Transferring motor insurance to new car

masterboy123

Hi,
I have AXA car insurance via AIB. it's going to expire in July 2016 and I pay monthly for it. I am planning to get a new car and wondering if insurance could be transferred to the new car? Or do I need to wait before this lease expires in July?
and does it cost more to insure new car? because I am already paying 100e a month.

thanks everyone

P. Breathnach

It's generally easy enough to transfer your insurance, and it can be done by phone. If you placed your business through a broker, the broker will handle the transfer for you; otherwise you deal directly with the insurer. One thing you need to bear in mind is that most brokers and insurers provide a phone service only during office hours.

Newness is not a big factor in the price of insurance - nothing like as significant as the power of the car. Yes, it's possible that your premiums will be higher, but if you are buying something of a broadly similar category, the increase might be trivial. [Chances are that, whatever car you have, next year's premiums will be a good bit higher, due to a general increase in the price of motor insurance.]

Motor dealers are generally quite helpful in transferring insurance: they regard it as part of the service.

Remember to remove the insurance "disc" from your old car when you hand it over.

masterboy123

I will be getting a bigger car and larger segment than current one.
If the insurance goes too high, could I withdraw from my current insurance or it must continue for a year i.e. till July?

P. Breathnach

It's almost certainly better to hold your current policy and pay the difference. If you cancel your policy, you will probably have to pay some sort of cancellation penalty. That might be 2 months' premiums. What you are caught with is that your insurance contract is for a year's cover, and the €100 per month is simply a payment arrangement.

Of course, you should shop around for the best deal in July.

coylemj

P. Breathnach wrote: »

Motor dealers are generally quite helpful in transferring insurance: they regard it as part of the service.

I would not rely on anyone else to switch the insurance, that's definitely something you need to do yourself because the consequences if it's not done properly (wrong reg. no., wrong engine size, wrong model.... Murphy's Law!) could be very serious.

A DIY task if ever there was one!

P. Breathnach

coylemj wrote: »

I would not rely on anyone else to switch the insurance, that's definitely something you need to do yourself because the consequences if it's not done properly (wrong reg. no., wrong engine size, wrong model.... Murphy's Law!) could be very serious.

A DIY task if ever there was one!

The dealer cannot switch the insurance, so that's not an issue.

They generally know the best phone numbers (I think they might have an inside track, but I'm not sure about that) and they are quite efficient about supplying the necessary details about the new vehicle. But to effect the change fully, they have to pass the phone over to the client, who has to go through security protocols in order to prove that he or she is the actual client.

[Been there, done that, as recently as last month.]

coylemj

P. Breathnach wrote: »

....and they are quite efficient about supplying the necessary details about the new vehicle.

You do realise that in the vast majority of cases, the registration number alone will give the insurance company what they need i.e. make, model and engine size? So efficient and all as your dealer may be, you can do it just as well yourself. And I don't believe there's any secret numbers.

P. Breathnach

coylemj wrote: »

You do realise that in the vast majority of cases, the registration number alone will give the insurance company what they need i.e. make, model and engine size? So efficient and all as your dealer may be, you can do it just as well yourself. And I don't believe there's any secret numbers.

And you do realise that a new car might not yet be in the system, because the registration might not have been completed?

And you do realise that argument for the sake of argument is a waste of time?

masterboy123

Thanks for input everyone.
I will call insurance company myself to be on safe side

masterboy123

Also after my current policy expires in July, I need to find other insurer as current policy is ridiculously expensive! 100e per month is loads, I have full licence since 2012.

coylemj

masterboy123 wrote: »

Also after my current policy expires in July, I need to find other insurer as current policy is ridiculously expensive! 100e per month is loads, I have full licence since 2012.

Don't accept the renewal number as their final offer, get a few online quotes, then ring your current insurer and tell them you've got better quotes elsewhere, see how much they'll take off. A lot of people don't do this and just pay up so the practice in the business is to continually jack the price up. You need to actively push back and demand a lower premium, you will get some reduction though nowadays there is a relentless move upwards so they probably won't discount as much off the renewal as before.