Comprehensive to Third Party

GTE

Hi all,

I was wondering is there a point at which having fully comp insurance doesn't make sense.

My car would be worth around 1000, I'd say. I have been fully comp since I got the car, in 2009.

Would it be worth my while switching to third party? I was told that it would be, as the car is worth so little that I would not benefit from fully comp; but are there any other benefits?

It is something I never really thought about!.

Thanks

mickdw

bbk wrote: »

Hi all,

I was wondering is there a point at which having fully comp insurance doesn't make sense.

My car would be worth around 1000, I'd say. I have been fully comp since I got the car, in 2009.

Would it be worth my while switching to third party? I was told that it would be, as the car is worth so little that I would not benefit from fully comp; but are there any other benefits?

It is something I never really thought about!.

Thanks

The cost difference is generally tiny so it's nearly always worth having comprehensive.
If dropping down meant losing winscreen cover, it's worth keeping for than alone.

Pedro K

At that value I'd say go TPFT. Just make sure you keep the additional benefits, such as windscreen, breakdown, and driving other cars.

My TPFT policy has all of these included. My own car is worth very little money.

debabyjesus

Are you going to claim off your insurance company for your €1k car if you crash it into a wall? Or if it's stolen? Or if it goes on fire? If your answer is no then just get plain old third party it should be cheaper even if you keep windscreen cover or some other add-ons.

cplwhisper

Fire and theft cost normally have no excess nor loss of no claim bonus this is some ejjit causes either damage then why should you foot the bill.. That be like getting robbed twice. Cost amout per year is minimal if older/low replacement vehicle.
In relation to comprehensive cover or the 'own damage' part of your cover- simple ask yourself 'can you afford to fork out €1000 to replace the car you own in the of-chance you crash and no third party done the damage.

If you've been driving 5+ yrs most policy holders will have upgraded to protect their hard earned jo claim bonus thus one bad day doesn't ended in loss of bonus.
Some very long car customers 15+ yrs with FBD or Axa that have been rewarded lifetime-protection thus any amount of claims under the 'comprehensive title' have no loss.

Some comprehensive policies give comprehensive driving other car extension thus if you pay small fee on your old car but borrow friends more valuable car occasionally then you keep peace of mind that if you have 'bad day' then Insirance foot the bill not your pocket.

Seth Brundle

debabyjesus wrote: »

then just get plain old third party it should be cheaper even if you keep windscreen cover or some other add-ons.

I can recall asking for TPFT quotes before (not that I'd go for that level of cover) and found in some cases for it to be more expensive than fully comp!

Seth Brundle

cplwhisper wrote: »

If you've been driving 5+ yrs most policy holders will have upgraded to protect their hard earned jo claim bonus thus one bad day doesn't ended in loss of bonus.
Some very long car customers 15+ yrs with FBD or Axa that have been rewarded lifetime-protection thus any amount of claims under the 'comprehensive title' have no loss.

No claims bonus protection from one company means nothing to a second company. The idea is to encourage you to stay with the company that gave it to you (who in all likelihood will increase your premium anyhow).
Don't renew insurance. Shop around and get a new policy every year!

johndaman66

kbannon wrote: »

No claims bonus protection from one company means nothing to a second company. The idea is to encourage you to stay with the company that gave it to you (who in all likelihood will increase your premium anyhow).
Don't renew insurance. Shop around and get a new policy every year!

Good points. If you have a protected ncb and have an accident it will in effect only be protected or partially protected (step back) with the provider you are with. Shop around next renewal time and you will find your starting off again with having had a fault accident etc to boot. Only mentioning this as it would seem to me that a lot of people dont realise it to be the case.

debabyjesus wrote: »

Are you going to claim off your insurance company for your €1k car if you crash it into a wall? Or if it's stolen? Or if it goes on fire? If your answer is no then just get plain old third party it should be cheaper even if you keep windscreen cover or some other add-ons.

I know third party only cover is the minimum required but in reality I don't think third party only cover actually exists any more. I make a habit of ringing all the major insurance companies and quite a few brokers each renewal time and it would seem to me that TPF&T is the minimum cover out there in reality. Main point being don't get too fixated on getting a third party only quote when the likelyhood when you will most likely get a TPF&T quote much cheaper by shopping around.


Also worth mentioning that its very much worth shopping around. My lowest quote was circa €340 as I recall last year while highest was over €1,200 (from a company I was with before and were then the cheapest for me with no notable change in circumstances).


Also I find one rule does not follow through from one provider to the next. Irrespsctive of the value of the car one may be only a few quid extra for comprehensive cover and that may/ may not include windscreen cover where claiming for a new windscreen does not affect your ncb....so going comprehensive cover on a low value car may be worth it for this reason alone. Others may have the window cover included in the TPF&T, others may provide it as an option add on etc etc. More times the comprehensive cover may be hundreds extra etc so not worth it.


