Double the cost if no other car!

[quilkin]

Just went to renew my premium and in running through the details on the phone, I mentioned that I no longer had a separate car in addition to my campervan (I wasn't using it so sold it last year; I use a bike to get around locally and I also belong to a car club if I need to use a car).
But admitting that I no longer have my car, changed my premium from £377 to over £800! I assume it was a different underwriter, the first couldn't cover me if I had no other car.
Any thoughts?

 

[Gellyneck]

Suggest you use a comparison website \ check alternative insurers or brokers, eg Comfort, etc.

 

[The Wino]

I'm shopping around for insurance at the moment and I think they have all asked that question. I suppose they treat it a bit like classic car insurance and expect the MH to be a toy.

 

[2657]

Just renewed ,mine with Campton's, went up this year from £470 to £640 including legal cover, policy holder and spouse.

Only vehicle and 15000 mile limit, when I queried the rise they said that the underwriters had changed there criteria, I turned 70 this year as well.

Tried C&CC insurance( Vantage), quoted £2500 and would need to confirm with underwriters!!

 

[Northernraider]

I renewed mine with safeguard in August and at the time didn't have another car and didn't make any difference to it

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[jockaneezer]

Might be worth buying a £50 banger and Sorning it just to get the discount ?

 

[joka250]

Might be worth buying a £50 banger and Sorning it just to get the discount ?

I gues if you do that you need to insure the £50 banger, plus MOT. like the idea but I suspect insurers wouldn't make it that easy.

 

[Emmit]

I gues if you do that you need to insure the £50 banger, plus MOT. like the idea but I suspect insurers wouldn't make it that easy.

You don't need to insure a car on SORN or tax it.
It just has to be off the road.

 

[Gellyneck]

You don't need to insure a car on SORN or tax it.
It just has to be off the road.

Or MOT it.
Could the insurance be third party only and still meet the "required second vehicle" criteria?

 

[nicholsong]

Does the second vehicle have to be in the MH vehicle's insured name or can it just be in 'the household', whether it be a wife, unmarried partner, son, daughter etc. Did they speciffy?

For example my OH(unmarried) has a son living in the same house but different apartment.

In fact here in Poland it makes no difference, since like some other countries it is the vehicle which is insured not the driver, as long as the driver is over 25 years old.

I am only asking in case we move to UK in future.

Geoff

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Lenny HB]

I thought the standard question was "Do you have use of another vehicle?" Which gives you a lot of latitude.

 

[joka250]

You don't need to insure a car on SORN or tax it.
It just has to be off the road.

I should have made myself clearer. My assumption is for a second vehicle to qualify it must be insured.

 

[Emmit]

Deleted (Lenny beat me to it!)

 

[Riverbankannie]

I guess they see it like fulltiming. They assume you will be using the MH a lot more and so the risks to them are greater. The MH is my only insured vehicle but I do have use of a car insured in my husbands name. I thought the question was are how many vehicles in the household or something like that .

 

[Emmit]

Annie, I accept what you say, and you are right of course.
That IS what the Ins. Co.s would say, except; They tie everyone down to mileage per year as well. That is something that was never asked twenty years ago.

Why should it cost twice as much per year if the use of the vehicle in terms if mileage hasn't changed.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[Riverbankannie]

Annie, I accept what you say, and you are right of course.
That IS what the Ins. Co.s would say, except; They tie everyone down to mileage per year as well. That is something that was never asked twenty years ago.

Why should it cost twice as much per year if the use of the vehicle in terms if mileage hasn't changed.

Maybe because they factor in that more short trips, eg to the supermarket and around town, are where their risks are greater. They only work on average data not individual cases.

we have 2 old cars and one modern car. The older cars are probably worth more and may cost more to repair but the insurance is very low, around £100 fully comp with 2 drivers. The mileage limit is the same on all the cars. They probably have stats that show that older drivers with classic cars are not such a high risk, however we individually drive them !

 

[Kingham]

Until very recently, my van was my only vehicle and with Comfort, it made no difference to the premium I was paying them when I had my previous car. I also had business cover added for no extra cost.

 

[Silver-Fox]

I gues if you do that you need to insure the £50 banger, plus MOT. like the idea but I suspect insurers wouldn't make it that easy.

But would you.

Im asked if I own any other vehicles.
But they never ask if they are insured ?

 

[quilkin]

Ok, OP here, many thanks for all the replies.
I would have had to 'have use of' another vehicle; it needn't belong to me but must be in the household. To have use of it means it would have to be taxed and insured, so SORNing an old banger wouldn't quallify.

I'm also a member of a car-sharing club but that wasn't eligible either.

I also asked if my bicycle would count (in the eyes of the law a cycle is a vehicle) but they wouldn't buy that! Although I do use my bike for local trips that many would use their car for.

Anyway, I have now re-insured with a different company. At a lower cost than the first one was, even at its original price

 

[mitzimad]

I thought the standard question was "Do you have use of another vehicle?" Which gives you a lot of latitude.

i would class a bike as a second vehicle but in insurance speak they probably mean another vehicle your insuring

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[mitzimad]

In london were being encouraged towards car sharing cycling and using public transport its a shame the insurance world cant keep up with the message

 

[JimW]

Quilkin, please tell us the name of your new insurance company.

 

[rick brind]

We have a MH which is insured in my name only a car insured in wife's name and me as named driver and a touring motorcycle in my name only. All separate companies total cost for year under £500 all with European cover. I do however research each year on renewal.

 

[Dorset Diver]

It's a minefield. I recently renewed with NFU Mutual. Previously it was me and my wife on the policy but my wife never drives the MH, although she does have the correct licence. I naively asked how much of a reduction there would be if I removed her from the policy. In fact the premium would have risen by £60 per annum. Needless to say she is still covered. It makes no sense to me .

 

[two]

When you get cover, you have to declare the annual mileage. That must be their indicator for risk. They don't ask how many trips you plan to make nor how many days on the road. i'm not sure what relevance another car is, except that they might look for accidents on another to increase the premium on the motorhome.
I don't know how mileage affects risk, but I feel that low mileage might increase risk due to unfamiliarity. Also, if intending to drive on the 'wrong' side of the road...

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[TheBig1]

I have all 3 of our vehicles in my name plus Brenda, and I am also on my sister's and daughter's car policies. They don't give a discount because I regularly drive 5 different vehicles. I can only drive 1 at a time though

 

[two]

If one car is a Toad, technically a single person/owner could have them both at risk at the same time.

 

[gwyntaxi]

i would class a bike as a second vehicle but in insurance speak they probably mean another vehicle your insuring

Also as regards the question “do you have use of another vehicle” but do they ask “and do you actually use that vehicle that you have use of” so technically you could own another vehicle and have use of another vehicle but that doesn’t mean you actually use that vehicle. I would imagine that will come shortly.....just an observation really.

 

[Apache]

It surely is a minefield and I think half the battle is to have some idea of what questions they might ask and be ready with a selection of ‘ Suitable ‘ answers ? Not that I’m suggesting any skullduggery but I do think there are different ways of constructing your answers which result in different premiums . I had a really difficult job renewing the cover on a classic car a couple of years back - at one point they said they couldn’t insure me , even though nothing had changed at my end , just the goalposts at theirs .

 

[JaG]

I have just insured my motorhome with Comfort, first year's insurance. I do not have a car I own, just a Motorbility vehicle I drive. They were not bothered I did not have my own car, and my premium was £304 with 6,000 miles per annum.

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}