Insurance and the fallacy of your parents on your policy.

Insurance and the fallacy of your parents on your policy.

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Discussion

Integroo

Original Poster:

11,574 posts

85 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
quotequote all
I think it is commonly thought that having a couple of drivers named on your policy with a long driving history and years of ncb makes your policy cheaper. Just wanted to let you know that it appears this is not always the case.

I rang Admiral up today to get an idea of price for switching from my 1.8 Civic to an S2000. I have a multicar policy with my parents, so I have my own policy, but they are named on my policy. It turns out that removing my parents drops my Civic quote from 606 to 534 and my S2000 quote from 1100 to 894.

One to watch out for.


a

439 posts

84 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
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How old are you and your parents?

Having one parent on my policy made it significantly cheaper from age 18-30ish (putting both on was less of a saving). Now that I'm approaching mid-30s and parents are elderly it has changed and costs a few pounds a year to add them.

TwigtheWonderkid

43,348 posts

150 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
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It's only a fallacy to say having parents on policy reduces the premium in all cases. It doesn't. But it can do in many cases. So it's true to say having your parents on the policy can reduce the premium.

Integroo

Original Poster:

11,574 posts

85 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
quotequote all
I am 25 with two years NCB. My parents are mid fifties with long ncbs.

Interestingly my brother was on the multicar too and he says that having my dad on improved his quotes and having my mum on made them much more expensive. Need to ring them up and run a few quotes with my dad on to see what difference it makes.

SantaBarbara

3,244 posts

108 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
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Price is not everything, quality and service can be important also

InitialDave

11,893 posts

119 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
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I found adding my dad reduced it, adding my mum reduced it more, but adding both did not reduce it as much as one or the other. Always worth experimenting.

It seemed to stop being beneficial when I was in my mid twenties. But I don't know if that was due to my age, or theirs, as that's when they hit their sixties.
SantaBarbara said:
Price is not everything, quality and service can be important also
The discussion is purely about the effect on price of other named drivers. It is assumed that the choice of company has already been made, taking into account such things.

Integroo

Original Poster:

11,574 posts

85 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
quotequote all
SantaBarbara said:
Price is not everything, quality and service can be important also
I mean the discussion is if I'm with Admiral, how to I get the best price. Not whether I should stay with Admiral.

designforlife

3,734 posts

163 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
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used to work a treat ten or so years ago, would bring my policy down a couple hundred usually having my mum as a second named driver.

Sounds like the insurance companies finally caught on to this "inverse fronting"

dannyDC2

7,543 posts

168 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
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I used to always have my 'rents on my policy up until recently. I found the same, having them on was costing me monies!

spookly

4,019 posts

95 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
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My parents are both on my policies. I find it reduces it slightly, but not much. On latest renewal a couple of weeks ago it was a saving of about £20 (£320 vs £340 on a Golf R Estate). I do sometimes have them borrow the car though, so I'd put them on anyway even if it was a bit more expensive.

Funk

26,274 posts

209 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
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Mine went down when I took my mum off too. It went down even further when I added a mate of mine who's a greenkeeper at a golf course as a named driver - it's one of the lowest risk categories and has been helpful having him able to drive my car on a couple of occasions.

Shrimpvende

858 posts

92 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
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I always had parents on my policy (24yo) but realised a few years ago they actually increase it by a lot! If I had put my dad on my Aston it would have been an extra £600 on a £1k policy. Even on our other cars there was a big difference.

My mum had always been on dads policy just in case, but never actually drove his car. To remove her saved a couple of hundred - daft of us not to check before as if she really had to drive it she would still be covered under her 3rd party extension so zero point keeping her on there.

parabolica

6,715 posts

184 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
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Same as you OP, I had my own policy with my parents and sister added (as they did occasionally drive my car) from ages 17-25. After that my sister had a claim on her own policy so having her adversely affected things; then a few years later having my folks on the policy made no difference whatsoever.

Cold

15,246 posts

90 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
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SantaBarbara said:
Price is not everything, quality and service can be important also
This can be true, but unless you have some experience of claiming then price is all you can really measure in these days of documents being emailed around - and if you have experience of claiming then price is never going to be an attractive prospect.
I've never done anything except pay various premiums for over forty years, how do I know whether I've had good service or not?

aka_kerrly

12,418 posts

210 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
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I'd have thought it reasonably obvious that especially when you are in your 20/30s that the parent advantage is going to be marginal if none especially for those who don't live at home.

Also your parents history may work against you, I won't get a discount for adding my dad with a previous dd and a mother with a licence who hasnt driven in 20years.

Integroo

Original Poster:

11,574 posts

85 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
quotequote all
Shrimpvende said:
I always had parents on my policy (24yo) but realised a few years ago they actually increase it by a lot! If I had put my dad on my Aston it would have been an extra £600 on a £1k policy. Even on our other cars there was a big difference.

My mum had always been on dads policy just in case, but never actually drove his car. To remove her saved a couple of hundred - daft of us not to check before as if she really had to drive it she would still be covered under her 3rd party extension so zero point keeping her on there.
I am not sure she would be covered under her third party extension - is it not that it doesn't apply to those who have an immediate relationship with you and live with you?

InitialDave

11,893 posts

119 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
quotequote all
Shrimpvende said:
My mum had always been on dads policy just in case, but never actually drove his car. To remove her saved a couple of hundred - daft of us not to check before as if she really had to drive it she would still be covered under her 3rd party extension so zero point keeping her on there.
Careful! It may exclude cars in the same household or a spouse's car. Check that one.

Edit: Similar thoughts already posted.

Toonshorty

111 posts

104 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
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When I get quotes online (price comparison sites), adding both parents reduces the cost of my policy with Admiral significantly. However, when I tried to lower my premium on renewal, the girl on the phone said taking both drivers off would reduce it £70. Yet if I do the exact same thing online, it goes up £500.

SantaBarbara

3,244 posts

108 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
quotequote all
Shrimpvende said:
I always had parents on my policy (24yo) but realised a few years ago they actually increase it by a lot! If I had put my dad on my Aston it would have been an extra £600 on a £1k policy. Even on our other cars there was a big difference.

My mum had always been on dads policy just in case, but never actually drove his car. To remove her saved a couple of hundred - daft of us not to check before as if she really had to drive it she would still be covered under her 3rd party extension so zero point keeping her on there.
You really need to check that 3rd Party Extension still applies

forzaminardi

2,290 posts

187 months

Tuesday 19th September 2017
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I found adding my parents to all my policies in the past have saved money until the past year when adding them cost me £2 extra. I guess I've reached the threshold where I'm enough of an old fart myself, and they're too much of a collective old fart.