3,000E insurance quote on 850E car!

sbmayo

Does anyone have any advice on getting a reasonable insurance quote? I'll make this short and only state the facts:
I've had a full clean UK licence for 23 years. I moved to Ireland in October from London.
In London my No Claims Bonus was only on the motorcycles I owned over the years 2014 - 2019. These were high powered bikes I rode every day.
Although I had a car it did not qualify for No Claims Bonus as it was a Classic Policy and I only drove the car infrequently (1997 Mercedes 280SL, under 5,000miles per year).
I've never made a claim on any of the above and have paperwork to prove it.
When I moved to Mayo I bought a cheap little 2004 run around for 850euro - its a Prius, the most environmentally friendly car I can find / afford.
I thought the AA were going to cover me because they asked me to send a letter from my previous car insurer showing my no claims history (not bonus, just history). They then discovered this was not enough and they could not offer cover. So far I have only found one quote for 3k yesterday because either I "lack experience" or the car is too old.

Are there any of your members who would cover me? I was considered low risk in UK but it seems to be different here purely due to paperwork.

theteal

I know in the years since I left the country, they just don't want to insure anything over 10 years old anymore (as they're obviously death traps :rolleyes:). I assume any company that will will load the premium. The lack of NCB will not help.

Any brokers around you could get in touch with?

LollipopJimmy

sbmayo wrote: »

Does anyone have any advice on getting a reasonable insurance quote? I'll make this short and only state the facts:
I've had a full clean UK licence for 23 years. I moved to Ireland in October from London.
In London my No Claims Bonus was only on the motorcycles I owned over the years 2014 - 2019. These were high powered bikes I rode every day.
Although I had a car it did not qualify for No Claims Bonus as it was a Classic Policy and I only drove the car infrequently (1997 Mercedes 280SL, under 5,000miles per year).
I've never made a claim on any of the above and have paperwork to prove it.
When I moved to Mayo I bought a cheap little 2004 run around for 850euro - its a Prius, the most environmentally friendly car I can find / afford.
I thought the AA were going to cover me because they asked me to send a letter from my previous car insurer showing my no claims history (not bonus, just history). They then discovered this was not enough and they could not offer cover. So far I have only found one quote for 3k yesterday because either I "lack experience" or the car is too old.

Are there any of your members who would cover me? I was considered low risk in UK but it seems to be different here purely due to paperwork.

NCB from a bike doesn't count. The kicker is if you bin the bike and claim your car insurance will be loaded. You're starting from scratch so shop around. Also low value cars can be expensive to insure

Atlantic Dawn

Swapping your UK licence for an Irish one should reduce it, try some quotes saying you have an Irish licence for comparison.

On the car, the age being over 15 years can work against it. Another element is catalytic converter theft, the Prius is No 1 target for this which may be causing a higher quote.

bazz26

The value of the car isn't the only factor that defines an insurance premium. A 850 car can cause as much damage and injury as a 850,000 car. I'm not saying the figure given is justified, just saying the value of the car is not the determining factor of how they arrived at that figure.

jimmycrackcorm

bazz26 wrote: »

The value of the car isn't the only factor that defines an insurance premium. A 850 car can cause as much damage and injury as a 850,000 car. I'm not saying the figure given is justified, just saying the value of the car is not the determining factor of how they arrived at that figure.

It's also a negative factor as many fake accident claimants buy and use cheap bangers.

Chiarrai92

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Swapping your UK licence for an Irish one should reduce it, try some quotes saying you have an Irish licence for comparison.

I second changing the licence.
When I was looking to get car insurance for my girlfriend ( who has a German licence) couldn't get a quote below 5,500 when we changed her to a Irish licence went to the same broker and got insurance for 1800

Wibbs

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

NCB from a bike doesn't count. The kicker is if you bin the bike and claim your car insurance will be loaded.

Insurance industry being rip off chancers?

bazz26

I agree, its one factor of a number here. Old car, low value, UK license (is that now treated the same as other non EU license holders), limited or no previous driving experience of a 4 wheeled vehicle, etc. You can see why this would be a perfect storm contributing to a high premium even by Irish insurance standards.

