car insurance, on hold!

Jordan537

Hi All.

My car insurance is up for renewal on the 25/6 and unfortunately i don't have the funds to renew, the cheapest i can find is €1064 and i have around half that.
I am looking to park my car up and leaving it for the summer, and hoping to have saved up enough by the end of August to be able to renew my insurance.

My question is, will i lose my no.claims bonus by not renewing insurance straight away?

If not, is there any disadvantages that i will be faced with?

regards,

Jordan.

Anan1

No, you can allow your insurance to lapse for up to two years before losing your NCB.

bladespin

Check with your insurer but as far as I've heard you have two years before it expires.

galwayjohn89

Could you pay by direct debit monthly?

listermint

Em, why not pay it each month ? rather than lump sum..

artanevilla

Have you considered paying in installments?

lau1247

installment is good but will work out more expensive..

Just depends on whether you need the car more than save money in the long run really.

Jordan537

installment isn't really an option. I am a student and i don't have a regular monthly income.

Wheres My ForkandKnife

But you have half the insurance and hope to save the rest over the summer!You could take the instalment plan and pay it off early if you have it.I doubt the insurance co. would refuse you paying it off early.Ring them and ask.It will only cost the price of a phone call.

CiniO

Wheres My ForkandKnife wrote: »

But you have half the insurance and hope to save the rest over the summer!You could take the instalment plan and pay it off early if you have it.I doubt the insurance co. would refuse you paying it off early.Ring them and ask.It will only cost the price of a phone call.

Paying insurance in installments in my experience makes premium about 15 - 20% more expensive.

If OP is a student without regular income, why would he want to pay that much more?

lycan238

CiniO wrote: »

Paying insurance in installments in my experience makes premium about 15 - 20% more expensive.

I am not sure where the 15-20% figure comes from. I have been paying my insurance in installments for 6 years and only ever pay 7% at most 8% more. When I started paying insurance I was starting a PLC course so took installments as the easier 'student' option.

Wheres My ForkandKnife

CiniO wrote: »

Paying insurance in installments in my experience makes premium about 15 - 20% more expensive.

If OP is a student without regular income, why would he want to pay that much more?

!5-20% is way off.Any time I paid by instalment it was similar to a bank or credit union loan so around 8% sounds right.Paying for anything by instalment is more expensive:)

If you had half the price of 12 months car tax would you buy 3 or 6 months tax.Or would you keep the car off the road until you had saved the price of 12 months.

Actually, even if it was 20% I'd still pay it as it's the price to keep the car on the road.

_Kaiser_

lycan238 wrote: »

I am not sure where the 15-20% figure comes from. I have been paying my insurance in installments for 6 years and only ever pay 7% at most 8% more. When I started paying insurance I was starting a PLC course so took installments as the easier 'student' option.

+1 I pay my insurance monthly too.. difference is minimal over the year and it means I don't need a lump sum in the same month as the tax is up for renewal.

Ditto the tax, although there's a bigger difference here in paying it quarterly vs annually, it's a lot of money to have in one go.

I'd rather take the hit and spread it out over the year myself rather than struggling to come up with it all at once and being broke for 2/3 months thereafter.

oldyouth

OP, the only advice I'd give you would be based on the value of the vehicle and how secure you can lock it up while off the road. If you have a valuable car in an unsecured area, is it worth going without cover (fire/theft) rather than paying monthly with a 8% service charge?

alias no.9

After a ~15 month spell as a one car family, we're back to 2 cars again and I've revived my No Claims Bonus without any bother. I've done the same before with a 6 month(ish) gap.

Insurers have a condition that the NCB cert must have been issued within a specified timeframe (28 days for most I think), all this means is that if you've let it lapse for longer, the previous insurer must reissue the NCB certificate, just to make sure there weren't any delayed claims made in the interim. You have up to 2 years to resume insurance with your previous NCB.

Obro

Jordan537 wrote: »

Hi All.

My car insurance is up for renewal on the 25/6 and unfortunately i don't have the funds to renew, the cheapest i can find is €1064 and i have around half that.
I am looking to park my car up and leaving it for the summer, and hoping to have saved up enough by the end of August to be able to renew my insurance.

My question is, will i lose my no.claims bonus by not renewing insurance straight away?

If not, is there any disadvantages that i will be faced with?

regards,

Jordan.

Your NCB states in force for 2 years but you will have to fill out a "Gap in Cover " declaration before kick starting cover again so the insurance company know that you did'nt have any accidents or claims in the meantime, insured or not.

discombobulate

Obro wrote: »

Your NCB states in force for 2 years but you will have to fill out a "Gap in Cover " declaration before kick starting cover again so the insurance company know that you did'nt have any accidents or claims in the meantime, insured or not.

There are a couple of insurance companies that will take the NCB for up to 3 years.