Insurance accelerator schemes

[Ralf's Girl]

Having finally persuaded my dad to lend me some money to buy a car, I've spent most of the week shopping around for insurance quotes - unsurprisingly, they're mostly absurdly expensive because I'm a new driver (the RAC quoted me nearly £2000 ).

A few insurers have offered an accelerator scheme where you pay for 9 or 10 months and if you have no claims in that time you get your full year's no claims bonus. Just wondering if anybody knows much about these or has ever taken out that kind of policy - what's good about them, what's not so good, etc.

The obvious downside to me seems to be having to pay for insurance more often for the first few years, and if I do make a claim then I'm buying insurance more frequently without the benefit of the no claims discount. But then again, if I don't make a claim I can get to 4 years no claims more quickly than I otherwise would... Any advice much appreciated.

[Suze]

If the price seems reasonable I would do the acceleration scheme. Also depending on the value of the car it might be worth doing third party only or TPFT to make it cheaper. Another "tip" is for the insurance policy to be in your name, but add your Dad / boyfriend / others as named drivers - although the policy will be in your name ie you will collect the NCB etc, having experienced named drivers on your policy can drop the quote right down.

[Tim Falce]

You have to borrow money from your dad? I might try that tack with my daughter.
I think the main downside of these policies is the fact you will be tied into the insurance company offering the accelerator as you wont have a full year's bonus at ten months to transfer to cheaper company.
The cheapest companies I have found for my daughter's insurance have been Elephant and Admiral, both the same company. We move from one to the other each year as they seem to like new business rather than keeping you with them. With Elephant my daughter's renewal came through at £790 TPFT, that's with a claim, no bonus and a jumping rad light conviction.
Admiral came up with £440 fully comp. She is 20 and has an old diesel Corsa, what are you trying to insure?

BTW be very careful about Bell as they have some very strange T&Cs with their excesses.

[Ralf's Girl]

It's probably going to be a new or nearly new 1.2 litre Corsa - I've had a quote for comprehensive cover from Elephant for £800 for the accelerator and about £920 for a normal 12 month policy, which seems to be significantly cheaper than just about any of the others. Some of them are coming up with quite cheap quotes but then turn out to have a voluntary excess of about £350, which to my - admittedly inexperienced - mind seems a bit steep.

My dad's going on the policy as a named driver - I don't know whether it'll bring the price down a great deal, but I suppose 40 years of no claims can't hurt too much.

[Mr.Jingles]

I'd actually go as high as you resonably can on your excess for a new car, as long as it drops the insurance appreciably. Logically, it makes sense - if you don't have a high excess, you pay now. If you do, you'll only pay when you have an accident. Surely better?

Yes, I know, not always that simple when you are likely to have more than one claim a year (I had one fault and two non-faults in two years, one with an uninsured driver!) but it's a good option.

Wouldn't recomend third party on a new car for obvious reasons To be honest, I wouldn't even recommend getting a new car straight off.... even if you don't hit something big (e.g. a car) you are almost certainly going to reverse into a wall, or bang a kerb, or do something else within your first year or two while you settle into things. I did, everyone I know did, sensible or not.

Better to get something older for the first few years whilst you build up your no claims, and then move across to something else after 2-3 years.

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by Ralf's Girl

It's probably going to be a new or nearly new 1.2 litre Corsa - I've had a quote for comprehensive cover from Elephant for £800 for the accelerator and about £920 for a normal 12 month policy, which seems to be significantly cheaper than just about any of the others. Some of them are coming up with quite cheap quotes but then turn out to have a voluntary excess of about £350, which to my - admittedly inexperienced - mind seems a bit steep.

My dad's going on the policy as a named driver - I don't know whether it'll bring the price down a great deal, but I suppose 40 years of no claims can't hurt too much.

That seems quite high for Elephant, did you have any extra drivers on when you got the quote? My daughter's was £1200 on her own but as soon as I added myself and my wife it brought it down to £440.

The trick is to make the risk look as good as possible for them by your named drivers having use of other cars, if you can say you can use another car as well it will help. When you come up for renewal they will be high so it will pay you to shop around then.
Most insurers are going for high voluntary excesses at the moment and don't forget this will be in addition to your compulsory excess.

Also if you can go for a new Corsa I think Vauxhall are doing free insurance at the moment also go for a diesel as even though derv is dearer, 60-70 mpg is not to be sniffed at.

[chezza]

Yes make sure you say you have the use of another car with elephant or admiral...took £15 off each of mine and Rob's quotes.

Also having a named driver will help...I took £150 of rob's quote buy being a named driver on his.

[Ralf's Girl]

Originally Posted by falcemob

That seems quite high for Elephant, did you have any extra drivers on when you got the quote? My daughter's was £1200 on her own but as soon as I added myself and my wife it brought it down to £440.

The trick is to make the risk look as good as possible for them by your named drivers having use of other cars, if you can say you can use another car as well it will help. When you come up for renewal they will be high so it will pay you to shop around then.