So I would advise to ring as many providers as possible, get a quote for both TPF&T and comprehensive etc and ask for a breakdown of whats covered in each etc. Then go with the best cover and price balance thats right for you

debabyjesus

kbannon wrote: »

I can recall asking for TPFT quotes before (not that I'd go for that level of cover) and found in some cases for it to be more expensive than fully comp!

Myself and the missus both have third party only. With windscreen cover and third party driving of other cars. I seem to attract cracked screens so I keep the windscreen cover. In both cases they were the cheapest quotes we could get. Only slightly cheaper than tpft and roughly 20% cheaper than fully comp in both cases. Your right though, with some insurers fully comp was cheaper than tpft but still way more expensive than the cheapest third party only quotes we got.

We would never deal with an insurance company unless a third party was seeking damages off us so why pay for it, windscreens aside, but I pay extra for that. Even if the policy is only a small bit cheaper third party only then it's a saving in my opinion. Obviously we drive cars that if you leave it in a ditch you can get out and laugh.

rex-x

I always find comprehensive to be cheaper than third party oddly enough!

Seth Brundle

rex-x wrote: »

I always find comprehensive to be cheaper than third party oddly enough!

What I was told in the past was that someone who has to get Third Party only is likely to be a bit short on cash and is therefore likely to try to save on car maintenance.
There's logic in that I guess.

debabyjesus

kbannon wrote: »

What I was told in the past was that someone who has to get Third Party only is likely to be a bit short on cash and is therefore likely to try to save on car maintenance.
There's logic in that I guess.

Logic? Pure scutter more like. I consider it logical to pay an insurance company as little as possible for the level of cover you want. You should disregard everything that person told you as it's likely all scutter.

Jesus.

cplwhisper wrote: »

ask yourself 'can you afford to fork out €1000 to replace the car you own in the of-chance you crash and no third party done the damage.

Could you afford not to?

It'd be madness to claim in any event would it not?

Seth Brundle

debabyjesus wrote: »

Logic? Pure scutter more like. I consider it logical to pay an insurance company as little as possible for the level of cover you want. You should disregard everything that person told you as it's likely all scutter.

Yes, I'll believe a random person on the Internet who says "scutter" as opposed to a qualified actuary.
Thanks for setting me straight!

Bongalongherb

there is thirty-odd car insurance companies out there in Ireland, if folk have the time go through them all. Yes you will almost have a nervous breakdown after reaching the 6th, but keep going as it can save you a few hundred Euro. Just do them online and never give up.

The most important thing to do if you are about to input your phone number is this.... Turn your phone off before hand, otherwise when you input your phone number they will call you. Yes they can see by the second you input that home or mobile number.

All phones off, and spend a few hours looking for the best quote you can find without interference from an insurance company calling you while you are trying to concentrate.

Graces7

Bongalongherb wrote: »

there is thirty-odd car insurance companies out there in Ireland, if folk have the time go through them all. Yes you will almost have a nervous breakdown after reaching the 6th, but keep going as it can save you a few hundred Euro. Just do them online and never give up.

The most important thing to do if you are about to input your phone number is this.... Turn your phone off before hand, otherwise when you input your phone number they will call you. Yes they can see by the second you input that home or mobile number.

All phones off, and spend a few hours looking for the best quote you can find without interference from an insurance company calling you while you are trying to concentrate.

I do not have a phone to call on so I either type a row of 000000 or invent a number; at present getting no quotes but a request to call them sometimes. Maybe they have realised what I have done but they need to add a place I can explain.

debabyjesus

kbannon wrote: »

Yes, I'll believe a random person on the Internet who says "scutter" as opposed to a qualified actuary.
Thanks for setting me straight!

A qualified actuary talking scutter?? Well I never...

seamus

kbannon wrote: »

No claims bonus protection from one company means nothing to a second company. The idea is to encourage you to stay with the company that gave it to you (who in all likelihood will increase your premium anyhow).

johndaman66 wrote: »

Good points. If you have a protected ncb and have an accident it will in effect only be protected or partially protected (step back) with the provider you are with. Shop around next renewal time and you will find your starting off again with having had a fault accident etc to boot. Only mentioning this as it would seem to me that a lot of people dont realise it to be the case.

I'm not sure this is strictly the case. I made a claim with Liberty while I had NCB protection. At the next renewal they issued an NCB statement showing I had a full five years' NCB. But the premium was pretty big.

Rang AXA, who quoted me a premium that was 40% lower. I explained that I'd made a claim and they were fine about it, they explained that they could only do step-back protection, not full protection because of this. But they honoured the full NCB.

I don't know if this is something they have to do or are just willing to do.

