Insurance Questions

Barks · 22 Mar 2009 at 11:15

1) If I take out a 10 month policy with Bell but decided to change my car in 6 months, what is the process to doing this? Do they rip you off with the premium?

2) If buying a car brand new do you have to declare manufacturer optional alloy wheels?

Many thanks,

Barks · 22 Mar 2009 at 11:21

(Never taken out a policy btw)

dan0r2 · 22 Mar 2009 at 11:22

1) Depends on the insurance group of the new car - if higher, you'll have to pay more and vice versa.

2) You only have to declare any non standard mods.

Howard · 22 Mar 2009 at 11:24

What dan0r said - you just ring them up and inform them and they either charge you for the increased risk or refund you for the decreased risk

And yes you have to declare modifications like that

Barks · 22 Mar 2009 at 11:26

Ah but what I mean is do they give you a price equivalent to taking out a new quote, or a pro-rata free to make up the difference between your original quote and what the equivalent quote for the new car would have been at the time (or at that time, given say you might have reached your 21st birthday in the meantime)

Cheers

Barks · 22 Mar 2009 at 11:32

Modifications

Please enter if your car is modified.

A modification is any change to the car away from the manufacturer's standard specification including optional extras, such as alloy wheels, body styling kits and exhaust/carburettor upgrades.

If you are uncertain whether your car is modified or not, please check with your local garage.

Are you lot sure? Perhaps Bell are different?

paddy · 22 Mar 2009 at 11:32

You can probably ask for both (the full premium and the pro rata'd) when you ring up.

I moved house mid-premium, rang up, gave them my new details and was told my new annual premium would be £xxx which equated to a rebate

- pro-rata'd over the remaining months of my premium

Edit: This wasn't with Bell, "Budget" I think, maybe "SwiftCover" (I've moved house too many times)

dan0r2 · 22 Mar 2009 at 11:36

If the alloys are manufacturer fitted you don't have to declare them, if you put some on yourself you would.

Do you know what car your going to change to? Do two quotes and you can figure out how much extra or less you'll get. 6 months into a policy they won't be giving you any mega discount so it will be simlar to a new quote price.

Barks · 22 Mar 2009 at 11:42

dan0r2 said:
If the alloys are manufacturer fitted you don't have to declare them, if you put some on yourself you would.

Do you know what car your going to change to? Do two quotes and you can figure out how much extra or less you'll get. 6 months into a policy they won't be giving you any mega discount so it will be simlar to a new quote price.

Tricky thing is I'm 20 now and 21 in 5 months time.

At age 20:
Car A - £1000/year
Car B - £2000/year

At age 21 (NO NCB purely based on the fact I pretend that I'm 21 on the quotes above and thus in a different risk bracket)
Car A - £500/year
Car B - £1,100/Year

I'm driving car A now and would like car B when I'm 21

iaind · 22 Mar 2009 at 12:20

What are cars A and B out of interest?

Puppetmaster · 22 Mar 2009 at 13:13

If i remember right, admiral (probably elephant and bell too) ask if you have optional extra alloys and aftermarket alloys.

If the wheels are standard on the car they dont need to be declared. If they are manufacturers optional extra they do need to be declared. After all, better alloys theoretically makes a car more likely to be stolen, thus a potential increase in premium

Barks · 22 Mar 2009 at 13:52

iaind said:
What are cars A and B out of interest?

Car A - R56 Mini Cooper (technically not mine but a family car)
Car B - R53 Mini Cooper S (or a car of similar performance/price)

Dangerous Dave · 22 Mar 2009 at 14:16

dan0r2 said:
If the alloys are manufacturer fitted you don't have to declare them, if you put some on yourself you would.

Not true, I have larger alloys that were spec'd from the factory these have to be declared to the insurance company. They also wanted to know about the optional Xenon headlights.

I can't really understandard the wheels as the larger ones are only £100 more for four over the smaller set if buying new ones however with the Xenons they are about 1.5k to replace compared to £275 for standard headlights this could add a lot to the repair bill for front end damage.

Barks · 22 Mar 2009 at 15:58

ffs so not only are the scum charging me a disgusting amount for a car that does 0-60 in about 2 hours, they're now going to charge more because it has larger factory alloys and xenons. I can't really risk not declaring them either, not on a car of that value

Hxc · 22 Mar 2009 at 16:01

You are a massive risk driving a car that is worth a lot of money, why are they "scum"?

Barks · 22 Mar 2009 at 16:21

Hxc said:
You are a massive risk driving a car that is worth a lot of money, why are they "scum"?

Understood and it's completely fair that higher risk drivers should pay more but what insurance companies charge is simply too much. As a matter of fact, Bell's quote for a 20 year old on those specific cars is reasonable by comparison to other quotes. It's still a painful amount of money for the service they provide based on exploitation of (required law) and all teenagers and young adults because they're apparently all identical when it comes to risk and the only reason they are successfully allowed to get away with this is because there's no realistic mechanism to safely separate a safe 20 year old driver from a dangerous one. Thus it is unfairly concluded that all young men and women are the same high risk drivers as the highest risk members amongst their age-population. Furthermore when it comes to high performance cars I think they have a right to charge ridiculous premiums. When I'm 30, have a job and drive something blisteringly quick, I don't want to see 20 year olds driving similar performance cars, but the fact is they charge disgusting amounts for cars with no power whatsoever.

You've even proved my point in your post. "YOU." What you meant is "people your age." How do you know I'm not the most careful, respectful and non-boy racing male driver you've ever met? How do you know I'm not a lunatic luckily escaping an accident every time I go out on the road?

I guess I don't really have a leg to stand on since it's not uncommon for most of the spastics my age to have already written off at least one car.

[TW]Fox · 22 Mar 2009 at 19:13

You cant insure it in your name anyway as you dont own it do you?

MrMoonX · 22 Mar 2009 at 19:14

[TW]Fox;13732508 said:
You cant insure it in your name anyway as you dont own it do you?

you can insure cars you dont own, you just have to get them to change the certificate to say Mr X who is the registered keeper but not the legal owner, I had it when I had a lease car

[TW]Fox · 22 Mar 2009 at 19:15

MrMoonX said:
you can insure cars you dont own, you just have to get them to change the certificate to say Mr X who is the registered keeper but not the legal owner, I had it when I had a lease car

But most insurance companies require you to be the Registered Keeper which I presume Scott isn't?

Hxc · 22 Mar 2009 at 19:17

You certainly can insure a car that is not in your own name, if you have an insurable interest in the car.