You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
...how would you do it?
Got a car until September, after that I may keep it, or sell it, not sure yet. Most likely sell it.
Anyway, what's the best way to do insurance? Year-long policy, but pay monthly, and cancel when needed? I read that a lot of companies will refund you much less than hoped (ie maybe only 6 months instead of 8 months in my case), but if you're paying monthly, surely you just cancel the direct debit, and pay the cancellation fee?
Any thoughts on companies with decent cancellation policies would be great too.
I have another car with a policy from Admiral. I have seen I have the option to add a temporary car to the policy, but it seems more for if you want to drive someone else's car but they won't insure you. Anyone know a bit more about it? (I would ring them up but they're shut..)
Ta, Duane.
Theres two issues - one is a short term policy (potentially) the other is insuring one car when you already own/insure another.
With the first, short term policies tend to sting a bit - if you look at things like Day Insurance policies - the sort of policy you might use to drive a car home from an auction - they're about £25/day (equivalent to around £9k per year). A dedicated short term policy is going to cost more pro-rata than an annual one but google 'temporary car insurance' and see how the daily or monthly rate compares to the quotes you get for annual policies. Getting shafted a little on the cancelation might actually be comparatively good value. (and you may keep the car anyway and not have to cancel)
The other issue is no claims. You only accrue your NCD on one car, if you buy a second car then you may be at square one, having to earn a new NCD on that one from scratch. Some policies 'mirror' your NCD and give you money off though - but they stop doing that after a year, so the following year you only get your accrued 1 year NCD on the second car, not the mirrored full NCD on your main policy. I'm not sure whether thats what Admiral's multi car policies are about - discounting more than one policy for an individual or encouraging all the drivers in a household to group their policies with one provider.
Thanks a lot for the reply.
Yeah, I got a one day insurance policy today, £42 for 24 hours. Thinking that will be way too expensive over 4 months, so pretty sure we'll be getting a year and cancelling.
With regards to NCB, don't think it's too much of an issue as I will still be accrueing on my main car, and if we're selling this car soon it doesn't matter.
I'm still a little confused about insurance paying not refunding you enough if you pay monthly, can't you just cancel direct debit?
Ta, Duane.
You can but the deposit will be lost
You could take out an annual policy and cancel it every 2 weeks when you are in the cool off period. Could get tiresome though
I wasn't joking Duane, I'll have cash in Oct if you are around here and you come to sell it and it's in good condition etc! Defo want a little roadster!
Blend, I'm seeing some companies charge you something like £300 as a one off, and then £30 for 10 months. Would that £300 be considered a deposit?
Hadn't thought about the cool off period, if you cancel in first 14 days, I'm assuming you still have to pay for those days, pro rata?
Kev, will get in touch tomorrow 🙂
Ach yeah, you'd need to pay the amount you've used, plus the cancellation fee (looks to be around £40).
hah! is it that borked already! 😀 Got some cash coming in Oct and looking for a funky little car then. Probably end up with something sensible 😐
Bump for the morning crowd 🙂
I've cancelled policies with LV, both monthly and annually paid and they are great at refunding, just a £40 cancellation fee. If you are cancelling a monthly policy I would just try and get it in line with direct debit, IE cancel the day before next payment goes out.
Admiral group insurers are fine with temporary cars IME - I actually had two cars running with them for about 6 months when I transferred a policy to a new car but was a bit slack about selling the old one. Would ring up every couple of weeks for another extension, they'd charge about £25 each time for it (this was a few years ago though).
Monthly policies are nothing of the sort - it's an annual policy that you're taking out and financing over 12 months. It blows my mind how many people think that cancelling a DD is equivalent to ending a contract.
If your getting rid of the car and replacing it with another it's possible to transfer the policy to the new car, some will charge an admin fee some wont. If your not getting another car just cancel and get the refund for the balance - any cancelation fee. I've found that to work out cheaper than taking out a 6 month policy, always worth checking with a few insurers to see if they will just do a 4 month policy tho.
I've also added a car to my admiral insurance for 2 months before I sold it with no dramas and not a extortionate price. Just give them a ring when you can I found them pretty helpfull.
Run two quotes with the same insurer for the car and planned car. Then simply change vehicle on insurance policy mid-term. Circe 25quid plus subsequent premium change + or -
Thanks the replies.
Just clarify, I have a Focus which I've had for ages, and plan to keep for a while.
Yesterday I bought a MX5, which I plan to sell at the end of September.
MX5 is not a replacement, and it will not be replaced.
I seem to remember something like Summer Use insurance for the more sporty gent's open-topped car. The car being garaged through the colder wetter months. Long time ago though...
Somewhere like Honest John's site might help.
Anyway, what's the best way to do insurance? Year-long policy, but pay monthly, and cancel when needed? I read that a lot of companies will refund you much less than hoped (ie maybe only 6 months instead of 8 months in my case), but if you're paying monthly, surely you just cancel the direct debit, and pay the cancellation fee?
You're reading things a bit wrong there. You would have an annual policy, but pay for it monthly. Ie if you have a crash you still owe the full yearly amount regardless of when it happens. Cancel the direct debit and they'll just start chasing you.
Standard cancellation rate is usually around pro-rota minis one month, so not too bad a hit.