most of them already.
As several posters have said: "The cheapest is the cheapest", so ultimately I have to go with that.
What I'm really whinging about is that this is the latest in several marketing chages that I've encountered whereby a "package" of items is offered for a set price on a take-it-or-leave it basis, and it seems that you end up paying for stuff that you don't want.
e.g.
- "Monthly fee" bank accounts with "free" breakdown cover and suchlike
- Child free hotels that insist on you taking full- or half-board
- Option packs on cars that make you take sunroof, or leather, or privacy glass
- Holiday packages that include a "free" boat trip (I get seesick just looking at a picture of a ship)
Annnnnnnnnnyyhoowwwwwwwwww. Thanks for all the friendly advice. Some good suggestions there.
So long and thanks for all the fish.
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>> Having said that when travelling alone on business it often irks me that hotels include
>> breakfast for two!
Don't go to such disreputable hotels or areas ;)
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> My point is that these options should be extras, especially since THE VAST MAJORITY OF
>> DRIVERS WILL NOT TAKE THEIR CAR ABROAD (as I stated in the OP). The base
>> policy should be set for "the many not the few". I would have thought that certain of the posters here (no names) would have appreciated that philosophy.
>>
Seems reasonable to me, if as you say few people use it. Mind you if it was worth getting rid to get cheaper prices I'm sure some company would have done it by now.
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>> My point is that these options should be extras, especially since THE VAST MAJORITY OF
>> DRIVERS WILL NOT TAKE THEIR CAR ABROAD (as I stated in the OP). The base
>> policy should be set for "the many not the few".
>>
You know that for certain ?
Maybe the insurance company which provided the quote has stats to the contrary that say within x miles of the Channel ports/tunnel >50% take their car abroad at least once/year so factor it in to any quotes to save rework later.
I do not know what level of granularity the insurance companies are now working at with their mining and quoting. You may find you are the exception rather than the rule for your given area but still fall within the rule for the rest of the country.
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I know it's not really what you were asking, but, if money is really tight, is it possible to change your car to a model which costs less to insure?
I know the usual line is: 'the cheapest car is always the one you already have', but for example recently I saw advertised a Toyota Carina E which had had one owner from new and and a full main dealer service history, 70k miles and was only £1100. In my case it probably wouldn't reduce my insurance premium, but if I was currently running a 2 year old BMW 330 it surely would, and while it wouldn't be as fast or a pleasurable, it would serve my family's transport needs, and probably quite reliably.
But your present car may already be in a low insurance category, in which case ignore the above.
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>> But your present car may already be in a low insurance category
Not if it's the Audi A7 stated in his forum profile :)
Last edited by: Focusless on Thu 10 Sep 15 at 17:14
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Well a Carina E is the same shape - 5 seats, hatchback, big boot: Problem solved!
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>> >> But your present car may already be in a low insurance category
>>
>> Not if it's the Audi A7 stated in his forum profile :)
I guess he has had to drop his NT membership as well.
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SQ 4 LB
>> I guess he has had to drop his NT membership as well.
>>
You're funny Zero. Really hilarious at times.
I just wouldn't like to be stuck in a lift with you.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 10 Sep 15 at 21:42
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SQ 4 A LB
>> I just wouldn't like to be stuck in a lift with you.
It was a joke, chill.
Last edited by: VxFan on Thu 10 Sep 15 at 21:43
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I don't know what you use the car for but there are perhaps circumstances where you would not need to keep the car in London.
The purpose of your residential address is primarily to determine where you car spends most of its time, especially when not being used. If that was outside London, then that might change things considerably.
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The reason you will not find motor insurance without EU cover is that it is a legal requirement that all motor insurance policies issued in the EU provide third party coverage for journeys in the EU.
Different Insurers provide different levels of additional cover such as accidental damage and this may or may not require an additional premium and is normally limited to a maximum period such as 30 days per annum
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What? You mean its a bit like Londoner said in the first post....
" include "Free" insurance cover if I take my car to an EU country, but only for 30 days."
And Smokie in the second...
"that your insurance covers you already for abroad (EU countries), it has to.
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I can't see the problem here.
There are different products available in the market, at different prices. Buy the one that best suits you.
If one includes a feature you don't want, and you dislike the idea of paying for something you won't use, then buy a different one. If the different one is more expensive, then you hadn't really much to complain about in the first place.
The cost to non-users is probably pretty negligible anyway - your risk is "in the score". Taking into account the admin savings for the insurer, you might actually save by buying a bundled product.
I had to take a few features I didn't want when I bought the Outlander. I could have avoided having them by buying an X3. But the Outlander is a better car, and cheaper even with the unwanted extras.
You pays yer money.
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OK - the story is now over.
I tried the forum's suggestions whilst keeping scrupulously truthfull.
The final bill was £410.
**SERIOUS MODE ON**
Sorry to appear a weirdo. I obviously view things in a different way to most people.
I'm very, very, very rarely part of the majority opinion, whether its popular culture, politics, men's fashion, cars, or a whole host of other things.
A paranoid would claim that society was wrong and their were right, but at least I retain sufficient sanity to recognise that it is ME who is the one out of step.
**SERIOUS MODE OFF**
P.S. I've also altered my forum profile to something more realistic, for those of you who get a kick out of reading that stuff.
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You come *HERE* to see what "normal people say"??
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !
Wrong.
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>> P.S. I've also altered my forum profile to something more realistic, for those of you
>> who get a kick out of reading that stuff.
I don't know if that was tongue-in-cheek, but I hope you weren't offended by the me reading your profile and subsequently mentioning what it stated you drove. The point of the profile is to tell forum members a bit about yourself, and is meant to be read - you put in there as much or as little as you like (actually the software doesn't allow much).
EDIT: and thanks for reminding me to update mine :)
Last edited by: Focusless on Fri 11 Sep 15 at 12:44
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@Focusless.
Heavens no! I am not offended by anything posted in this topic.
I *am* serious about forum members being normal. Going to public places, forcing myself to talk to strangers (when they make the first move), lurking in forums, deep breathing while driving, and a whole host of other items have been assigned as tasks to me as part of long-term treatment for depression.
I've battled it my whole life as have millions and millions of others, but I'm lucky in that I have been taught some tricks that usually help me get over it fairly quickly.
Thanks once again for the excellent advice everyone.
Last edited by: Londoner on Fri 11 Sep 15 at 18:36
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Is this another insurance rip off? - smokie
