|
I am about to buy a 1994 Ford Fiesta for my an 18 year old daughter and am looking for an insurance company that can provide reasonably priced insurance cover for her. Please can you help?
|
Endsleigh Insurance are offering up to 45% off their normal premiums for new drivers who have completed the Pass Plus Course. I do not know what their normal premiums are, but they claim to be competitive for young drivers.
If your daughter has not taken a Pass Plus she can do so provided she has passed her driving test within the last year. Typical cost is about £80 - £90.
Endsleigh are on 020 8514 8668. If they are no good, just spend a day by the phone with the Yellow Pages, you'd be surprised the massive variations in what these companies charge.
Good luck.
|
|
|
Other people have mentioned Tesco before and I have just, coincidentally, insured my 21-year-old through them as it became clear after three years as a named driver a sudden premium rise made it more sensible for her to earn no claims bonus on her own account.
Direct Line were actually £3 cheaper through their internet site but I am wary of them because of complaints I have heard about their service. I have heard no bad or particularly good claims for Tesco but they were next up in premium terms at £437 fully comp. Roughly 40% less than Norwich Union Direct and other 'big' names.
Be sure about what you want from this insurance though. I was disappointed to read in the small print of my daughter's policy that she is not covered to drive any other vehicle. On going back to the quote, it said that she would be able to do so 'subject to endorsement on the policy schedule', and of course it wasn't endorsed. That means she can no longer drive the Honda Prelude she had been driving during university holidays without incident for the last three years until Norwich Union decided to ask £500 extra for her on her mum's policy apparently because they had underestimated their young driver loadings previously!
Now, instead of the much safer Honda, or my even sturdier old SAAB 900, she has to drive a specially bought Citroen Visa which cost just over half the insurance premium.
Watch out too for companies that only quote for 10 months to make premiums look reasonable. Others won't quote for third party, fire and theft, and you should shop around. To be honest I am not sure why we insured a Visa fully comp but it was a one owner, 58K mile one and quite clean.
Good luck!
David
|
David
Please tell me what the probs with Direct Line are. Both myself and missus are insured with DL. I have had no probs with them, but have never made a claim.
Many Thanks
Jonathan
|
|
You will be VERY unlucky to have any trouble with ANY insurance company unless you do make a claim! They offer you cover, you send them money, they send you an insurance certificate and that's it until next year. What problem can there be? You want to make a claim, then the fun starts - musical hold, ring on another number, can't inspect the vehicle for 3 weeks etc!
|
|
|
|
|
tesco is the best, i am a 21 year old male, just passed my test, driving a lada riva, directline said £2400, budget said £2100, churchills said £2180, but tesco said about £450 tpo, upto £550 fully comp. these people are the best around.
|
|
|
|
AXA are usually very competitive. Also. have you tried Ford's own insurance scheme (done via Norwich Union I think)
|
|
|
David.
Re your daughter not being insured to drive any other vehicle: I think you will find this normal in the sense that all of us are only insured to drive our own insured vehicle to the level of cover which we have. (normally comprehensive)
However we are all able to drive other vehicles at 3rd party level only.
This is what I have always understood....
Alvin
|
Alvin
I thought this too until I saw the note excluding it at the foot of her policy schedule. All my recent policies, including the cheapo classic car one, allow me to drive other people's vehicles third party only. Maybe it is because she is under 25 or maybe it is one of the ways in which Tesco (ie UK Insurance Co.) can deliver low premiums by not supporting such third party claims.
I mentioned it because I think it is important to check you are getting what you want with the lowest insurance quotes. ie are you covered for business, for commuting to work, for other cars, for foreign travel? When I trawled for my daughter's cover, I found at least one of these items missing from each cheapo quote. One company wouldn't cover cars valued at less than £500, just about ruling out three of our family's cars if I was realistic.
David
|
|
I've just renewed my insurance (I'm 21) and asked about the lack of cover for driving other cars and I was told that Highway (who I think are the underwriters for tesco) don't insure under 25's to drive other vehicles and that if I did want cover it would cost me a lot of money!
|
|
|
|
My own experience of Direct Line are that they are no longer the cheapest but the service is pretty good. I commented on this in a much earlier thread and don't want to go over old ground.
The comment from Direct Line, justifying their actions above and beyond the call of duty IMHO, that stuck in my mind was "we are not prepared for anyone to be able to say they are not satisfied with our service"
|
I bow to those with recent and personal experience of Direct Line since my only information is largely anecdotal and relates to the period before I went abroad two years ago. I have a general suspicion of all cheap insurers but decided to go with the flow when my insurer of around 20 years, General Accident, closed its local offices and merged with Norwich Union to become a telephone and online service. When recent renewals came up, the call centre staff made rather serious errors ie insuring me one month later than asked, wrong registration number, and wrong name. My address is permanently wrong because they believe their computer can't be incorrect and insist my house is in a different street to the one it has been in since 1869.
If I am going to be messed about, it might as well be at roughly 60% of the cost so that's why I started checking Tesco etc.
Incidentally, I used a specialist broker when setting up my classic car insurance four years ago and got a knowledgeable person on the phone, who even had my car (only 40 or so built in the 1930s) on the database. The approach was very professional and quite unlike dealing with today's call centres so maybe a good broker is the way to go.
David
|
|
Re David Millar's problems with NU Direct - their service is rubbish. If you speak to anyone there, make sure you get their full name, (and their supervisor's name), extension number and the call centre at which they are based. Phone Louise Young on 01603 840442 at their HQ customer relations if your problem still persists.
|
|
|
|
David
I have one of our cars insured direct with Admiral, one through an independent broker and my two motorcycles through another independent broker. The car that we have with the independent has always been at about or lower than other quotes we have had even though the model of car has changed several times. The newer car has alway been cheaper with directs of various types. And the bikes where cheaper with the other independent. I cant work it out, I would prefer to deal with my first independent even if it costs £20-30 a year more, just for the personal service but sometimes he cant come near it.
Shop around.
T & J Oaten of Queens Road, Halifax if your interested, talk to Trevor.
Bill
|
|
|
Try AAM Independent Financial Advisers, Colchester 01206 303245.
Both my daughter and I got good quotes from them.
|
|
|