I had my dad down as a named driver when I got the quote from Elephant - I'm not sure what they would have quoted me without him on the policy, but he owns another car and is a named driver on both my mum's and my sister's policies, so he has access to plenty of cars... Unfortunately I can't say I use another car because my boyfriend doesn't want to add me to his insurance (presumably worried about his premium going up by adding another young driver).

Originally Posted by falcemob

Also if you can go for a new Corsa I think Vauxhall are doing free insurance at the moment also go for a diesel as even though derv is dearer, 60-70 mpg is not to be sniffed at.

They have a free insurance offer on the Club model (which is what I learnt in, so I'd quite like one of those) - only problem is you have to have had a licence for 2 years, which means the free insurance wouldn't apply to me. Without that, the Club is poor value for money - it costs about the same as the Breeze model, except the Breeze comes with air con and alloy wheels, so essentially with the Club I'd be paying for those things without actually getting them (not that I want alloy wheels as a new driver, for obvious reasons!).

[Suze]

Might be worth your boyfriend checking re going onto his insurance - I'm a young driver [been driving a couple of years now], no claims and no convictions and didn't make any difference to my boyfriends.

Adding your Dad on as a named policy should make a difference, see if your bf will go on too. My Dad and boyfriend are on my policy and my Dad has had a couple of [non-fault] claims but still brought the price down for me

[Tim Falce]

Try adding your mum or anyone with a decent insurance record even if they have no intention of driving your car.
two named drivers seems to bring it down quite a lot. Not sure what your area is like but also my D's car is insured from Brighton which is quite a difference to SE London on price.

[Suze]

Bumping up an old thread...anyone got any recommendations for insurance companies for a nearly 18 year old? Trying to help out little brother with no luck, cheapest is Direct Line for TPO or TPFT, can't remember, for £1200 but no monthly payments - he's an apprentice chef and so needs / wants to pay monthly. Next cheapest is £1835....this is all on a 1300 Micra. Tried my own, previous, advice of adding others to policy but with no luck. At the moment it's not looking affordable for him but thought it's worth asking.....

[Tim Falce]

Admiral or Elephant and read my post #10 above yours.

[Suze]

Yeah did that for him, added the parents....no difference.

[mattt]

I found that Direct Line were the cheapest before being 18 and Quinn were the cheapest before passing. And after 18 Admiral are the cheapest.

Last year my insurance was 1300 or so for a 03 1.2 8V Punto. And that was from Direct Line

[Suze]

Yeah he just doesn't have the lump sum he requires for Direct Line. I'm not lending it to him and suspect parents wouldn't either....! It is Quinn that have come up cheapest so far, as a payable monthly option. He's 18 in October, maybe it's worth waiting and seeing if that makes any difference.... ??

[mattt]

Actually i've made a mistake in my previous post it was 15/1600 last year

Turning 18 makes a massive chunk of difference

mine dropped from 1500 or so when i was 17 to 1000 before doing a multicar quote.
and the 1000 pound policy was admiral and i could pay it monthly.

[Suze]

Ok cheers. I can't remember whether it was admiral or elephant he checked that wanted 5k, he did those quotes so no idea who was added onto policy. He turns 18 in October so maybe he'll wait until then...!

[mattt]

Yea admiral and elephant won't touch lads while there 17 but when lads turn 18 they're are very willing to take you on.

[Tim Falce]

Has he passed his test? I thought my daughter's insurance would go up when she passed (the fact she'd be driving on her own and more of a risk) but it went down a fair bit, she was also 18 when she had her own policy, before that as a learner she was on my wife's policy as a named driver.

[Suze]

Not yet, but the quotes have been done as though he has just passed test, if that makes sense, to get an idea of cost. I knew it'd be expensive but didn't expect it to be quite so high, it wasn't for me, but then I guess that could be where he's male....

I have a vested interest, as he'll be having my car We don't have enough space....!

[Tim Falce]

Originally Posted by Suze

Not yet, but the quotes have been done as though he has just passed test, if that makes sense, to get an idea of cost. I knew it'd be expensive but didn't expect it to be quite so high, it wasn't for me, but then I guess that could be where he's male....

I have a vested interest, as he'll be having my car We don't have enough space....!

That's the joy of having gonads, you more than double your early insurance premiums over girlies. Mine didn't go down till I had them cut off.

[Craig]

Probably best not to mention he's a chef either... new driver + long hours + late nights = high risk for insurance company. Can't you think of another job description for him?

[Suze]

He won't be driving at night....that is one of the questions on one of the comparison websites, can't remember which. Don't know if it makes a difference of course. He lives in staff accommodation on site, it's more for days off / being social etc.

Bought a new car today, so def need to sort something out - not enough room!

[Craig]

Not all the information on the comparison sites gets passed to all insurers. Mate of mine used to be a chef before becoming an estate agent. He was amazed to see his insurance go down by a third... particularly as everyone else in his office was whinging about estate agents being victimised when it came to insuring their cars. I am sure, from what he says, you could knock more than a couple of quid off the bill if you find another way to describe his job.

[Suze]

He says he's got £100 off, changing job description to student from chef....