Insurance question re: I've bought my replacement car before I've sold current one

golfman

Hi guys,

I've just pulled the trigger and bought myself a new 2nd hand car. My current car is up sale but hasn't sold yet.

What's the best way to handle insurance at this point?

Insurance company has told me just to switch over the insurance and leave the 2nd car uninsured on the drive? Its worth close to €15k so that isn't an option.

They say I can't use my no claims on 2 cars - fine. I can't put it in my wife's name as she has her own car. I tried to get a claim on the new car and they said they couldn't quote me on a 5 litre car with no no claims! (I'm 32 yrs old and have full no claims btw)

Any ideas?

MugMugs

golfman wrote: »

I tried to get a claim on the new car and they said they couldn't quote me on a 5 litre car with no no claims!

What does this mean?


Have you tried to transfer your insurance onto your new car and take out a separate policy for TPFT on the older vehicle? You can only use your NCB once but I am sure it's worth the expense given the risk.

golfman

Strangely enough the insurance on the new car is less than the old one.

i also have 2 months of tax left on my old car and none on the new car so if any car was going to be sat idle it makes sense its the new car, apart from my paranoia that someone will crash into me the day before I am about to sell it!

I asked for a new car quote on the new car and they couldn't quote me due to engine size and them not giving me no claims discount

djimi

Find the cheapest TPFT policy that you can, pay monthly by direct debit and cancel when the car gets sold. Theres no other way around it really.

Some insurers will let you mirror your NCB onto a second policy, but afaik you have to have both policies with them.

CiniO

djimi wrote: »

Find the cheapest TPFT policy that you can, pay monthly by direct debit and cancel when the car gets sold. Theres no other way around it really.

There is.

He can do as you say (buy another policy without any NCB as he will keep those for his new car).
Then even the same day as he purchases this policy, he can suspend it keeping fire and theft cover only. With such setup he will be liable for only about 15% - 25% of the premium.

Obviously he will have to pay for the whole policy (either in one go or in instalments), but once car is sold, he can cancel the policy, and get a refund of around 75% - 85% of the premium for period policy was suspended.

ABajaninCork

Can you not just add the second car on your existing policy? I did that with mine, and it cost very little more.

djimi

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Can you not just add the second car on your existing policy? I did that with mine, and it cost very little more.

No, a policy belongs to the car; you cant add a second car to a policy. Best you can do is take out a second policy with the same insurer and hope that they honor the NCB on both.

djimi

CiniO wrote: »

There is.

He can do as you say (buy another policy without any NCB as he will keep those for his new car).
Then even the same day as he purchases this policy, he can suspend it keeping fire and theft cover only. With such setup he will be liable for only about 15% - 25% of the premium.

Obviously he will have to pay for the whole policy (either in one go or in instalments), but once car is sold, he can cancel the policy, and get a refund of around 75% - 85% of the premium for period policy was suspended.

Fair enough; didnt think of this. I dont think Ive ever actually seen anyone go with such an arrangement; I didnt even realise that insurers over here would over F&T only on any policy, suspended or otherwise.

subway

if you cant add a second car, insure the other one with a company that allows you to suspend the policy
e.g axa

5 If you choose not to or cannot drive your car
If your car is laid up and out of use, you can suspend your cover by returning
your certificate and disc of motor insurance.
We will suspend all cover when we receive the certificate and disc of insurance,
except for loss of damage caused by fire and theft, or attempted theft, if we
cover fire and theft under the policy.
You are entitled to a refund of 75% of the premium for the period we suspend
the policy (80% if cover is third party only) as long as:
¡ you have not made a claim since last renewal and there is no claim
registered or pending on your policy;
¡ your car is not laid up as a result of a claim;
¡ the policy is suspended for more than 28 days;
¡ the policy is not issued or renewed for less than 12 months; and
¡ you do not make a claim during the period of suspension.
You must pay all premiums due during a period of suspension by the due date
including any instalment payments.

http://www.axa.ie/download/axa-car-insurance-policy-post-130613.pdf

ABajaninCork

djimi wrote: »

No, a policy belongs to the car; you cant add a second car to a policy. Best you can do is take out a second policy with the same insurer and hope that they honor the NCB on both.

Do you not have multi-car policies here then?

djimi

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Do you not have multi-car policies here then?

Not that I'm aware of. Best you can hope is a discount for a second car in the household and mirrored NCB.

MugMugs

ABajaninCork wrote: »

Do you not have multi-car policies here then?

Some Insurers do. It's a job best served by a specialist, that being a broker.

ABajaninCork

I'd try Liberty. I know I was still able to insure my old car (albeit TPFT) which was parked outside my home and carried fully comp as usual on the new car. It was Quinn at the time I did it.

golfman

Cheers guys. The plot thickens even more.... or at least my confusion of the situation does.

Just for context:
I'm 32 yrs old
Full No Claims
No points or convictions
Wife is exactly the same.

Current car: Merc SL350
New car : Merc CLS500
Wife's car: 1.6 Golf

123.ie will change my policy over from the SL to the CLS and refund me €240
They will not allow me to insure the SL as a 2nd car - too risky with someone with no no claims (my no claims will be used on the CLS).
They will not allow me to insure the CLS as a 2nd car - same reasons above.

