Multicar insurance, what a f****** joke

[otolith]

To me, Multicar always looked like a way of stitching you into a deal that made it difficult to shop around. Why, when the value of specialist insurers is so clear, would I expect the same insurer to be able to give me competitive quotes on the Elise and the Subaru shed?

[Du1point8]

why cant they just insure the car and not the person?

Would make life so much easier, little bit more expensive but easier on everyone.

[kambites]

Some insurers will mirror your full no claims discount onto a second policy if both policies are with them. I can't remember who I got to mirror mine, but I think it was either Elephant or Tesco.

[LMC]

When my Forester insurance is due at the end of October I know who I'll be phoning first...

[steve singh]

I was hoping I could get a multicar policy to work so I could buy a second car as a weekend toy.

However when I checked the various sites it seemed all bull and I was in essence paying for 2 insurance policies...one of which reflected zero NCB on the second car.

Waste of bloody time - killed my 2 car garage dream.

If someone can get my a policy on a E46 M3 & Golf GTI Mk5 which is equal to what I get quoted on for a M3 previously + 10% then I'm all ears!!!

[bqf]

It's massively cheaper than insuring cars separately, the more cars the better. I insure a 911, E55 AMG and a VW Touareg on admiral multicar and it's £300 cheaper than the best separate quotes (when it's all pro-rated etc).

Only really worth it for 3+ cars I think....

[B.J.W]

I tried a multicar policy when trying to insure my TVR and Audi. Admiral quoted me just shy of £2k. Can't recall the second company, but the price was pretty much the same. I was under the impression that multi-car was supposed to save you money. In the end I went to a TVR specialist (£450) and stuck with Direct Line on the Audi (£600).

[sleep envy]

Du1point8 said:

why cant they just insure the car and not the person?

Would make life so much easier, little bit more expensive but easier on everyone.

a little bit??

they do that in Italy, it costs me a lot more to insure my suzuki ignis over there (in the middle of the sticks) than it does my gt3 over here (in zone 2 London)

[otolith]

Du1point8 said:

why cant they just insure the car and not the person?

Would make life so much easier, little bit more expensive but easier on everyone.

Because most of the variation in risk attaches to the person. We insure an Elise, a 350Z and a (na) Impreza for less than a kid would pay to insure a Fiesta.

[steve singh]

B.J.W said:

I tried a multicar policy when trying to insure my TVR and Audi. Admiral quoted me just shy of £2k. Can't recall the second company, but the price was pretty much the same. I was under the impression that multi-car was supposed to save you money. In the end I went to a TVR specialist (£450) and stuck with Direct Line on the Audi (£600).

I thought the point of multi-car wasn't based on giving someone a 10% discount for bringing their policies to one provider but more so on the fact that if a person owned and had registed in their name 2 cars then the policy cost would only be based on the highest risk car - obviously not.#

Understand both cars could be stolen etc etc but it seems that you pay for 2 separate policies and then they knock a minimal % off (say 10%) as you've brought all the policies to them.

[roachcoach]

steve singh said:

Understand both cars could be stolen etc etc but it seems that you pay for 2 separate policies and then they knock a minimal % off (say 10%) as you've brought all the policies to them.

Pretty much what we saw, the trouble being that the multicar lot were often more than 10% more than the actual 'best' quotes, so it wasn't worth it (by a long shot).

[SturdyJ]

I'm with Admiral Multicar and it's worked out very well.

3 cars, group 20, group 19 and a 1.2 Clio, comes to just over £1,000 for my girlfriend and I (25 and 4 years NCB for her, 24 and 5 years NCB for me, no points or claims)

Couldn't be happier, as that's less than I had to pay to insure that Clio when I started driving...

[steve singh]

SturdyJ said:

I'm with Admiral Multicar and it's worked out very well.

3 cars, group 20, group 19 and a 1.2 Clio, comes to just over £1,000 for my girlfriend and I (25 and 4 years NCB for her, 24 and 5 years NCB for me, no points or claims)

Couldn't be happier, as that's less than I had to pay to insure that Clio when I started driving...

But your risk has gone down since "you started driving" as you now have 5 years NCB so that's not a sensible comparison?

