Price of car insurance gone crazy

meath12

I am a 20 year old girl with a provisional licence and ive recently bought a car and have been trying to insure it but have been quoted ridiculous prices between €7,000 and €4,000. i am a full time student and would not be able to afford this, how can Insurance companies actually charge this much and is there any insurance company out there who will insure a young driver for cheaper? Im losing hope at this stage and may have to sell my car if I cannot get cheaper insurance.

Sleeper12

You need to keep shopping around. Brokers only deal with a few insurance companies. They don't deal with all companies so you need to try all companies yourself.

Kristopherus

Did you do any research at all before you bought the car?

Sam Kade

First of all you need to do your driving test and it will come down a fair bit . Also what you have is a learners permit which allows you to drive while accompanied by a full licence driver. Provisional licences are a thing of the past.

the_syco

meath12 wrote: »

ive recently bought a car

What's the make and model of the car, and have you tried any insurance company that advertises to mainly women?

Jayop

1) What car did you buy?
2) After your first year it'll probably go down by about 50%
3) Get a quote from every single insurance company.
4) Do your test ASAP!!
5) Yeah Insurance is a mad rip off when you're starting out.

meath12

The car I bought is a 2004 Mitsubishi lancer 1.3 litre. I tried just for women and boxymo which I heard were cheap and neither would give me a quote. Chill insurance said the cheapest il get is €4,000.

Jayop

I'm no expert, but if you have a few of them refusing to give you a quote then I think you can go to some insurance board which will mediate and force them to do so. The engine is small, but the Lancer could we'll be seen as a higher risk car if they're favoured by boy racer types. Not saying that's the case but it could be.

Try getting the reg of something like a Micra from donedeal and get a quote from some of them with that to see if it's the car that's the problem.

corglass

Kristopherus wrote: »

Did you do any research at all before you bought the car?

Hello there Captain Hindsight!

Alanstrainor

corglass wrote: »

Hello there Captain Hindsight!

But it's true. Buying a car blind with no idea of the insurance cost is mad. Insurance is ridiculous, and getting expensive, but you must do all your research before buying.

OP call every insurer on this list:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057619504

Create a spreadsheet like this:


Insurance Co Cover Windscreen Price reason
Axa TPFT Y 935.17
AnPost TPFT Y 791.5
AIG TPFT Y 782.34
First Ireland TPFT 1150
Chill TPFT 2350
FBD NO QUOTE NO QUOTE
AA TPFT 1138
Allianz SITE BROKEN
Aviva NO QUOTE NO QUOTE Car too old
Britton TPFT 1417
SuperValu TPFT Y 791
Zurich NO QUOTE
Sheridan Insurances TPFT N 1386
Liberty NO QUOTE
Ulster Bank NO QUOTE
Top Quote TPFT 1349
[/QUOTE]

And find the cheapest quote. The above are my quotes this year. You may want to include what is covered for the insurance, and the excess.

Special Circumstances

Same car is coming in at 3400 (paying monthly with windscreen protection) for a 40 year old engineer with best possible driving record with Liberty.
Be interesting to know what insurance group it comes under - never sold in the UK with that engine so can't compare.
Worth doing the experiment above with a different car.


edit ooooooh, nice - 3900 with NCB protection. Perhaps these cars are notoriously structurally brittle or something?

selectamatic

Tbf when you mention you have a mitsubishi lancer to insurance companies they assume you're driving something Tommi Mäkinen put together in his spare time

Special Circumstances

selectamatic wrote: »

Tbf when you mention you have a mitsubishi lancer to insurance companies they assume you're driving something Tommi Mäkinen put together in his spare time

In about 10 years time insurers will realise 90% of modded cars are now golf/passat/bora/A4.

selectamatic

Special Circumstances wrote: »

In about 10 years time insurers will realise 90% of modded cars are now golf/passat/bora/A4.

Ah they've sorta caught onto that as well.
When ya mention gt tdi you're now met with a sharp intake of breath

OP as above get the test done and look for insurance then.

Special Circumstances

selectamatic wrote: »

Ah they've sorta caught onto that as well.
When ya mention gt tdi you're now met with a sharp intake of breath

OP as above get the test done and look for insurance then.

Yeah but loading a 1.3 lancer is the equivalent of them having a fit of horror at an SDI...

selectamatic

tbh they're not gone on sdi's either as "they have a large engine"

Jayop

Anything over a 1.2 is probably deemed a large engine for someone so young and inexperienced.

Sleeper12

Jayop wrote:

Anything over a 1.2 is probably deemed a large engine for someone so young and inexperienced.

Agreed. I'd be thinking something like a daewoo matiz . 8 litre would be something someone looking for cheaper insurance with no experience. You can always get a bigger engine as your insurance comes down

Mycroft H

It's it age more than anything at this point I'd say.

the_syco

meath12 wrote: »

The car I bought is a 2004 Mitsubishi lancer 1.3 litre. I tried just for women and boxymo which I heard were cheap and neither would give me a quote. Chill insurance said the cheapest il get is €4,000.

How much excess (I usually do €300) did you give when asking for a quote? There are some cars that you don't get when your a provisional, and that sounds like one of them. I bet you got a "good deal" on it, as the previous person was probably getting shafted by his insurance company.

Liam McPoyle

Mycroft H wrote: »

It's it age more than anything at this point I'd say.

There are too many pieces of the puzzle missing to make an informed judgement tbh.

First things are age of driver, licence type and lack of experience, everyone in the same bracket as the op has difficulty getting quotes.

Companies like boxymo specialise in first time drivers so when they are declining its reasonable to assume that there is something outside of what's been posted that is causing an issue.