Oddly when I rang Aviva I was told they weren't legally allowed to quote me for 3 years, I had to stay with Liberty and issued a letter of refusal. I mentioned to this to AXA who were utterly confused and said there was no such rule.

curiosity

Any online quote I've gotten over the last few years has only offered comp or TPFT. The difference between the two is usually small enough for me to stick with comp, despite the low value of my car. If third party was easy to find, and a decent saving, I'd have it. Insuring my car against theft, fire or my-fault damage isn't worth it, especially as a claim would end up hurting me at renewal.

Bongalongherb wrote: »

there is thirty-odd car insurance companies out there in Ireland, if folk have the time go through them all. Yes you will almost have a nervous breakdown after reaching the 6th, but keep going as it can save you a few hundred Euro. Just do them online and never give up.

The most important thing to do if you are about to input your phone number is this.... Turn your phone off before hand, otherwise when you input your phone number they will call you. Yes they can see by the second you input that home or mobile number.

Not sure about thirty, but I did try over a dozen for my last renewal. Chill were the only ones to ring. And yes, it can be tedious, inputting your details into site after site.

Bongalongherb

Well we all have to work online or on the phone for a few days to find the quote that is acceptable to us individually. It takes a lot of work and mental power, but in the end after it all a person should save themselves a ton or two. Been there, it's unkindly but necessary.

I'd be interested to know what quotes folk are getting at this time from ARB LLoyds Underwriters at this time if any-one has just insured themselves with this company ?.

debabyjesus

curiosity wrote: »

Any online quote I've gotten over the last few years has only offered comp or TPFT. The difference between the two is usually small enough for me to stick with comp, despite the low value of my car. If third party was easy to find, and a decent saving, I'd have it. Insuring my car against theft, fire or my-fault damage isn't worth it, especially as a claim would end up hurting me at renewal.



Not sure about thirty, but I did try over a dozen for my last renewal. Chill were the only ones to ring. And yes, it can be tedious, inputting your details into site after site.

You have to ask for third party only in my experience. Get a quote for tpft online then ring up and see will they reduce for tp only. Our two cars are worth about 6k and 2k. I wouldn't dream of making a personal claim on cars worth that much, as you say you'd only pay it back in increased premiums and hassle. On my policy it reduced by €60 going tp over tpft. That's €60 that I can put towards maintenance of the cars

curiosity

debabyjesus wrote: »

You have to ask for third party only in my experience. Get a quote for tpft online then ring up and see will they reduce for tp only. Our two cars are worth about 6k and 2k. I wouldn't dream of making a personal claim on cars worth that much, as you say you'd only pay it back in increased premiums and hassle. On my policy it reduced by €60 going tp over tpft. That's €60 that I can put towards maintenance of the cars

Over 10 months to my renewal, but worth considering. I might need a bit more that €60 to tip the balance towards TP only:)

Seth Brundle

seamus wrote: »

I'm not sure this is strictly the case. I made a claim with Liberty while I had NCB protection. At the next renewal they issued an NCB statement showing I had a full five years' NCB. But the premium was pretty big.
<snip>

Not sure there as it sounds like an unusual scenario. In most cases, the confirmation of a claim (regardless of fault) can trigger alarm bells.

johndaman66

seamus wrote: »

I'm not sure this is strictly the case. I made a claim with Liberty while I had NCB protection. At the next renewal they issued an NCB statement showing I had a full five years' NCB. But the premium was pretty big.

Rang AXA, who quoted me a premium that was 40% lower. I explained that I'd made a claim and they were fine about it, they explained that they could only do step-back protection, not full protection because of this. But they honoured the full NCB.

I don't know if this is something they have to do or are just willing to do.

What was the nature of the claim Seamus? If it was a claim for fire; theft for example then many companies wont hold this against you. Same goes for a flooded car or if your car was parked on the side of the road and wrote off by a passing truck that was never to be tracked down. On the other hand if it was a road traffic accident that was a result of your negligence then that would be a different matter...should have mentioned that in my original post.

seamus wrote: »

Oddly when I rang Aviva I was told they weren't legally allowed to quote me for 3 years, I had to stay with Liberty and issued a letter of refusal. I mentioned to this to AXA who were utterly confused and said there was no such rule.

This sounds very odd indeed and have never heard of this before. Are you sure they did not say legally obliged as opposed to legally allowed? Where the 3 years is coming from I have no idea...

seamus

johndaman66 wrote: »

What was the nature of the claim Seamus? If it was a claim for fire; theft for example then many companies wont hold this against you. Same goes for a flooded car or if your car was parked on the side of the road and wrote off by a passing truck that was never to be tracked down. On the other hand if it was a road traffic accident that was a result of your negligence then that would be a different matter...should have mentioned that in my original post.

Ah right so. It was complicated but ultimately was a damages claim for damage to my own car that I claimed off my policy. So probably falls under the same heading as any "no-fault" claim, like a flood.