Insurance

[Eddie Nuff]

As many on here have more than one car and considering the present law on insurance/tax/sorn I'm curious as to how members insure their cars.

Individual policies must be expensive so do insurance companies allow multiple cars on one policy or do you put them on a trader policy?

[Northern_Mike]

I have both of my cars insured on single policies, it worked out cheaper - by some way - than Admiral multicar. I use e-sure. They think I'm an old fart who drives sensibly all the time. I pay £26 a month for the Berlingo and £33 a month for the Impreza, both on proper policies. E-Sure gave me a hefty 2nd car discount. I believe Direct Line also do the same. I'll be changing when the policies are up for renewal in May. Who to? Not sure.. whoever's cheapest!

[Peter.N.]

I always go onto confused.com and can usually get insurance for not much over £200.00 for each car.

Peter

[CitroJim]

The two Xants are on an Admiral Multi-Car Policy which also has youngest daughter’s Pixo on it.

The XM is on a limited mileage classic policy with Adrian Flux...

Both companies have, in my experience and opinion, unparalleled customer service and good premiums for an old codger like me...

Peter, mine works out about £200 per car. One of the advantages of being erm, of mature years

Mike, surprised yours come out cheaper on two single policies...

[MaxPrimal]

Multi-car policies are good options as it shows loyalty which can give you additional discounts (but be wary as the initial policy cost may be higher than for a single car). Remember your policy is loaded for any minor item that could deem you a "risk". This includes, Points (remember you need to declare points for ALL drivers on ALL policies/vehicles), where the vehicle is kept, its age, claims made (despite what people think, Non-fault claims DO load your policy, just not as much as fault ones), ages of drivers, experience etc etc. I remember a person who had a £8000 claim repudiated (refused) because they declared points on one policy but not on the other, so the insurance company said they committed fraud and refused to pay out - which legally they can do.

I would always ring companies after using comparison sites, you can often still get a better deal by trying to bride them and say "xxx is about £5 a month cheaper, can you match or better it as your policy seems really good", most companies will try and lower their price to get the business. Never tried it with multi-car policies but see no reason why it wouldn't work as you are technically offering even more money to the company if they are willing to help you give it to them.

Remember it takes 2-3 YEARS for an insurance company to officially make money out of you by the time their overheads are taken into consideration - this is why loyalty counts as discounts are often given after this. Again this is where multi-car policies come in as well, as the initial overheads are lower on the subsequent cars as they have a policy already set up and most of your details, so it is easier for an insurance company to make money from you and hence they offer the incentives to have multiple cars now.

A lot of "trader" policies do NOT cover SD&P - Social, Domestic & Pleasure use - they are designed to allow test drives and for dealers to buy/sell vehicles and drive them to and from their premises - i.e. stuff in conjunction with their work.

One last thing, if you think about insuring one and driving the other under DOC cover (Driving another persons vehicle with consent), remember that car MUST have it's own insurance in place or you will have no insurance and could be pulled by the police. DOC Cover is a replacement, but not alternative, to another vehicle's insurance while you drive it.

Just some thoughts from someone with over 6 years experience in the car insurance industry

Max

[c.morewood]

I just got my insurance down to £100 fully comp for the Xantia using the comparison sites to get the best price Halifax £150 then using Quidco to get another £50 cashback. Can't see why that wouldn't work for 2 cars on single policys.

[CitroJim]

That's a good effort Chris

[Northern_Mike]

The two Xants are on an Admiral Multi-Car Policy which also has youngest daughter’s Pixo on it.

The XM is on a limited mileage classic policy with Adrian Flux...

Both companies have, in my experience and opinion, unparalleled customer service and good premiums for an old codger like me...

Peter, mine works out about £200 per car. One of the advantages of being erm, of mature years

Mike, surprised yours come out cheaper on two single policies...

Mine always have Jim, I've tried Admiral multiple times when renewal comes round, and they can never get close to what I pay.

I have no points or claims, Adriana has no points or claims. Admiral won't even insure her on the Subaru, and want £59 a month for me..

[reanimation]

Brilliant write up Max, you make some sense which is great considering an industry that seems to have little sense!

For us Admiral still come up affordable in our area, not a lot of choice in our area. They were however a little bit dumb after an incident where we were not even in our car! Sainsburys offer a small discount for a matched second policy so that helped further to make affordable completely nuts expensive renewals. Last year I Rang just about everyone too to see if my 17 Y.O. Mondeo SI could go on a limited mile or classic policy, It couldn't and no avoiding high crazy prices, too popular and not old enough... yet! So effectively we are still paying for 2, and if the crusty Cortina see's the road this year, I'll be ringing the classic experts for prices, should be cheap enough compared.

[rory_perrett]

With Admiral Multicar - although they don't seem to like high mileage drivers. Last year I paid over the odds for the Xantia with them but the discount on the wife's Xsara and particularly on the daughter's Fiesta (she early 20's) made the overall deal better than individual policies. Just renewed for this year, decided to keep the Xantia despite buying the Jaguar. Splitting my annual 24,000 miles between 2 cars seems to have brought the cost down for my cars to a similar price to the best single vehicle policy quote and again additional discount on the wife's and daughter's cars means that it is by far the best deal overall.

[qprdude]

Tried multi car but was cheaper with two separate policies with different companies. £158 for the C5 2.2 Exc. (AA ) and £120 for the little Clio.( SAGA ).
Policy holders and a named driver on both. Fully comp.

[rory_perrett]

I think that it get's better the more cars you add. I reckon its probably marginal for 2 but when you are up to 3 or 4 the discounts get bigger.

[qprdude]

I think that it get's better the more cars you add. I reckon its probably marginal for 2 but when you are up to 3 or 4 the discounts get bigger.

If I ever get up to affording 3 or 4 cars, I'll be using a chauffeur!

[Eddie Nuff]

Just received my renewal from Esure - £283 for the Xantia. Behave yourselves.

Two seperate policies have always been better for us, but that quote is ridiculous.

I've just bought a 1990 XM so will be looking for a decent quote for that, probably on a classic car policy.

[CitroJim]

I've just bought a 1990 XM so will be looking for a decent quote for that, probably on a classic car policy.

Eddie, try Adrian Flux for the XM... They are very good for me with my XM and the XM I had before...