Special Circumstances

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Agreed. I'd be thinking something like a daewoo matiz . 8 litre would be something someone looking for cheaper insurance with no experience. You can always get a bigger engine as your insurance comes down

They'll (rightly in this case tbf) rate a matiz as being dangerous because of the injuries any potential passengers would face in a hypothetical crash.

Basically you want a lump of a car but with zero power. Like a golf sdi or a carisma 1.3. Oh wait no. An enormous car with a tiny engine that can only carry 2 passengers. Except coupes are out really. Too sporty.

Donkey and cart maybe?

Jayop

Since when did insurance companies stop allowing you to get a quote more than 30 days in advance? Mine expires on Nov 5th but my current company are stopping offering directly to end clients.

Liam McPoyle

Jayop wrote: »

Since when did insurance companies stop allowing you to get a quote more than 30 days in advance? Mine expires on Nov 5th but my current company are stopping offering directly to end clients.

AFAIK no insurer will allow you to buy a policy more than 30 days in advance of your renewal date. Its been like that for as long as Ive worked in the industry anyway.

Just amend the inception date, there probably wont be any variance in the prices with a few days in the difference.

Jayop

Saul T Nutzz wrote: »

AFAIK no insurer will allow you to buy a policy more than 30 days in advance of your renewal date. Its been like that for as long as Ive worked in the industry anyway.

Just amend the inception date, there probably wont be any variance in the prices with a few days in the difference.

Ah I'll just wait 2 days and do all my quotes now. I'm pretty annoyed R&SA pulled that product as they were a pleasure to deal with. I think they're solely working though brokers now.

meath12

I tried using a Nissan micra on boxymo instead to see would they quote me and they gave me a quote of €3,200 so the problem must have been the Mitsubishi lancer why they wouldn't quote me first, it's still very expensive though.

Jayop

meath12 wrote: »

I tried using a Nissan micra on boxymo instead to see would they quote me and they gave me a quote of €3,200 so the problem must have been the Mitsubishi lancer why they wouldn't quote me first, it's still very expensive though.

My first policy was 3rd Party F&T 12 years ago on a 1.2 Punto with a full licence and I paid €2400 so I don't think you'll get it much better. I was older than you are now then too.

Barry Badrinath

meath12 wrote: »

I tried using a Nissan micra on boxymo instead to see would they quote me and they gave me a quote of €3,200 so the problem must have been the Mitsubishi lancer why they wouldn't quote me first, it's still very expensive though.

Insurance always has been.

In 2001 I bought my first car, I was 20 and I bought a 1990 Nissan Micra. It was a 1L and I was on my first provisional licence.

Insurance cost me £3,200....that was in Punts.

It's not unique to you, most of us have faced (and continue to) high quotes.

Liam McPoyle

Senor Fancy Pants wrote: »

Insurance always has been.

In 2001 I bought my first car, I was 20 and I bought a 1990 Nissan Micra. It was a 1L and I was on my first provisional licence.

Insurance cost me £3,200....that was in Punts.

It's not unique to you, most of us have faced (and continue to) high quotes.

That's what I can't wrap my head around.

To hear people go on about the increases one would swear that insurance has always been cheap as chips.

The reality is that many people were paying too little over the last 5 or 6 years which is why there has been such a noticeable increase over the last 12 months.

I've said it before and will say it again, if the average driver - over 25, full licence, full ncd and a standard type car - had been paying around €500 a year for the last 5 or 6 years instead of the ridiculous 123 or Setanta pricing then we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Op, I'd suggest ringing companies rather than doing quotes online. Online quotation engines are very rigid in what they can and cannot do so its better to speak to someone and go through your details.

Heisenberg1

My car insurance premium for my first car was €5500 on a Toyota Starlet 1.3 back in 2002 still can't believe I paid that it was a GT Turbo. OP I if I was you I would go for a Nissan Micra pay by the month and put in for you driving test immediately it will bring the premiums down.

Jayop

Heisenberg1 wrote: »

My car insurance premium for my first car was €5500 on a Toyota Starlet 1.3 back in 2002 still can't believe I paid that it was a GT Turbo. OP I if I was you I would go for a Nissan Micra pay by the month and put in for you driving test immediately it will bring the premiums down.

Yeah and once they pass their test call the insurance company immediately.

One other thing that you could try is to put someone like your mum on as a named driver. It's no harm to have named drivers anyway and if you can get a middle aged woman that alone might bring down your price. I put my wife on my insurance when she was young and only had a provisional, I was expecting it to put the price up but amazingly it came down. :eek:

Damien360

Is this not all a self fulfilling prophecy ?

Young person cannot pay for insurance so they take a chance and don't pay at all. Then insurance costs have to climb because of the number of uninsured drivers.

Before someone says then they shouldn't buy a car, the reality of public transport in this country means you do need a car. We don't all live in a city with buses/luas/dart.

Jayop

Damien360 wrote: »

Is this not all a self fulfilling prophecy ?

Young person cannot pay for insurance so they take a chance and don't pay at all. Then insurance costs have to climb because of the number of uninsured drivers.

Before someone says then they shouldn't buy a car, the reality of public transport in this country means you do need a car. We don't all live in a city with buses/luas/dart.

Yeah young people need cars, but the reality of it is, a huge amount of people will crash in the first year of driving so it's going to be loaded by the insurance companies. I know my experience was a huge first premium and then it was cut in half the next year and almost in half again the third by which time I had proven myself to be relatively safe on the road.

As far as they know this lady (no offense intended here) could be the worst driver in the world, she's never passed a test to prove even the most basic competency behind the wheel. Of course it's going to be mad expensive. I'd love her to get the same quote but enter that she has a full licence to see the difference.

Personally I think people shouldn't be buying cars until they pass their test. The insurance companies probably feel the same.