is employer indemnity keeping my insurance high?

paddles

Hi,
I am a female driver, 17years clean licence, no claims ever, no points ever etc etc but year in year out, I keep failing to get cheaper insurance despite shopping around.Infact this year's premium is up E25! When chatting to others they seem to get way better deals but is my prob that I need employers liability as I need car for work, and/or need Class 1 insurance? It baffles me every year. I have yet to get insurance for less than E475. I always get full comp, rescue, no claims protection. Maybe it's excessive to get the latter and that also brings premium up but would be wary of stopping that now after all the yrs, Murphy's Law etc, etc.

oldyouth

Class 1. is private use. What do you use your car for in connection with your work? Either way, employers usually reimburse the additional cost to employees

paddles

oldyouth wrote: »

Class 1. is private use. What do you use your car for in connection with your work? Either way, employers usually reimburse the additional cost to employees

I just use it to travel to meetings and peoples homes. I don't carry customers/clients (only other staff occasionally if car pooling). I don't really carry "equipment" unless maybe a work lap-top now and again. I don't think my employer re-imburses the additional charge for indemnity. Are u suggesting I should be Class 2? That would be more expensive again.

I doubted myself there but just checked again, I currently have "business class 1" - so this is not private. Private is social, domestic and pleasure.

oldyouth

If that's the level of work activity, then the cover you have appears fine. On the reimbursement issue, I've often written letters outlining the difference in cost between SD&P cover and the various Class 1,2 & 3 cover, so that the policyholder can claim the difference from their employer. If you can't do that, trying claiming tax relief as a necessary expense connected with your occupation

paddles

Thanks. Never knew that was possible! And employers won't exactly advertise how they can give u back money! will give it a try!

coylemj

paddles wrote: »

I doubted myself there but just checked again, I currently have "business class 1" - so this is not private. Private is social, domestic and pleasure.

I wrote Axa a letter saying that I needed to occasionally use the car for work but I was not in a sales job and would not be carrying goods or samples. On that basis they gave me Class 2 'restricted business use' cover for no extra charge with employer indemnity.

I suggest you find out from your insurance company exactly what they mean by 'business class 1'. if it includes cover for someone in a sales job then you need to get the policy downgraded to remove sales cover which you clearly do not need. Explain to the person you speak to what your job entails, stress that you are not in a sales job and you are not carrying goods or samples but you occasionally use the car as part of your job and need employer indemnity.

On my policy it said that I was covered for business use 'as last advised to the company' so I'd suggest that you write to them outlining your position as above, this will then be on your file and as long you comply with the principle of full disclosure you are covered.

I think 'business class 1' might be full sales cover so you are probably paying too much. I don't think there is a standard naming convention across the insurance companies because with Quinn for example Class 1 is social, domestic and pleasure with no variations for business, they have no such thing as 'business class 1'. Quinn Class 2 appears to be the same as Axa - non-sales but with business cover and Class 3 is full sales cover.

paddles

Thanks so much. I never knew that there were different interpretations of the dif classes. It's such a minefield, really. This re-inforces why I usually avoid reviewing my policy cos when u do get into it, it's so complex. The alternative though, is risking leaving it as it is and being over-charged for years!

amen

and being over-charged for years

You are not really being over charged.

You are charged based on the information you supplied to the insurance company/broker. If the information is incorrect/out of date then you need to tell the company so you get a correct rate.

paddles

amen wrote: »

You are not really being over charged.

You are charged based on the information you supplied to the insurance company/broker. If the information is incorrect/out of date then you need to tell the company so you get a correct rate.

OK, well not exactly "over-charged" but "over-paying". Guess you have to know what to say or else be asked the right questions. I thought Class 1 was what I needed to use my car for work but didn't know that dif companies seem to define it differently and there's a suggestion earlier that it may be superfluous to my work duties.

coylemj

paddles wrote: »

Guess you have to know what to say or else be asked the right questions.

Waiting to be 'asked the right questions' puts you at the mercy of the call agent's script which may or may not contain the right questions for your situation.

You need to take the lead and lay down exactly what type of insurance you want which in your case is non-sales business cover with employer indemnity.

Can you tell us the name of your insurance company?

paddles

Was with Quinn who had me on Class 1 but I'm pretty sure they charged extra for the indemnity part. A quote I got from Sun and Alliance said it would be Business Class 1. All companies add extra if seeking indemnity for employer from quotes so far from what I can see. Axa offer free Class 2 in some cases but that's if I was to do over 2,000 work miles a year. I only do 1000 approx pa. within working day, excluding commute.

Billy86

paddles wrote: »

Hi,
I am a female driver, 17years clean licence, no claims ever, no points ever etc etc but year in year out, I keep failing to get cheaper insurance despite shopping around.Infact this year's premium is up E25!

Everybody's insurance on everything is going up on everything the last few years. It's a common misunderstanding, but insurance is basically everybody throwing a bit of money into a pool that people then draw out of if they need to make a claim. Everybody being worse off lately means where they might have avoided the hassle and paid a minor claim themselves, they now need to claim for it. There are also lots more false claims coming in. More money being drawn from the pool = more money that needs to go in.

When chatting to others they seem to get way better deals but is my prob that I need employers liability as I need car for work, and/or need Class 1 insurance?

No. Class 1 typically does not load policies by much of anything, if at all compared to social, domestic & pleasure (private) insurance.

