Toyota Insurance - Other Cars?

[Cyker]

In brief, has anyone else here got/had insurance with Toyota, and were you able to get them to add an Other Cars provision to the policy? If so, how much was it?

It's that time of year again and so far, to my great surprise, Toyota have given the best quote so far (Last year they wanted over £700, this year £390!) but on reading their policy more closely, there is a major issue with the automated quote - It doesn't let me drive other cars under third party cover, which is very unusual for a comprehensive policy!

Alas their office had closed by this point, so I thought I'd ask you lot in case the answer is a solid NO (And thus it'll save me a phone call! :D). The documentation implies it is possible, but it sounds like generic boiler plate terms so I don't know...

Also, any of you have any recommendations? I'm hitting the usual comparison sites, and also had a go with the Owner's Club/Adrian Flux insurance one from here (Alas they don't seem to do automated quotes and the main office had shut before I got home so will have to see if I can get at them earlier tomorrow.)

One thing I will miss about eSure is they had the best NCB protection clause I'd ever seen - Unlimited claims and no reduction! Most other insurers are 2-3 claims over 3 years then blammo, or 1 claim, and every subsequent claim lowers your NCB by a year! It sucks their prices went up so much this year; They've gone £200 over the next lowest rate!!

Anyone else know of insurances with interesting or unusually good features like that?

[FROSTYBALLS]

According to Which? many insurers are now limiting cover allowing policyholders to drive other cars on third party cover, to emergency situations only.

Insurers who scored well in the most recent Which? report are:

NFU Mutual (81%); John Lewis Insurance (75%); LV= (74%); Saga (73%); Rias (72%)

Scores are based on customer ratings and policy scores (Which? set a policy standard against which the insurers are measured), rather than cost.

Also note that having a protected NCD doesn't stop the insurance premium being increased in the event of a claim. All a protected NCD does is to protect the level of No Claims Discount. So it can, and does happen that where a claim is made, the protected NCD stays the same, but the premium increases at next renewal.

One feature that LV=/Frizzells offer is a Guaranteed NCD - which is similar to what you highlighted with Esure. There is an additional cost - it cost us less than £5 per policy.

[Cyker]

Well so far I've found the premium hike isn't too bad; After my double whammy of accidents last year, eSure only hiked me up by £50 which I thought was pretty reasonable (Of course, the extra £100 this year might be their way slowly turning up the heat! ). Then again I haven't had any accidents before that so it's tricky to extrapolate with a single point of data

That said, about 5 years ago an acquaintance of mine had his first ever accident, and to add insult to injury lost 20 years NCB in one go when due to not having any NCB. When the renewal came up he nearly had a heart attack as it had gone from something like £200 to over a grand!

So far, pretty much all the insurers I've looked at will let you drive another car under third party cover, apart from Toyota so I'd consider that a significant mark against them. The last thing I want to do is let them think it's okay to erode yet more things from policies by making it 'common practice'. As far as I'm concerned, if they want to remove things that are long standing features of things like comprehensive cover then they can smegging well drop the price to match or I'm looking elsewhere!

Thanks for the tips on the insurers tho', I'll give them another look and see how they compare! I don't mind paying a bit extra for a better quality of coverage, but at the same time I don't want to get ripped off! I was very surprised eSure wouldn't haggle at all; In the past they've had some wiggle room to at least get in the same ballpark as the competitive rates. I guess they've had a bad year for claims!

[Heidfirst]

Interesting that esure wouldn't haggle. I've been with them for years & every year when the renewal comes out I do the exercise of comparing quotes & then go back to them with what I have found & they have always been able to adjust & at least come within a few £s to the best quote. That is what happened when I renewed in September this year - initial renewal quote iirc something like £280 incl. protected NCB & final accepted quote under £200 so quite a difference in % terms.

Privilege (same co. as Directline) also gave me a very good quote so try them too.

[Cyker]

Yeah, I found the same which is why I was confused about them refusing to price match or even attempt to bring it down this time!

Maybe I should give them another ring to see if it was just the guy I was speaking to...

Thanks for the others, I'll add them to the list to try! :)

[FROSTYBALLS]

We run two cars and have class 1 business use for both of us on each policy. We've never used Esure as they would only provide class 1 business use for the policyholder, rather than both of us (if we were married they could).

[Cyker]

Well, eSure still wouldn't budge on the price but, curiously, Toyota apparently *do* cover you under third party if you drive another car according to the guy on the phone, even tho' it says otherwise on the website.

eSure do seem to be a bit odd at times, and quite inflexible in some areas as you say (Most insurers have a Business Insurance for All Named Drivers!). Apparently won't insure things like Audis as my mate found out when he rang them up because they consider them high risk cars

Usually they're pretty good if you fit their criteria tho; They were the longest run of insurance I've had since I've been driving. Before that I'd switched every year, but I've been with them what, 5 or 6 years I think, spread across two diesel Yarisusesesises

[FROSTYBALLS]

Don't Toyota Insurance have the policy documents online for you to check/download

[DAN@ADRIAN FLUX]

Hi,

Feel free to give us a try. If you wanted to PM me your details I can arrange for our quotes team to get in touch?

Kind regards,

Dan.

[Cyker]

Don't Toyota Insurance have the policy documents online for you to check/download

Well, they do, but what it says is: "Driving a car which does not belong to you: Cover only applied if shown on the certificate of motor insurance. Cover is TPO."

Which isn't exactly helpful

Guess I'll find out for sure when the documents arrive!

Hi,

Feel free to give us a try. If you wanted to PM me your details I can arrange for our quotes team to get in touch?

Kind regards,

Dan.

Yeah, I did give you guys a call yesterday (Well, the Club Insurance number, which is still you guys I think??) but I was too late and only got through to a pleasant lass who was quite apologetic but gave me the opening times and offered to pass my number on. (Always a bit tricky at this time of year as I don't get off work in time, but also aren't comfortable with bringing my papers with me to get quotes over the phone while at work!).

[FROSTYBALLS]

Don't Toyota Insurance have the policy documents online for you to check/download

Well, they do, but what it says is: "Driving a car which does not belong to you: Cover only applied if shown on the certificate of motor insurance. Cover is TPO."

Which isn't exactly helpful

Guess I'll find out for sure when the documents arrive!

I presume then that if you request this cover, they will include it on the certificate of insurance and insurance schedule - rather than automatically provide it (not everyone will want it).

[Cyker]

Well on the phone the agent said it comes as standard (Which is what I'd expect for Comprehensive!). He didn't know why the website said it didn't come with it either; Very odd!

I suppose this is the disadvantage of website-generated quotes; They can suffer from right-hand-doesn't-know-what-left-hand-is-doing syndrome

[FROSTYBALLS]

... or the right click doesn't know what the left click is doing

[Cyker]

Anyway, got the cert in the post today; The entitlement to drive other cars under third party coverage is indeed there!

I guess that's that then!

I also got another keyring for my collection; Apparently key cover comes as standard!