A Nice Little Earner For Gness?

[sunny-dave]

My car insewerance is up for renewal - at present I'm the only driver on the policy (the chance of anyone else getting their sweaty paws on my S5 is minimal, or less).

Last year my policy was £260, the best quote so far this year (from a multitude of sites), despite no change from last year and my impeccably clean licence, is an eye-watering £472 - ouch ouch ouch.

I'm off to Ireland with the bird watchers later in the summer & it has been suggested that we all make sure that there is a 'spare' driver on our insurance in case of illness or other (ahem) 'incapacity'.

So I tried putting my mate J on the policy (sane, English ,male, elderly, clean licence) - premium would now be £492 - much as expected.

Out of idle curiosity I tried adding our friend gness to the policy (daft, Irish, female, 'of a certain age', clean licence) - the premium quoted promptly ... DROPPED ... to a quite affordable £313.

I have suggested to gness that she now hawk herself around to all male friends as a 'named driver' for a 50% split of any premium reduction.

Seriously though - how on earth does this work??

[ummmm]

It's mental. We hire a car in Ireland quite regular. The last time they wanted £1,600 deposit...which we paid.

Could you imagine if you didn't have a CC or a spare £1,600 in the bank??!!

[aelmpvw]

gness in the car and premiums drop? it's a real mystery isn't it?

[DarceyK123]

My Son is the same, his car insurance is cheaper if he adds his wife even though she doesn't drive anymore as she had a near miss and is now too frightened.

[sunny-dave]

Yes, ummmm - it's a nonsense - designed to force people to use the Car Hire company's own 'excess protection' products at ruinous expense.

I actually have a spare credit card with around £3,000 credit limit that I only ever use to guarantee car hire deposits - having anything up to £2,000 blocked on one of my main cards would seriously foul up my cashflow. It also means that if they ever take an unauthorised payment I can ring fence the damage until it is sorted.

[jakep]

Same sort of thing here. Husband's is cheaper with me on it. If I had him to mine, premiums go up.
As you say - how does it work?

[ummmm]

The thing is if you pay by CC they hold the money in limbo but if you pay buy a DC they take it straight out and you have to wait until the car is returned before they pay you back.

Like I said...Imagine arriving at the airport and not having a spare £1,600

[gness]

I think it can simply be a number of reasons, Dave......

They look at the application and see.....Gness or Jakep.....and say....
C'mon chaps......two lovely ladies......fantastic driving records.....always wave (safely) to traffic wardens......never honk at caravans.... just drop the price ........
And anyway, chaps, Luke is still in therapy after the last time Gness called to discuss insurance......let's just keep her happy.....and away from a phone........ ;-)

[anneasquith]

NB. Gness has a part time job at an insurance company.!!

[gness]

Do insurance companies have to insure themselves against accidents and....well accident prone employees, Anne?....x

[tonyav]

Does the risk drop after a errrrr certain age I wonder ;-)

[anneasquith]

Tony, don't mention age to gness,( its been said she's well over 70). -)

[Prudie]

My husband always adds me to his policy as it brings the premium down, stupid thing is he rarely lets me drive his precious car.

[tonyav]

,( its been said she's well over 70). -)


It's ok,anne. It wasn't me that said it ;-)

[gness]

I think late seventies was mentioned......but not by Tony.....he just wouldn't dare...... :-)

Odd isn't it, Prudie......I would like to know why....x

[tonyav]

My daughter added me has a named driver last year, her first time of insuring her first car saved her about £50 if I remember correctly.

[NoMercy]

Himself and I bought a very nearly new IX35 a few weeks ago and it cost him a tenner to change his existing policy over and add me.

I envisaged a lot more.

[wolf63]

• I don't have a car
• I can't drive
I save tons a money on car insurance

• I was given a £600 renewal quote for insurance for the cats
I, now, have no pet insurance

[gness]

Crikey, Wolf!.....£600!!!! :-0

[ducksie]

Are any of you registered with a disabiity and using a blue badge while driving in Ireland? I have a badge, the cost of petrol and diesel is reduced by 59cent per litre, just if you need to know that if say, gness were to be using a badge, she does travel on an Irish passport ;) just a thought http://ddai.ie/disabled-drivers-passengers-tax-relief-scheme/122-fuel-grant-scheme

[wolf63]

Gness. The guy at Tesco tried to cheer me up by explaining that was the premium for both of them.