What you need to do is work out how much the 3 cars would have cost to insure separately today vs. admiral multicar to establish the true savings.

[kit_kat]

We are insured through Norton insurance on a multi car policy. For the year our premium is approx £1,400. We both have over 5 years NCB and the insurance covers both of us fully comp on all vehicles. (I'm allowed to drive the Mustang!)

That includes a 106 GTi, BMW 330 ci, Saleen Mustang and an Astra Van (covered for commercial purposes).

My O/H and I pay 50/50. Individually I was quoted £400 for the 106 and £550 for the 330. The O/H's renewal for the Mustang was approx £600 and the van was approx £300 so we have managed to save £450.

[LongLiveTazio]

LMC said:

When my Forester insurance is due at the end of October I know who I'll be phoning first...

I'd ring Saga, cheapest for my mum several years running.

Unfortunately insurance companies love lying through their teeth. "We reward drivers with experience" = we reward women in their 60s who do 1,000 miles per year, hit your car in the car park and then drive off. "Specialist" = 'special', etc.

[NiceCupOfTea]

Mr Whippy said:

It's all a big stupid pile of stty st.

I've got 5yrs NCB and don't know what to do with them as I have an MTP. So what do you do with them? Insure the sttiest crappy car and leave it locked in a garage doing 2000 miles a year... just to protect the NCB.

Despite being insured elsewhere, which proves you drive and haven't crashed. But then if you DO claim on the other insurance, then the NCB on the other still applies, but you have had an accident.


Why can't they just insure a PERSON, who has NCB attached to THEM, and then have limits on the car values/types (insurance group), and leave it at that?

Dave

All true. I wish they'd start with a clean sheet and work out a more sensible standardised way of doing it across the industry. Everything is so wishy washy, and the onus is always on you to make sure that they have got everything right. It usually takes me 30 minutes to get across to each insurer all the details and list mods etc. It is hard to find the time to ring round all the insurers!

I tried Admiral multicar for my 2 cars and found, again, that it was more expensive than going through my usual brokers. A further complication as far as I am concerned, it what if the policies start at different times? I have 2 NCBs (one at 11 years or so (although "industry limited" to 9 apparently), and one at 4). Looking into getting another car and then selling one of the others at my leisure - but that will mean a new policy with no NCB at all, costing me a fortune.

IMHO NCB should be applicable across as may cars as necessary, it is not logical for it to apply to one car and not another.

But anyway I am royally fked having had a low speed scrape earlier in the year (literally paint exchange). I was on the verge of buying a TVR S, quotes were coming back at £2-300 except when I added business use (which I need) they jumped to £3000. So that idea gets put off for a few years until the claim is off my record :wailing:

[blueg33]

Admiral multicar was many times the cost of my multicar through Primo.

I insure the following:
TVR Tuscan
Audi A6 3.0tdi Quattro
Subaru Outback 3.0 rn

all insured for my business use and wife for general use.

Drivers
Me 45 year old male, 9 points (sp30's), 1 fault accident with no 3rd party, 1 x non fault accident. 1 Year NCB on Tuscan, 5 years NCB on Audi
Mrs Blue, 45 year old female, no points, no accidents max NCB

Total cost £1400 pa

[sleep envy]

blueg33 said:

Me 45 year old male, 9 points (sp30's),

ouch

you must now be driving like a nun?!?

[dxg]

I have two cars insured by completely different companies, both fully comp for less than £700.

The trick was getting the second company to match the NCB against the first. Which was done after a little convincing.

Not sure what would happen if I were to have a claim. I guess I'd lose the NCB on both. Who knows.

[blueg33]

sleep envy said:

ouch

you must now be driving like a nun?!?

6 of the points no longer qualify for totting up, but still show on the insurance. I was a nun until february. I drive a lot for work and to a a degree its a risk of the job when going to places you don't know. Its easy to get caught where mways enter cities and the drop the speed limit just as you are looking at all of the complex signage to find your exit etc

For my last three points the Bib that booked me told me he would have done the same overtake too! 69 mph in a 60 passing caravans up hill where there was an overtaking lane up the hill and a hidden bib with laser gun at the top.