Third Party insurance and TPFT, does anyone still use it ?
Third Party insurance and TPFT, does anyone still use it ?
Author
Discussion

J4CKO

Original Poster:

46,824 posts

229 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
I remember that all my early cars were insured TPFT and the onus was on my not to crash it as I would end up without a car, dont think I ever did TP only as my cars were always a bit of a fire risk biggrin and cars were so easily nicked back int he early nineties, as I got old and had more money I splashed out on Comprehensive cover, did I feel the high roller with my fancy insurance !

Anyway, fast forward to 2011 and have been Comprehensive for years, I remember going on the price comparison websites and TPFT was more expensive than comp, surely it should still be a cheaper option
as its one less car that will be claimed for in the event of a bump, no pay out for theft or if it catches fire, only risk (and I guess it's still a key one) is the havoc you can wreak hitting other cars.

I fancy a cheap old barge (540i or similar) and £600 for insirance doesnt seem so bad but I do less than 2k a year and if I bump it it either gets fixed by me with second hand bits to avoid the excess or thrown away, unliely to get stolen without the keys and hopefully it wont burst into flames.

Is it that cars dont generally burst into flames or get stolen the same that has renedered TPFT redundant and people not claiming for their worthless old banger as its worth less than the excess anyway when they hit a 50 grand Porsche and write it off ?

steveo3002

11,205 posts

203 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
id use it on our banger , but the quotes come out more than fully comp lol

John D.

20,999 posts

238 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
I have a car insured TPFT currently. It was certainly cheaper than fully comp!

One of my best friends has a CBR600RR insured TPFT. I think he is insane considering the value of it but it saved him a fair chunk of cash.

J4CKO

Original Poster:

46,824 posts

229 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
The Crack Fox said:
My MX-5 is on TPFT, it is a super-cheap car anyway, I'm only bothered about what happens if I hit someone else. I saved about £20 against F/C insurance and the policy is c.£80 all in.
Are you from 1998 biggrin

How do you manage an £80 policy on anything, our scratty old Fiat 500 is £110 !

kambites

71,467 posts

250 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
I will if I think the savings are worth the risk.

The wife's car is TPFT (but is only worth about a grand), the Elise is fully comp but with a four figure excess.

John D.

20,999 posts

238 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
The Crack Fox said:
My MX-5 is on TPFT, it is a super-cheap car anyway, I'm only bothered about what happens if I hit someone else. I saved about £20 against F/C insurance and the policy is c.£80 all in.
That doesn't make much sense to me at all for the sake of £20.

Although I suppose you obviously believe you have a very low risk of having a crash of your own making (and so do the insurance company judging by the premium) smile

John D.

20,999 posts

238 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
steveo3002 said:
id use it on our banger , but the quotes come out more than fully comp lol
How does that work?

Have accident statistics proven those with TPFT are more likely to crash? biggrin

kambites

71,467 posts

250 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
John D. said:
Have accident statistics proven those with TPFT are more likely to crash? biggrin
I would imagine so. When you think about it, I suppose that could go either way.

4Q

1,277 posts

216 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
kambites said:
fully comp but with a four figure excess.
Surely if you're going to have to pay a four figure sum before your insurance steps in, it kinda negates insurance in the first place, no?

John D.

20,999 posts

238 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
kambites said:
John D. said:
Have accident statistics proven those with TPFT are more likely to crash? biggrin
I would imagine so. When you think about it, I suppose that could go either way.
The world of insurance is so weird.

kambites

71,467 posts

250 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
4Q said:
Surely if you're going to have to pay a four figure sum before your insurance steps in, it kinda negates insurance in the first place, no?
Not really. The only claim I've made so far in my driving history, the repair cost was the best part of ten grand. Having a 250 quid excess rather than a 1250 one would have cost me about 200 quid more and I seem to have less than one accident every five years, so it's worth it. smile

John D.

20,999 posts

238 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
4Q said:
kambites said:
fully comp but with a four figure excess.
Surely if you're going to have to pay a four figure sum before your insurance steps in, it kinda negates insurance in the first place, no?
£1k wouldn't go very far repairing a rear ended Elise.

I see your point though, I would'nt be comfortable with excess that high.

Perd Hapley

1,750 posts

202 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
TPFT occasionally being more expensive than comprehensive is down to insurers fighting aggressively on price and using better data analysis to predict risk. They tailor their prices to target the customers they want. My dad worked in insurance for years, he told me that they jacked up the price of third party only insurance years ago because it was more trouble than it was worth.

My car's still TPFT because comp cost more, and in any case it's only worth £800 - anything less than chassis damage I can repair at home.

J4CKO

Original Poster:

46,824 posts

229 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
Hmm, TP Only it goes up to £700 odd, from £600, with TPFT it goes down by £25 to £575.

Bizarre !

twazzock

1,930 posts

198 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
I do, as it was a fair bit cheaper than fully comp and my car is worth the square root of fk all (not that it wouldn't cripple me to replace it).

J4CKO

Original Poster:

46,824 posts

229 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
Oops, just realised my £600 quote was because I had filled it in wrong and it thought I was a feckless, lazy student, down to £400 now biggrin

J4CKO

Original Poster:

46,824 posts

229 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
If you limit your mileage it goes UP !

Weird, been doing very few miles and keeping it limited for ages so may have been paying over the odds.

stewjohnst

2,479 posts

190 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
Have tpft on my two shoguns, theyre not worth a grand between them so anything fully comp would get them written off anyways.

Need to switch one up to fully comp though as company car means i dont have a drive any car policy atm and theyre always handy.

Apologies for punctuation, on the mobile and cba to apostrophise stuff...

Robbo101

180 posts

185 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
Just a way for the Insurance Indusrty to try & "dissuade" the populace from insuring relatively high value cars on TPF&T basis only & then mysteriously having it reported as stolen when the only damage evident is entirely consistant with a front end impact into a wall or such like. As a previous contributor mentioned, TPF&T for Joe Public is in the main from an Insurance perspective more trouble than its worth due to the potential for fraud.

Classic Grad 98

26,500 posts

189 months

Wednesday 6th July 2011
quotequote all
I insure my 2003 mondeo TDCI TPF&T, the reason being its £225 cheaper (I'm 22), i don't plan to cause any accidents, and if I do I have the ability and facilities to carry out my own repairs. A car of this age and value would be written off with negligable damage anyway so little point in insuring comprehensively.