Insurance advice...

jesus_thats_gre

Hi Lads

I am prob gonna sound like dumb **** here but here goes it..

Been driving and insured since I was 18 on my father car as a named driver (was not insured for 1/2 of those years). I am 24 now and while still insured on the car, don't drive it very often. I am 25 early next year and plan to have my full license by that stage. I have never got around to applying for the test through absolute laziness but am fairly confident I will pass it on first attempt (please god me says). I plan to take the plunge when I turn 25 to buy myself a car and get insured in my own name..

Will my previous time driving as named driver count for anything when it comes to the premium, either positively or negatively. Incidently, I was involved in a tiny accident about 4 years ago that was paid out by the insurance company.

Any experience you lot have would be appreciated. What sort of premium would there be on a 99/00 1.4 Focus or a 99/00 1.6 Avensis/Primera/something similar.

Thanks

Mayshine

Hi,

I am 26 now, when I was renewing my policy with AXA through Mike Murphy broker in October '03, I had one year in my own name and about 6 under my parents named policy since I was 18.

I got about a 40% addition to my no-claims because of this. Premuim on a 1.8 focus was €1250 rather than the €2500 everyone else was quoting. Came down to €900 this year also because they still count it. Might be worth giving them a shout to see what can be done.

Although I have had a full licence sice I was 19

Dave

impr0v

Does tiny accident = tiny claim? If so it would have been prudent to pay it without resorting to claiming from the insurance at all. At least it's four years ago, but it will still have an effect on the quote you receive.

As Mayshine has said above, the years you spend as a named driver do have an effect. They obviously aren't the same as a ncb built up under your own name, but are infinitely better than having no experience.

For speculative figures, I'd imagine it will be in or about 2.5 to 3k on the 1.4 focus, presuming you get a full licence in the meantime, but this is just throwing a dart at the board.

You probs know this, but it's a good idea to do a few lessons before doing the test, so the instructor can point out the bad habits that build up when driving for a while.

pedro ferio-vti

Good news and bad news. Good news is that there are a few companies that give you a discount for being a named driver. Quinn and AXA come to mind here for 1st time drivers. Bad news is that AXA won't give you a discount for being a named driver UNLESS you have a Full licence. So as long as you have the full lic you should be ok.

The claim you mentioned is 4 yrs old at this stage, generally they're forgotten about once they reach the 5 yr old stage so I wouldn't worry too much about this.

P

kenmc

if you live with your girlf (or at least claim to) get her insured as well on your policy - it'll take you out of the irresponsible boy racer class and into the mature family man, and knock a bit off the insurance. Did for me even though the girlf is only a provisionla licence too, even though I've got me licence nearly 10 years, and own car 6 (me 27, 1.4L '93 golf CL, dublin 14, insurance fully comp is something like 700 euro)

pedro ferio-vti

Good advice Ken, forgot to mention that. Make sure that at least one of ye has a full lic if you're doing this however as you'll have trouble getting a company to quote for 2 prov lic holders on the one policy.

jesus_thats_gre

I got an online quote from Quinn Direct for 1200 third party and 1500 fully comp.. Not so bad...

Tiny accident did mean pay out unfortunately. I tipped (I mean the tinyest tip you could image that caused absolute minimum damage - I cant really stress this enough) a lady from behind about 4 years ago and the insurance company paid for the damage. The Garda who came to the scene of the accident suggested settling between (I agreed) but she wanted to go the official route. Turned out she was a month pregnant and claimed for physical damages and the insurance company paid out 20,000 euro. Its extremely frustrating to even talk about. The damage and tip was so insignificant that the bumber on my fathers car was not damaged at all and still remains on the car to this day.. The insurance company settled out of court regardless of our protests and the evidence we provided them..

Incidently, my fathers insurance only went up. After the tip, my insurance expired about 2 months after and I decided to take a year or so off driving out of guilt for hiking up his premium. I got insured a year later again and the cost of my insurance actually got lower by 200 euro from the previous time, as did my fathers.. Confusing..

unkel

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

Turned out she was a month pregnant and claimed for physical damages and the insurance company paid out 20,000 euro

Makes me sick

Almost like the case a few years ago where a bloke in a LWB Transit (size of a small lorry) was hit from behind by a woman in a Fiesta. Speed upon impact was 3mph. Van man claimed he got whiplash and accepted a £30k settlement :mad:

jesus_thats_gre wrote:

The insurance company settled out of court regardless of our protests and the evidence we provided them..

Misplaced pragmatism imo. They probably assessed that the probability of losing the case * the projected loss was higher than the €20k settlement...

jesus_thats_gre

Yeah no doubt, what judge wont believe a pregnant woman?

lomb

moral of the story is there are some BITCHES out there watch out!