Car Insurance Renewal

[Rhymes with Paris]

7 hours ago, Benzowner said:

On a semi serious note, unless you live in a dodgy area, when was the last time you saw a police car😂

A couple of years ago, there were 27 police cars/vans down here in a two week period that I counted, maybe more when I was out.

It was a bit of a rough patch.

Back on a semi serious note, someone is arrested down here every 5 days, he's about had enough of it now.

 

[Bernard Foy]

5 hours ago, Haliotis said:

I have never seriously considered a personalised number plate and my wife has always thought of one being a waste of money.  BUT, when I bought my current car, and my wife saw the last three digits “YUK”, her first comment was, “I think you need a personalised plate”.  I have dithered over it a bit, but getting more use to it as the weeks go by. 😟

Nothing amiss with YUK as long as it’s not a comment on your choice of car🤔🤣🤪

[Haliotis]

10 hours ago, Bernard Foy said:

Nothing amiss with YUK as long as it’s not a comment on your choice of car🤔🤣🤪

Well, after having the car for 8 months, it has collected one or two “YUKs”.  Comfortable ride and nice to drive.  Downsides are:  (1) Cabin storage space is rubbish. (2) First time I’ve had a cruise control lever which rotates with the steering wheel.  I know it isn’t used on twisting roads, but don’t like it.  (3) Rear windscreen view very restricted.  Fortunately, from my caravanning days, I habitually use the door mirrors.  (4) Don’t like the puncture gunge and inflator with no spare wheel arrangement.  Had mistakenly thought I could change boot tray for full sized spare, but can only go for a space-saver set up.

If I change car again (I am 88) it won’t be a C-HR.  There may be a Toyota model to suit me, otherwise I will probably revert back to Volkswagen - had VWs for over 20 years - Golf estate, two Tourans and a Caravelle.

[Bernard Foy]

Hi Albert, I dont drive a C-HR, however I do drive a Yaris. I have to agree re cabin storage is better in the older Yaris models. The view out the rear window in most cars nowadays is fairly restricted, but is assisted by a very good reversing camera. Cruise control is as you pointed out is used mostly on motorways. I wouldn't buy a car that didn't have a spare wheel of some kind, having said that it must be ten years since I last had a puncture. Offsetting the cons, the pros by far and away outweigh the cons, especially the MPG and the quiet comfortable drive.

[Haliotis]

Hi Bernard.  Don’t know why manufacturers ever stopped providing a proper spare wheel, or at least providing the appropriate space for one.  I changed my first VW Touran 7-seater for a 5-seater purely to have a full sized spare, which makes me wonder if I sleep-walked myself into buying the C-HR.  Nice car, but does have its downsides.

[Haliotis]

In discussing the pros and cons of EVs/hybrids compared to ICE cars, the recent info in the press that insurance premiums for electric vehicles (which I have taken to mean hybrids as well as fully electric EVs) have risen by some 29%, owing to difficulties in repairing plus high costs of certain components, I have been increasingly thinking about returning to a diesel powered car.  Has anyone else on the forum had similar thoughts?

The vehicle I have in mind is a VW Caddy Maxi Life - a kind of compromise between my late Caravelle and Tourans. The Caravelle was my favourite but, after giving up caravanning, it was not a sensible vehicle from the operating costs point of view.  The Caddy is a smaller MPV type of vehicle, with many of the Caravelle characteristics.  The only downside is that it is a 7-seater - my last Touran was a 5-seater with full sized spare, put on the production line to special order, but I think that choice has ended and never been available for the Caddy.

[Cyker]

If I could get my Mk1 D4D back I'd do it in a heartbeat, but it's just not workable now with London fully ULEZ'd and all major cities and even large towns looking to follow suit, and I'd never touch a diesel built past around 2008-ish when they all started getting DPF'd because their long term reliability is terrible compared to earlier diesels, which were practically indestructible!

I would miss the massively improved chassis and handling in the Mk4 tho'! (This car is so fun to drive!   )

[Bper]

7 hours ago, Haliotis said:

In discussing the pros and cons of EVs/hybrids compared to ICE cars, the recent info in the press that insurance premiums for electric vehicles (which I have taken to mean hybrids as well as fully electric EVs) have risen by some 29%, owing to difficulties in repairing plus high costs of certain components, I have been increasingly thinking about returning to a diesel powered car.  Has anyone else on the forum had similar thoughts?

The vehicle I have in mind is a VW Caddy Maxi Life - a kind of compromise between my late Caravelle and Tourans. The Caravelle was my favourite but, after giving up caravanning, it was not a sensible vehicle from the operating costs point of view.  The Caddy is a smaller MPV type of vehicle, with many of the Caravelle characteristics.  The only downside is that it is a 7-seater - my last Touran was a 5-seater with full sized spare, put on the production line to special order, but I think that choice has ended and never been available for the Caddy.

Well the continued rise in insurance costs is certainly not helping to encourage buyers of EVs. The lack of infrastructure charging points and range anxiety along with the cost to buy these will no doubt lead many to reconsider their purchase and look for alternatives.

[Haliotis]

Hi Cyker. Regarding your dislike of DPF’s in diesel engines, I am only aware of a problem if they are not periodically given a “good blowout” on a motorway, or similar, occasionally.  My last three VW diesels had DPF’s and never gave any trouble.  In the case of my 2009 VW Touran, I kept this for just over 9 years and it never once had any DPF problems. In actual fact, in its 55,000 miles during my owning it, it was dealership serviced annually and never had a single component failure - the only replacements being tyres, and timing belt and water pump in accordance with service specifications.  The water pump never failed - it was changed at same time as timing belt, because that was the time when the pump was exposed to access, and to change it then was economically advantageous (minimum labour cost).

[Cyker]

Yeah that's why I tell people only get them if you're doing mega miles or at least hitting fast roads regularly.

There are a few anomolies like the guy on here with a diesel Avensis which is bucking the trend (Thankfully!) , but for sure in places like here where the average speed is 2mph it would ruin a small DPF-equipped car fairly quickly.

It seems like it might not be so bad with big heavy SUVs, as they need so much energy to move off that repeated stop-starts heat the engine up pretty quick, but they waste almost as much energy as a petrol engine anyway.

Just pulling a figure out of my proverbial, I'd guess that any diesel that can easily do 60mpg or better with a DPF will kill itself driving near-exclusively in places like this!

I don't know what the current state of play in diesel land is now tho' - I have seen new cars that don't need AdBlue so there must still be some tricks they've figured out, and Mazda were quite the pioneer at low-compression diesels which, paradoxically, made them cleaner and more efficient somehow, and if they'd ever gotten the ducted injection idea into production that would have made it nearly as soot-less as petrol!

[Kabir9]

That sounds like a frustrating situation! It's reassuring that your insurers confirmed your coverage, but it's understandable to be concerned about not showing up as insured on the database. As for the certificate, if you have it accessible on your iPhone, it should suffice if you're ever stopped by the police. However, to ease your mind, you might want to reach out to your insurers again for clarification.