I would recommend increasing the value of the car for insurance purposes and see if that reduces the premium. Maybe a wives tale but apparently anything insured for under 2k/3k tends to get extra loading as insurance companies think that the owner is a bit more care free and hasn't as much to lose on such a low valued car. They also probably have states to prove that cheap cars are insured for the purpose of fraudulent injury claims.

Wildly Boaring

I was never loaded on my UK licence pre-brexit.
Changed it though

OP. You would probably have had the same issue in the uk.

You don't have NCB for a car.

You would get full NCB for a bike.
You can start from scratch on a car.

Will need to buy something at 10 years old or newer.
Insurers been burnt by new clients on old cars.
They miraculously have 4 people with whiplash quite often

User1998

Have a look at

Boxymo.ie

xsdirect.ie

But read the terms & conditions carefully

theteal

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

OP. You would probably have had the same issue in the uk.

For most things yeah but they really don't care about the age of the car. If it passes MOT, enough said.

micah537

Try these
https://www.nonstandardinsurance.ie/


I found Gmhd great, well they were the only broker who could get me insurance on my current car due to age and power. I think they changed their name to gmib?

You'll probably need to raise your excess as well to lower the premium

blackvalley

Aw motor insurance !. Along with our " rip off the young " housing policy our fifteen year " hospital trolley "crisis its one of the most shameful examples of the wrongs in our society .
I am sorry that i cannot offer you any advice OP but my experience with insurance companies leaves me totally cynical of their methods.
For several years i drove an older car , perfect condition , always serviced and passed the NCT without fail and inevitably each year my insurance premium increaser . Guess why ? . " Because you are driving an older car " i was informed when I actually managed to speak to a human in the insurance company.
Eventually decided to buy an almost new car and i suppose you can predict the trajectory of my premium . The reason for the 30% increase was explained as " well of course you are driving a far more valuable car " . :mad:
Shopped around and eventually got quite a reasonable quote but that was my experience .
Rant over and apologies to OP.

Turbolounge

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Another element is catalytic converter theft, the Prius is No 1 target for this which may be causing a higher quote.

When I was looking for something reliable and cheap, I was looking at the Prius, but insurance was €1700 for me because the catalytic converter theft is so rampant with them.

dockysher

Try axa, I insured a 02 golf car van with them recently for very cheap. I have no claims bonus but driving experience as named driver

Barr

A car that old will rule alot of Insuers out for new business .

Buy something < 10 years . You can always sub to an older car afterwards once your "existing"

Henry Ford III

Mods - This might get better responses on the dedicated insurance thread?

kaahooters

youve no history of car insurance in ireland or europe since 2019, two years ago. your off to a fresh start, most insurance companyies will reset your history with a break of 2 years or more.

as your here since october and not transfered your licence, you might not have one as you have 6 months to transfer your licence over from a non eu country. (covid allowances might extend this, dunno tbh)

effectivly, change of licence or not, youve no insurance history, and are starting off from the beginning again.

1st step is to get your licence sorted, after that best option might be to go to insurance brokers in your area and see what they can do.

MetzgerMeister

MOD: Thread moved for better responses.

Del2005

bazz26 wrote: »

The value of the car isn't the only factor that defines an insurance premium. A 850 car can cause as much damage and injury as a 850,000 car. I'm not saying the figure given is justified, just saying the value of the car is not the determining factor of how they arrived at that figure.

When getting Insurance quotes for my Mother on her 2003 car a while ago, full NCD with no claims/convictions and car value €5k , the quotes where ~€500 for fully comp and ~€2.5k for TPFT. Seems like it's just TPFT on cheap old cars that causes them to have a lot of claims.

OP see if adding a partner will drop the quotes. But as you've no car driving history you're going to be lucky to get insured for less than €2k

sbmayo

Thanks all - trying to change licence over. With covid backlog, could take 3 months they say!

horse7

As far as I know you have to change to an Irl license if you're non EU and living here, you only have so many months to drive on a UK one.

Pekarirska

sbmayo wrote: »

Does anyone have any advice on getting a reasonable insurance quote

Is your no claim bonus still in date? Does it specify it was earned on a motorcycle?

I was in a similar position as you and it worked - as the car insurance company wanted a "motor" no claims bonus ;-)

sbmayo

No - it seems they don't count motorbikes.