Wife tried to swap over her policy to the SL. They don't insure that car! Insured with some ladies only insurer.
Wife tried to insure the CLS. They won't insure that car either!!!!

Am I going mad? These cars aren't boy racer cars. I can't see what the issue is..... This is taking all the fun out of new car buying day!!!! :mad:

I'll try Liberty.

MugMugs

Propose to them that she is covered fire and theft only and will be left immobilised on a driveway.

(if she's on a driveway immobilised anyway can't see why you'd need her insured) What's the odds of somebody coming along and lighting her up for the craic?

djimi

MugMugs wrote: »

What's the odds of somebody coming along and lighting her up for the craic?

Wouldnt be the first time that Ive heard of someone trashing/torching a car that they couldnt steal.

marcus2000

You can probably get reasonable cover with XS Direct. Your profile seems pretty standard, even without your bonus (they will accept 'previous insurance' ), and with a reduced excess of 1000 (if you wanted to be conservative), you probably wont pay too much for the cover. The primary risk for you is theft, and so the risk of having to repay the excess is minimal. (They provide monthly finance too, so cancellations are straight forward)

MrDerp

Broker broker broker. Your problem is that you are dealing with people who are dealing with narrowly defined rules engines with respect to Premium proposals. There are two incompatible (in your case) rules applying here:
1. No use of NCB on a second vehicle
2. No quotes on vehicle over XXXXcc with no NCB

It doesn't matter that it's common sense that you're not as risky as a genuine no-NCB driver. It doesn't matter that only the 'no discount on second premium' should apply. You are not dealing with someone with the authority to come up with a solution to underwrite your overall risk.

I had a problem before getting house contents insurance to include MrsDerp's engagement ring, because we are renters. The contents cover must not exceed X% of the building cover, but we are renters so there's no building cover. The system was in limbo because they wouldn't cover all risks on the ring without building cover. I tried every insurer and got similar results.

The computer systems that handle and price these risks don't handle unusual situations, because there is no value in automating unusual situations, and the system would probably pull a number out of it's ass for the risk anyway. An actuary has to price your risk the old fashioned way

Went to a good broker (I'm happy to recommend them, arachas - others were useless but I won't name them) and they got us insured with one of the companies that refused to quote us directly.

You have a broker problem. Ring brokers. Be prepared to cancel your insurance with 123.ie on the other car(s)

golfman

Forgot all about XS Direct - perfect!

If that fails I'll be onto the broker. Cheers guys!

golfman

Thanks guys,
Got a quote from XS Direct - €684 or €130 up front and €60 a month.
Spoke with Arachas - unfortunately the only people who could quote me were XS Direct. And they quoted €860 :eek::eek:

I guess they have to make their money somewhere!

XS Direct all the way!

MugMugs

What's the excess?

golfman

€3k - but I don't care - it won't really be getting driven until I sell my other motor or when the tax on the other one runs out at the end of September, whichever is sooner.

While I'm on - I might as well link the for sale link just in case! Need to take better pics before anyone points that out!

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/2004-mercedes-sl350/5469198

subway

should be around 4k?
fairly risky to go with them for a damage claim or stolen/recovery etc
most would only use the for TPO

edit, i see its 3k, same applies

golfman

subway wrote: »

should be around 4k?
fairly risky to go with them for a damage claim or stolen/recovery etc
most would only use the for TPO

edit, i see its 3k, same applies

As I said, it won't be getting driven until the other is sold. As soon as the other is sold I'll swap the policy over.

I'd rather have that cover than what the helpful Muppet in 123.ie said. "Just don't insure it and block it in your drive"

MugMugs

golfman wrote: »

As I said, it won't be getting driven until the other is sold. As soon as the other is sold I'll swap the policy over.

I'd rather have that cover than what the helpful Muppet in 123.ie said. "Just don't insure it and block it in your drive"

Still a relatively expensive risk.

Suppose it's better than nothing.

Hope the sale goes well OP and you shift that motor.

djimi

golfman wrote: »

As I said, it won't be getting driven until the other is sold. As soon as the other is sold I'll swap the policy over.

I'd rather have that cover than what the helpful Muppet in 123.ie said. "Just don't insure it and block it in your drive"

The excess for XSDirect applies to any claim, so even if the car is stolen you still have to pay the first €3000 of the claim. I dont think this is the same for every company, so you may need to weigh up that risk. An XSDirect policy is little more than a piece of paper to make you road legal; I would only ever consider them for a car that was cheap enough that I could afford to walk away from it.

Personally I'd just leave the older car parked up uninsured. Done it myself for months before. I certainly wouldn't be spending money insuring a car I wasn't using.

The chances of it actually being stolen are so small it wouldn't bother me but if you are worried just take the battery out and hide the keys somewhere impossible to find. Good luck to anyone stealing it then.

djimi

Daisy Uninterested Reggae wrote: »

Personally I'd just leave the older car parked up uninsured. Done it myself for months before. I certainly wouldn't be spending money insuring a car I wasn't using.

The chances of it actually being stolen are so small it wouldn't bother me but if you are worried just take the battery out and hide the keys somewhere impossible to find. Good luck to anyone stealing it then.

In fairness its not a €500 banger we are talking about; I certainly wouldnt leave that car parked up uninsured unless its securely locked in a garage or the like. If someone wants it badly enough then they will find a way to take it, and if they cant take it then they may well cause significant damage in trying.