Vanman
LIFE MEMBER
Having just bought the insurance for my first ever MH I thought I’d share here a few things that surprised me through the process. My findings may not be typical of what others find – but it’s how it worked out for me!
OK, when I first decided to buy a new PVC MH I first went onto a comparison web site to get a ‘ball park figure’ in case I really couldn’t afford the insurance at all! Thankfully there were several firms that were suggesting that £320 to £340 was the ‘going rate’ so I went ahead and ordered my van.
Buying the van from new, to my detailed specification entailed a 4 month wait and one of the things that I did to pass the time was to ‘mess around’ on two comparison sites, adding and removing options. The main ones were –
So – I hope you’ve taken a minute or two to predict how each of these affected my quotes. The correct answer was – Not at all really. Regardless of which permutation I entered the lowest quote was still in the £320 to £340 bracket! Now I am not saying that some of the quotes for some of the companies didn’t swap in order – I didn’t form a league table, just trying to make it go up or down and over-all it didn’t! Not even for leaving it out on the road! Just goes to show that 90+% of it is age, postcode and claims history, most of the rest is just window dressing.
OK – so much for comparison web sites, when I got a date of delivery for my Van I started ringing round in earnest with a view to buying. By now I had joined both well known clubs with sites partly to maybe benefit from their Insurance. What a waste that was. Here is a summary of some the quotes that I received –
Saga – Well over £500 (didn’t bother writing it down)
C&CC – Over £500
C&MH - £420
Safeguard – No bid
Scentic - £320 (reduced to £294 to beat Comfort)
Comfort - £303 (reduced to £284 on telephone, not sure why …)
So, it looks like 57 is not old enough for SAGA. C&CC said they could quote me lower if I had a different postcode (?) or if I took cover without Theft until I had an alarm fitted! Safeguard would not quote without a Thatcham approved device. C&MH quoted and I said “that’s not very competitive” to which they replied, “Yes I know” (?). Scenic were very helpful and friendly and I would have gone with them if Comforts quote hadn’t been better (free Euro cover, free Legal, better small print). It seems that Thatcham is more a requirement or not with companies rather than a great price reduction.
Comfort had been consistently cheaper on the comparison websites. So from a beginners point of view there really wasn't a lot of point of mucking around with the 'big guns', comparison web sites were the way to go and these are the two I used most.
https://www.gocompare-caravan.com/ProductSelect.aspx?r=false&brand=Site
https://www.confused.com/caravan-insurance/motorhome
OK, when I first decided to buy a new PVC MH I first went onto a comparison web site to get a ‘ball park figure’ in case I really couldn’t afford the insurance at all! Thankfully there were several firms that were suggesting that £320 to £340 was the ‘going rate’ so I went ahead and ordered my van.
Buying the van from new, to my detailed specification entailed a 4 month wait and one of the things that I did to pass the time was to ‘mess around’ on two comparison sites, adding and removing options. The main ones were –
- Mythical MH no claims (4 years) – None held
- Imaginary MH club memberships – None held at the time
- Thatcham alarms and immobilisers – Factory fitted immobiliser only
- Changing Mileage to 2000 or 4000 – 6,000 required
- Excess of £400 or £800 - £200 used
- Removing spouse from policy – 1 named driver
- Keeping vehicle on public road – instead of private driveway
So – I hope you’ve taken a minute or two to predict how each of these affected my quotes. The correct answer was – Not at all really. Regardless of which permutation I entered the lowest quote was still in the £320 to £340 bracket! Now I am not saying that some of the quotes for some of the companies didn’t swap in order – I didn’t form a league table, just trying to make it go up or down and over-all it didn’t! Not even for leaving it out on the road! Just goes to show that 90+% of it is age, postcode and claims history, most of the rest is just window dressing.
OK – so much for comparison web sites, when I got a date of delivery for my Van I started ringing round in earnest with a view to buying. By now I had joined both well known clubs with sites partly to maybe benefit from their Insurance. What a waste that was. Here is a summary of some the quotes that I received –
Saga – Well over £500 (didn’t bother writing it down)
C&CC – Over £500
C&MH - £420
Safeguard – No bid
Scentic - £320 (reduced to £294 to beat Comfort)
Comfort - £303 (reduced to £284 on telephone, not sure why …)
So, it looks like 57 is not old enough for SAGA. C&CC said they could quote me lower if I had a different postcode (?) or if I took cover without Theft until I had an alarm fitted! Safeguard would not quote without a Thatcham approved device. C&MH quoted and I said “that’s not very competitive” to which they replied, “Yes I know” (?). Scenic were very helpful and friendly and I would have gone with them if Comforts quote hadn’t been better (free Euro cover, free Legal, better small print). It seems that Thatcham is more a requirement or not with companies rather than a great price reduction.
Comfort had been consistently cheaper on the comparison websites. So from a beginners point of view there really wasn't a lot of point of mucking around with the 'big guns', comparison web sites were the way to go and these are the two I used most.
https://www.gocompare-caravan.com/ProductSelect.aspx?r=false&brand=Site
https://www.confused.com/caravan-insurance/motorhome