Toyota Iq /scion Chain/belt

[Grumpy Cabbie]

The trouble is, is the fact you have them in some way linked to insurance. After all, if it prevents you from a fatality then the insurance payment is maybe with ref to that. If after 10 yrs they are deemed un trusted and you are given the opportunity to still use them then, then its possible that the insurance company's would pull together and refuse insurance or make it astronomical but probably have no effect on classic cars that don't have any anyway. They use anything to rip you off with

David

If that were true, how come insurance on older cars is cheaper. And insurance for classic cars is ridiculously cheap?

Liability is the main factor in insurance these days which is why tpf&t cover is barely used as it's often no cheaper or not much cheaper than comp. And cars will always be much much safer than motorcycles and they still get insurance - though it's not that cheap for the bigger bikes.

It all sounds like the EU are finding a solution to no problem.

[bobkneale]

Re insurance, mine is £114 fully comp with protected NCB and courtesy car as standard, only 5000 miles per year though !

[tarquin]

I have restricted mine from 10,000 miles to 6,000 miles. Allegedly it went from £260!

To £205 by restricting it to 6000 miles. Bearing in mind it was £178 last year and this year for no reason put it up over 46% the whole insurance thing is ridiculous!!!! Its a complete lottery. The world of security has moved on. Why does it matter where i live? Bearing in mind i have a £250 vol excess. The car is not going to be stolen unless picked up on a trailer and the cost of replacing ECU's would not be economical. Its not a Ferrari. I have 27yrs NCD. And 59. Ot is so random and insulting

David

[Soeley]

Just to add my thoughts/observations. I bet if you disabled all the airbags on a iQ once it reached ten years old, say because you thought they might become faulty and keep throwing errors up. I bet you would not ba able to get insurance cover on it as it would no longer meet the Euro NCAP5 rating. They won't think "A classic Mini doesn't have airbags, so we'll give it the same premium" no they will refuse to cover it I'm sure!

On a side note, my brother moved to Brittany (France) last year. His daughter went over who at 17 had only just passed her driving test to visit. He added her to his insurance policy for the year so she could drive when ever she goes over. It cost NOTHING extra to add her as a named driver. In fact he found out that new young drivers over there don't get the stupid high premiums that we do in Britain. So they must work to a total different set of statistics that our insurers do?

[FROSTYBALLS]

In the UK insurance covers the driver(s) and takes into account the accident and claim history of the driver(s).

In France I believe that the insurance covers the car and also takes into account the accident and claims history of the driver(s). French car insurance covers young drivers and less experienced drivers via excesses which apply when damage to other people's property occurs.

Third Party, Third Party Fire & Theft and Comprehensive policies are available in France

[Grumpy Cabbie]

If you modify the car to avoid airbags it will invalidate most traditional policies as the car is modified. Any modification needs to be reported.

But you can get insurance for modified cars with specialists. You need not pay more or much more either. So if you want to deactive the airbags, put a rotating key on the roof and put massive dragster wheels on the back there'll be a company out there who'll sort you out.

The thing about insurance that makes me laugh is that everyone moans about the cost and about people making injury claims but you're all at it! I once worked for an insurer and over 70% of drivers and over 40% of passengers would make an injury claim if involved in a non fault accident - and that included small bumps in carparks, clipped wing mirrors etc.

To me those stats say it all. If it were the other way round I could understand people moaning but it isn't. You're all part of the problem guys and guyettes.

[FROSTYBALLS]

Think a lot of people, when they make an insurance claim, view it as an opportunity to get some extra money by inflating claims - be it a household, car or travel insurance claim.

Any claims we've made, we've just wanted the damaged item repaired or replaced with the minimum of fuss.

Luckily our last car insurance claim was back in 2008 - when my partner's Mazda was hit by two drug dealers in a pool car being chased by the Police. Even though the claim went down as an uninsured loss, our insurance company were excellent - the car was back on the road within two weeks after using a manufacturer approved body shop, and we were kept mobile for the repair duration. No loss of NCD (guaranteed NCD) and no increase in premium either. Although we did have to pay our £50 excess.

[tarquin]

What i find as a big con is this

My wife and i were last year and this insured with Tesco. She has a a 7 seater Verso same year as my iQ. We are both named drivers on each others insurance. We both have 25yrs No claims. Her insurance was £250 last year and £252 this year. Mine however was £178 last year but this year it went up over 46% to £260. Higher than her's is. Same drivers in the same house. No conditions had changes! Speaking to them and pointing out the anomaly, they said that is how the underwriters have valued the risk and initially would not budge on it until i pointed out that on confused.com site under Tesco, with the same info mine came in at £185 ! Oh! he said let me see what i can do. He came back saying i cant give you that one on the phone but can do £205. £55 off what seconds before he couldn't budge on. Seems all the phone operators are on commission and will simply rip you off

David

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Erm without trying to be sanctimonious but you're insuring your car with a Supermarket! A supermarket that uses questionable tactics with its food pricing (remember all those buy one get one free offers being more expensive per item than if you had just bought one on it's own - Buy two for £3 (or 1 for £1.20)? Or how they totally screw their suppliers months and years later?) . You think it's any surprise that they'd consider similar tactics elsewhere?

