Talking About Car Insurance

[JinnyJoan]

I got my car last September and hurriedly got insurance which is £78 a month.  £936 a year.

Just hypothetically - if I was to get a lower quote from another insurance company - would it be worth my while to go for the cheapest in the middle of this, ie would I be penalised?

 

[Redhelen72]

£78 a month?

Have you had a lot of claims?

You would have to check your T&C's some with penalise you for leaving early.

[nicebloke1]

Simple No, you are now well into your agreement to even think about changing it.

[nicebloke1]

Its a loan agreement you have.^^^

[barry1010]

It all depends on your cancellation policy, how much you would be penalised and the cost of your new insurance.  You need those figures to do the maths

[JinnyJoan]

ok - no claims Red absolutely not

[jno]

as others say, it depends on the terms of your policy (which may be different from other policies issued by your own insurer, never mind others).

[Maydup]

Make a diary note to shop around in August this year. For best prices, the recommendation is to search online and commit 3/4 weeks before it's actually due. Always cancel the old one once you have switched.
 

[davebro3]

^^^^ Don't cancel - they will charge you. Just start the new policy from when the old one runs out.

[davebro3]

just tell them you are not renewing with them & to stop any auto-renew instruction.

[barry1010]

If cancelling costs you £300 and a new policy saves you £500 it would be beneficial to cancel.

[davebro3]

Barry - Maydup was talking about renewing when the current policy ends - not cancelling part way through.

[davebro3]

Auntypoll - that seems remarkably cheap - which company is it?

[ToraToraTora]

If you are paying monthly then it's a CC agreement and to get out of that the penalty will hurt, plus what the Insurers add on for "admin". Unless it's a lot cheaper, say half that then it won't be any cheaper to switch.

[barry1010]

Dave, I was answering JJs question, expanding on my previous answer.

[davebro3]

As an aside - my car being quite old & not worth a lot - if I switched from fully comp to third party only:

1) How would the premium compare to fully comp?

2) Would it affect my no claims discount entitlement?

[bhg481]

Third party cover doesn't usually include windscreens and they are expensive to replace/repair. It has been known for third party to be more expensive than fully comp, so be careful.

[barry1010]

I looked in to third party, fire and theft a couple of years ago and it was more expensive for me, I got several quotes.

My insurer told me that my car is worth so little that any claim I made for damage to it under fully comp would probably result in it being a write off, costing them only a couple of thousand pounds. The expensive part of insurance is the claims against the driver - an old banger can cause as much damage to as many cars as a brand new top of the range car and kill as many people - it is the third party claims that can cost £1m+ that pushes up the price of insurance.

[ToraToraTora]

davebro: "As an aside - my car being quite old & not worth a lot - if I switched from fully comp to third party only:

1) How would the premium compare to fully comp?

2) Would it affect my no claims discount entitlement?"

Most of the premium is for third party risks anyway the value of your car is a tiny factor. Your old banger could still write off a £200k supercar for example. So I'd say the premium would barely change and in some cases actually increase, it won't affect NCB.