It baffles me every year. I have yet to get insurance for less than E475. I always get full comp, rescue, no claims protection. Maybe it's excessive to get the latter and that also brings premium up but would be wary of stopping that now after all the yrs, Murphy's Law etc, etc.

Whoa, there! Bonus protection is far-and-away the most important part of any insurance policy you take out in my opinion, once you go above three years ncb. It does not add an awful lot with a clean record as you yourself have, so by no means should you ever take that off your policies (and always be sure that it is 'full' protection, and not stepback).

Have you been with the same company for a few years on the trot? If so, that is your problem. People seem to think the opposite (and understandably so) but insurance companies don't reward you for loyalty - they punish you for it! Every year insurance company will try to slowly increase the cost of your renewal to maximise their own profits. There is a system where companies can 'flex' their renewal prices by typically 10-30%. This does not mean changing the policy, this basically just means the ~30% they could take off via flex is an additional charge. For what? For loyalty.

Call your insurance company and tell them you got a cheaper quote elsewhere. If they magically make that money disappear then that is your answer - you are being ripped off. Just please don't take it out on the guy on the phone, they'd be fired if they gave you the cheaper price right off the bat ! Always shop around, never renew with one insurer for too many years in a row as they will punish you for it, and no matter who you are going to go with in the end, tell them you got a €10-20 cheaper quote right before giving payment details to see if there is a little extra they can take off for you.

Also check out what your rescue service provides - a lot of places will just tow you to a garage (who might then charge you for the service) and the garage might charge you too. None of that money will have been charged by your insurance company though, so they can still claim to have given you their 'breakdown' service and did not charge you any extra directly themselves.

peteb2

She isn't being ripped off. She requires an indemnity to her employer which means the vehicle is being used for more than driving to or from work. So she requires Class 2 or in some cases class 1b depending on the insurance company.

Billy86

peteb2 wrote: »

She isn't being ripped off. She requires an indemnity to her employer which means the vehicle is being used for more than driving to or from work. So she requires Class 2 or in some cases class 1b depending on the insurance company.

It all depends on exactly how she is using the vehicle in relation to work though; I was going to query her on it but she said it was in as class 1 and since she has been driving 17 years I figure she has this for a bit now.

If there is any carraige of goods or peoples, then she needs to go Class 2 or higher. If however she is only using the mileage allowance for occasional, office-based work and does not have a particularly high mileage per annum, there are companies that will quote as Class 1, with the exact same price as SDP/private usage (and in other instances, a negligible difference of a few Euros).

To the OP - you should also check with your employer, as many will pay the difference in the premium themselves. as best I know they are not obligated to, but it's definitely worth a look.

paddles

Thanks all. Yes, it does seem that class 1 business use is the right one for me. Some companies insist on Class 2 but I believe that's unnecessary as I do not carry goods or clients. But I'm still unclear about the impact cost-wise of employer indemnity as after getting a no of quotes now, the cheapest I have got is still E495 for what I want. Still seems high given my clean 17 years of claim-free, points free licence. My insurance has barely gone down in all the years! In fact it's onlygoing up.
I do wonder do I get penalised for having some business use, even though it'sminimal as when looking up quotes on line I found a category for business use of 1,000-10,000k. There's a big difference between 2,000k (what I would do) and 10,000K but it was one box to tick!

Billy86

paddles wrote: »

Thanks all. Yes, it does seem that class 1 business use is the right one for me. Some companies insist on Class 2 but I believe that's unnecessary as I do not carry goods or clients. But I'm still unclear about the impact cost-wise of employer indemnity as after getting a no of quotes now, the cheapest I have got is still E495 for what I want. Still seems high given my clean 17 years of claim-free, points free licence. My insurance has barely gone down in all the years! In fact it's onlygoing up.
I do wonder do I get penalised for having some business use, even though it'sminimal as when looking up quotes on line I found a category for business use of 1,000-10,000k. There's a big difference between 2,000k (what I would do) and 10,000K but it was one box to tick!

About the no claims bonus - it doesn't matter if it's 17, 70 or just 7 - 5 years is where everybody's NCB is capped (well, occasionally you can get up to 9 but there is good as no difference from 5-6-7-8-9 to be honest); also most companies don't give discounts for penalty points - rather they penalise those that do have them. Hence why your insurance likely hasn't gone down in close to 10 years - and as I mentioned before, everybody's insurance on average is going up due to the economy.

The 1,000/2,000-10,000 part is what puts you under Class 1, most likely. Mileage and the value you put on your vehicle tend to run simialr to tax bands than having a direct impact for every €€€ you add on/take off. For example, if you value your vehicle in the quotation process at €1, or at €1,000 it is likely to make no difference at all on the quote. Mileage typically is the same. So your mileage allowance also runs likewise, and were it over 10,000 for the allowance you likely would need Class 2 (carraige of goods/peoples or not - varies from company to company though).

Also, what car do you drive (make, model, engine size, is it a coupe/convertible/sports model?), are there any named drivers, and (don't answer this one if you don't want to of course! ) but whereabouts do you live? These can all have noticeable impacts on any quote given.

One other thing: If you are married or have a common-law partner, and they have a full, clean licence... name them on the insurance! A lot of people don't know it, and I have -zero- idea why this is the case, but that is the one person who brings -down- the cost of your insurance. Quite substantially at times, too.