Here we go again.

[Z Victor 1]

It's the time of year for me to be bombarded with emails etc for car insurance. It runs out in May for my E89 so any fellow E89 owners with advice? With my older zeds I tended to go for Adrian Flux or other 'classic' type insurers, but this isn't that old.

 

[John_B]

I just renewed with QuoteMeHappy on my daily, and they are definitely living up to their name! I'd recommend them in a heartbeat

Much cheaper than other companies because they are 100% online. It means if you ever needed to claim or contact them it has to be done via websites and emails, but that is a small price to pay (these days) for the savings!

 

[Z Victor 1]

Not sure about that, my recent experiences have taught me that if you can't speak to a 'real' person not a robot or Asian call centre then you can waste an awful lot of time. I do a lot of stuff on line, but there are always some things that the systems can't do, answer or whatever. Nevertheless I have insured the daily online with Tesco and I'm just hoping I don't have any problems. It's very easy to get cheap ( ) insurance, but you only find out how good it is when you make a claim. Makes me laugh when you buy insurance and they ask you straight away to rate how good they are!

 

[Toby]

Very true about finding out how good they are, which is why I'm happy with LV. Excellent with a big claim some years ago.
They also knocked off another 5% as I asked the question and have been cheaper than most for me over the years.

Quotemehappy are part of Aviva, so shouldnt be a problem.

 

[t-tony]

My E89 is with Chris's Knott.

Tony.

 

[AleNod]

I just do the Martin Lewis thing. Can't remember who I'm with now, I'm a bit of a tart like that. There are a couple of underwriters I wont insure with mind. Dm me Ken if you're concerned.

 

[Toby]

My E89 is with Chris's Knott.

Tony.

Good company, used them for years - until LV halved the premium. They even said they couldnt touch it and to go with it.
Policies supplied by Chris Knott for me were from LV.

 

[Pond]

I pay pennies for my car insurance (not sure why TBH) but the likes of Chris Knott and all the 'specialist' brokers have never been anywhere near competitive for me. Hundreds of pounds more each year. They all seem to use 'Highway' as the underwriter IME.

I am with whoever is cheapest that year for all our cars; generally Hastings and Churchill are competitive for us. It was LV for years, but they have decided we are not their market anymore, so have priced themselves out.

Even my 19 year old daughter's renewal on a Mini Cooper is only £400 this year. She only got her full licence last year!

Having read literally hundreds of posts on various car forums regarding insurance, I have concluded that there is no rhyme or reason to it. EVERYBODY'S risk is completely different.

The insurance database holds much more information about us than it used to (where do you think all the data being collected by everything we do online and on phones is going?) They know what you eat (loyalty cards), what your habits are. They know what type of music you like (youtube, alexa type things are constantly gathering information).

Selling personal information is BIG business. Insurance databases buy this information and use it to assess your premium. It's much more useful to them than what car you drive. NCB is a waste of time these days too. The insurance companies don't ask for proof of NCB; it's there in front of them, as they share information via the databases.

Insurance is one big cartel IMO; they decide who wants what business and divide it up among themselves by the premiums they charge.

So asking other people who is cheapest for their insurance, means absolutely nothing for your 'risk'.

I am not a conspiracy theorist by any means, but do believe the insurance industry is a conspiracy.

 

[Smudgemanuk]

Don't even get me started on insurance!! Especially for first time drivers (age 17)

I got quoted £6500 a year for a 1999ish 65hp Nissan Micra!!

Luckily for some reason my 2.8!! seems to fly way under the radar, so I am only expecting to pay £1800 a year (which is about as cheap as you get for a 17 year old these days)

 

[as400]

£124 from Sterling...I am 60 though so thats fine!...feel sorry for the youngsters nowadays wanting to enjoy a modern classic.

They told me they had no interest in NCB for classic cars.

 

[Smudgemanuk]

Wow! Some people I know that are my age are paying more than double that a month!!

Insurance is the main factor when looking for a first car nowadays!! It seriously limits the options!

 

[Pond]

Wow! Some people I know that are my age are paying more than double that a month!!

Insurance is the main factor when looking for a first car nowadays!! It seriously limits the options!

As said above, my daughter (who is now 19) paid £600 for her first full year for her 120bhp Mini Cooper. It's now £400 at renewal this year. She has driven less than 1,000 mile since passing her test in December 2023, so her experience is nothing.

There is no rhyme or reason. I personally think that her mother and I have a lot to do with her low premiums, as the databases collate the info and use our info as part of the basis for her premiums.

 

[Pond]

Insurance is the main factor when looking for a first car nowadays!! It seriously limits the options!

That is the idea. As an 18-24 male you are the most high risk of all road users. We don't want 20 year olds killing innocent people because of their inexperience and hormone-fuelled bravado in 300hp cars.

Makes perfect sense to me.

 

[Duncodin]

.

That is the idea. As an 18-24 male you are the most high risk of all road users. We don't want 20 year olds killing innocent people because of their inexperience and hormone-fuelled bravado in 300hp cars.

Makes perfect sense to me.

Wasn't there some uproar a while ago after which they're not allowed to charge males more than females.?

For my daily (2.2Ltr Merc GLA) I went via the compare-ison site and chose the cheapest quote from a company I'd heard of. Aviva. 160quid if I remember rightly.

For my zed I rang a few classic brokers and eventually ended up with Lancaster. Can't remember the actual underwriter. Some no name I've never heard of. But dealing the broker is fine and that's what fhe broker is paid for. £160ish for that too. Mind you. Just 3000miles a year and no agreed value.

 

[Toby]

"They all seem to use 'Highway' as the underwriter IME. " - highway is a brokerage policy from LV - basically the same as LV offer direct

There are very few actual insurance companies, the underwriters - the rest are subsidiaries and brokers