Think about it.

Tesco Insurance are cheap - at first. "Oh wow" you think. "They're a hundred pound cheaper than anyone else". Yeah - for now. But if other insurers who've been at the game much longer don't think they can make a profit charging the same rates as Tesco, do you think Tesco are making money at it? I recon not. Once they've got you they know most people don't bother moving and will slowly (or quickly) inflate the prices.

You might also find that a lot of these new comers to the insurance market are the ones that pass (they can't sell them) your details to these injury lawyers. Have an accident and you ring a helpline number and get through to a call centre who's job it is to establish if the accident is your fault or not. If it's your fault you're quickly passed onto your insurer to claim to then repeat all the details a second time - sound familiar? If it's non fault then they'll try their damndest to up sell other products such as Enterprise car hire (where they make massive commissions) and suggest that you claim for injury using questionable 'tests' to see if there are potential injuries there and also throwing monetary amounts to tempt you. Who could resist the temptation of £2,000 per passenger minimum for a slight rear end shunt at the roundabout? Add on £40 per day hire car fees and then the lawyers fees and a small shunt that would have been £800 for a new bumper suddenly becames £14,500. Then note the percentages I quoted earlier about the number who actually do claim and you see the problem.

Some companies like Direct Line and Admiral are quite proactive and try to get you into one of their repair centres, their own car and a token sum for your 'injury', but you can guarantee the claim centre your insurers passed you to will try to plant seeds of doubt. You assume they're acting on behalf of your insurers and take their advice. They're not, they're dealing for themselves. Your insurers are just cutting their costs by not having to employ claims staff and outsource it to injury lawyers instead.

Not all insurers are like this. Most of the traditional ones, the larger more established ones don't deal like this. It's usually the cost cutting, cheap as chips, ones that do. You do get what you pay for it life. Beware.

[Soeley]

Yes, I know you can get specialised insurance for modified and kit cars, but I was talking more about for the mainstream motorist waning an every day driver.

Also don't tar everyone with the same brush. We are not all into insurance scams. With car insurance I have never claimed for anything that wasn't damaged by the third party, and never claimed for injury. I have been a home owner for 23 years and only ever made one house insurance claim, so please don't say "We are all at it".

[tarquin]

Many thanks Grumpy

David

[Grumpy Cabbie]

Yes, I know you can get specialised insurance for modified and kit cars, but I was talking more about for the mainstream motorist waning an every day driver.

Also don't tar everyone with the same brush. We are not all into insurance scams. With car insurance I have never claimed for anything that wasn't damaged by the third party, and never claimed for injury. I have been a home owner for 23 years and only ever made one house insurance claim, so please don't say "We are all at it".

Sigh

You think I meant EVERYBODY? Come on mate - it's a turn of phrase, not to be meant literally.

But the stats were 70% which being significantly over half is a lot of people. But no, you're quite right, it isn't everybody lol. Also, a lot of the 70% could have been genuine injury!?!?! :) Having had whiplash myself, I know it can be painful. But when two cars clip wing mirrors on a narrow street and one car of passengers all make £2,000 claims, one has to question whether ALL personal injury claims are genuine.

It was also to show that whilst 'everybody' moans about car insurance being high, a signficant proportion make the claims. There are a lot of good people out there who use insurance correctly. I'm one of them too. Never made a claim on my house insurance either. In my mind it's there incase the house burns down or gets blown away in a storm and not should I 'accidentally' knock my 5 year old tv over.

[bobkneale]

Re Car insurance, lots of debate ! in the above posts that have gone off topic now ! Well I have never had a claim in UK for 20+ years however lived overseas (out of UK) for over 15 years and had a few claims there (company insurance paid for those, they were all not my fault) I passed my IAM test in 1988 and believe that 99.9% of accidents can be prevented through advanced driving techniques.

Shop around and negotiate, you can reduce the cost by doing so, my provider is not the cheapest (Saga ins) however the cheaper companies will mess you about more in the unlikely event of any claim. So I paid a "slight premimum" to stay with Saga and paid £114 Fully comp with protected NCB & Courtesy car included, £100 excess, the original Saga quote last Dec 13 was a lot more than £114 and I negotiated it down to £114. I have more than 10years NCB (since been back in UK) and only cover 5000 miles a year I am also over 60 years old and that also reduces it, (Less Risk).

Had I reduced my spec for the cover I could have got it for less than £114.

My cheapest quote (not with Saga) was £109 for same spec quote.

Saga are not the best insurance company, however to get a better company (less hassle with any claim) you pay more !

My principle is "you get what you negotiate" and good negotiation is all about understanding where the "power lies" in the negotiation process.