Car Insurance / Buying

[killerkebab]

Ive been looking around for cars at various dealerships around my location and on the infamous autotrader (http://www.autotrader.co.uk) website. I've found a nice little V-reg 1.0l Seat Arosa, selling for £1,650. So far, so good.

Now I've gone to Confused for a quote and the cheapest they get me for comprehensive is ~£1,750, or ~£1,350 for TPFT. Is that about right for someone who has just passed, or should I be doing something else?

NB Blackstar get out of this thread, your utterly cheap insurance is making me want to punch walls :p

[Blackstar]

Try admiral they don't seem to give good quotes on confused but seriously give their site a try :)

[Haly]

Try Tesco too. I never found I had much luck with confused, they always seemed to give me silly prices, rather than if I looked direct I got much better deals. Really seemed worthwhile to just spend an hour or so filling out quotes online everywhere possible.

I was with Tesco for my first year and now with the Post Office.

[killerkebab]

Admiral want 2800/2100, and Tesco want 1700/1600 (Comprehensive/TPFT), guess I really am a pain to insure :(

[Blackstar]

Do you live in a good postcode? Try putting one or both of your parents as named drivers (mum takes money off mine and dad puts money on, go figure :p) with you as the main that should improve your quotes. :)

[killerkebab]

Seems my dad adds to the price, damn.
As for my postcode, it seems my old house (I moved house a few weeks back) makes the quote £250 cheaper so maybe I do live in a hole :(

Does this mean I'm just going to end up having to shell out £1.7k no matter what I do?

[Blackstar]

Pretty much.
More than do something where they massively reduce your premium if you don't drive between 11pm and 6am.
Maybe doing pass plus would help? I did and direct line took a chunk off.:)
You could also try calling round places, i got better prices when i called than online.

[Grandad]

try quinn direct , they are often cheapest for new/young drivers

www.quinn-direct.com

[Zirax]

Ask your parents if they have anything with the co-op. Mine did and I managed to get a load off my insurance. Also try Endsleigh, they resell your policy to some unheard of company but they can be cheap.

I had to pay £1400 in my first year for a 91 Polo with a declared value of 500 (their computers wouldn't let them enter 0 :D ).

[Grandad]

Just ran myself a quote on the same car

£60.59 ;D :shocked:


that was one company though, most were loads more , in the £100-120 region :p

[killerkebab]

No point asking my dad where his insurance is, all he has is a company car which is insured for him by the company :(
try quinn direct , they are often cheapest for new/young drivers

www.quinn-direct.com (http://www.quinn-direct.com)They're the ones giving me £1.7k. Direct Line can give me £1.6k, so it is a slight improvement. Still huge, however. What would my chances be of reducing that price if I phone up? I've heard of you all saying 'haggle haggle' but can I really get 15% off, and if so - how?

[Grandad]

ring them tell them you have a cheaper quote and ask them to beat it , never failed for me

[killerkebab]

ring them tell them you have a cheaper quote and ask them to beat it , never failed for meI'm afraid they might turn around and say 'forget it then', considering how expensive everyone else's quotes are :(

[Grandad]

then u just go back ( web/phone ) and get a new quote

[TinkerBell]

I would definately recommend trying as many companies as you can seperately, confused.com did me no favours in my first year for insurance, gave me stupid prices, but I got alot lower searching myself, they seem better in the second year though:)

[mejinks]

If you want a laugh, ring the AA. My first car after passing my test was a 1.3 golf. The AA wanted £2500 and wanted it as a lump sum, I think Norwrich Union were cheaper at £750 and Direct Line was £505

On a group 17 car I went with First Alternative who are really good on high group cars. I'm paying £405 fc with £2500 audio cover, alloy wheels and £100 comp excess.

[jmc41]

I'd give them a ring as well.

My insurance ranges hugely based on postcode (its about double is dodgy areas of Cov compared to Leam) but there are some areas where it's stupidly high yet I know the area is good...

Could be the previous occupant had a bad credit rating and it got screwed up, ringing them might get you past this problem... If they take the previous address as well for example (which is a requirement on a lot of things if you have moved within 3 months).

Think Tesco has a minimum value of £1k, yet when I changed my car they only wanted to know if it was worth more or less than £30k... Makes no sense to me - it's worth considerably less!

P.S. Compro probably isn't worth it on an old car.. Tesco charges about a £450 excess for < 25 year old drivers (possibly more for < 21 / new drivers) anyway so if your car is worth less than that just go for their 3PFT option... They do have a cheap option as well, though I think the excess is like £600+ then.

[jmc41]

Isn't there a company out there that lets you add yourself on someone elses insurance while still earning your own "no-claims" bonus?

Can't remember who they are off the top of my head though...

[killerkebab]

I can't do that because my dad drives a land rover on company insurance. I am insured to drive his land rover (for free although the excess is massive, iirc), just not to drive a much smaller car of my own which is when wallets have to come out :(