Insurance Help For New Owner

[roadsweeper]

Hi all

I've just moved from a TVR Chimaera 400 to a 2000 BMW 323i SE. I am 27 with 10yrs driving experience, no claims. Car is garaged overnight.

The cheapest quote I can find is £630 from the AA of all people (have historically been very expensive for me). Does anyone have any recommendations as the renewal premium for my Chimaera was only £650 including legal cover, track day cover and NCB!

All help much appreciated.

Thanks.

roadie.

[Chim_Girl]

I'm with Liverpool Victoria for my M3 as they were the cheapest I could find, customer service is very good too. Having said that, the BMW insurance was over £100 per year more expensive than the Tuscan. I guess in a BM they're calculating on a theft AND crash risk, whereas the Tuscan is largely a crash risk.

[roadsweeper]

Hmm.... they were nearly £800! Thanks for the tip though Chim Girl - much appreciated.

Anyone any other ideas?

[Chim_Girl]

The only other one is Privilege, had the Chim and the Tuscan with them.

Good Luck

PS: I have a spreadsheet with the links/numbers for all the companies I tried, I can email it to you if you drop me a line.

PPS: Someone else found Bell Direct the best.

[juliann]

quoteline direct are often good with new business

[HarryW]

I assume you have tried Norwich Union Direct on-line , there is an instant 20% saving buying on-line.
Just changed the Omega Estate for a 528 touring, fairly similar insurance (+£60). I know what you mean though, compared to Tivs they are extortionate, the Tiv is less than half the BM .

Harry

>> Edited by HarryW on Monday 29th November 15:31

[hughjayteens]

Try www.confused.com as they check most companies for you in one go which saves a lot of time.

[wiggy001]

More of a general recommendation, but at 25 with 8 years driving but 0 NCB, insurance for my 328i was a bit of a nightmare.

Managed to knock a fair whack (around 25%) off just by adding my (older, full NCB) sister as a named driver on the policy.

I assume this is because they assume she will be driving the car a certain percentage of the time? Yeah right!

I'm with Elephant by the way... and you don't want to know what I'm paying...

[roadsweeper]

I went with Direct Line in the end for £515 inc. legal cover but without NCB protection.

Thanks for the help, confused.com looks a particularly useful tool for the future.

roadie.

[whiterj]

wiggy001 said:

I'm with Elephant by the way... and you don't want to know what I'm paying...

Elephant were the cheapest for me, and i guess for you as you went with them. Still not cheap but That's insurance for you. Bloody thieves (I'm still waiting for a claim to be resolved one year on!

If going for a quote from Elephant, save the quote and line and they'll normally mail you within a couple of days with a 2-3% discount. Not much, but it all helps.

[bobbins]

whiterj said:

wiggy001 said: I'm with Elephant by the way... and you don't want to know what I'm paying... Elephant were the cheapest for me, and i guess for you as you went with them. Still not cheap but That's insurance for you. Bloody thieves (I'm still waiting for a claim to be resolved one year on! If going for a quote from Elephant, save the quote and line and they'll normally mail you within a couple of days with a 2-3% discount. Not much, but it all helps.

I insured my daughter's car with Admiral (same group as Elephant). It seems to be only this group (that I found) that is cheaper if you add another driver. The Elephant and Admiral quotes were the same, but the excess was better on Admiral (can't remember details, but the amount vs age was better, I think.
Bizarrely, Diamond, who specialise in girls, and are also the same group as Admiral/Elephant, were much more expensive.

[M3 Conv]

I would also recommend elephant, they quoted me half that of most other companies. At 21 with 2 years no claims on a 95' M3 Convertible this saving was very useful. Very easy to set up, but cant comment on service as thankfully have not had to report any accidents.

[wiggy001]

Should probably add - never call Elephant outside of UK business hours... took 45 minutes on the phone to Bangalore to make a simple car change to my policy...

[The Wiz]

Liverpool Victoria.

[CrazyDave]

roadsweeper said:

Hi all I've just moved from a TVR Chimaera 400 to a 2000 BMW 323i SE. I am 27 with 10yrs driving experience, no claims. Car is garaged overnight. The cheapest quote I can find is £630 from the AA of all people (have historically been very expensive for me). Does anyone have any recommendations as the renewal premium for my Chimaera was only £650 including legal cover, track day cover and NCB! All help much appreciated. Thanks. roadie.

I'm exactly the same age with same driving experience and one claim on the record (fortunately not my fault I hasten to add). Paying £350 for an E36 325 through More Than. Quote on the website will save you 10% as will lower annual mileage.

[cotty]

hughjayteens said:

Try www.confused.com as they check most companies for you in one go which saves a lot of time.

I managed to knock £100 of my renewal premium for the 325i touring using www.confused.com

[wiggy001]

bobbins said:

I insured my daughter's car with Admiral (same group as Elephant). It seems to be only this group (that I found) that is cheaper if you add another driver. The Elephant and Admiral quotes were the same, but the excess was better on Admiral (can't remember details, but the amount vs age was better, I think.

Just had my renewal through from Elephant and it was a few quid less than last year, nothing special. Did a quick search with confused.com and admiral came up as the cheapest... by over three hundred quid! Didn't believe this could be right, so went to their website and did the quote from scratch, exactly the same policy as I currently have (AFAIK).

If they are part of the same group, anyone know why their quotes differ so much, and why Admiral are around £500 cheaper than anyone else (except Elephant)??!!? Not complaining, just seems a little wierd.

PS I did ring Elephant to see if they would price match and they couldn't get close.

PPS Why is it that the Sales team are UK based and I can get through to them instantly, whereas the customer service team I need to call to cancel my policy with Elephant are India based and kept me on hold for 20 minutes before I gave up? :angry:

[DougT]

I'd be careful about using Admiral. They cover my M3. I rang them yesterday to see if it would cost anything extra to change the current 18 inch wheels to either the standard 19 inch ones or CSL rims. £117 extra, and they don't cover the wheels above the value of the 18 inch items.

This is a bit pants if you ask me, particularly for the normal 19's.

I won't use them again.

[Steve H]

Hi fellas, try a broker called Harrington Adan=ms on 020 73775850, very helpful and they take each person on their own merits