Insurance questions

[Rick101]

Few insurance questions I've always wondered about. Any of the peeps on the inside willing to share?

Points.
We are usually asked to declare them for 5 years. Is there a sliding scale, a drop off point or a flat premium for points over the 5 years? Just talking the normal SP30.

Have you been involved in an accident?
Does this include as passenger? What about claims as passenger whether against your driver or the traditional third party?

Marital status and kids
One one hand I'd have thought a married guy with kids in the car would be a safer bet than a single guy driving round impressing the ladies.
On the other hand a injury claim involving children could be quite expensive.
Which would usually give the lower premium? I'm never sure what to answer on this as kids don't live with me and probably do 2 journeys in my car per month max.

Thanks

Rick.

[Pet Troll]

I don't work in insurance so am not on the 'inside' but I know from doing various quotes that being married or cohabiting has always been a cheaper option for me.

I have never been married but selected it by mistake once and the premium came out at less than half the price! One thing to look forward to offsetting the cost of marriage I guess

[Rick101]

Suppose that's another query.

I'm not technically married but near as damn it. Been together many years and have house, family together etc.

Should there be a living in sin option?

[andy118run]

Rick101 said:

Suppose that's another query.

I'm not technically married but near as damn it. Been together many years and have house, family together etc.

Should there be a living in sin option?

Most comparison sites I use do have that option.

Declaring kids is always going to increase your premium - not so much the cost of claims involving them, but more a case of you being more likely to be distracted by them/have an accident.

[forzaminardi]

There ought to be a bigamy option, if one wife = half price insurance, after three or four they must start paying you to drive!

[Rick101]

andy118run said:

Most comparison sites I use do have that option.

Declaring kids is always going to increase your premium - not so much the cost of claims involving them, but more a case of you being more likely to be distracted by them/have an accident.

Again another complication.

Kids go in my Octavia, but never in the MX5 or the M3.

[LoonR1]

Points. No fixed sliding scale. Impact on premium depends on what the points were for. After 3 years most points will make little impact on premium

Accidents. Affects premiums quite a bit for first two years. Thereafter it's quite small in year 4 it'll make virtually no difference

Marital status there is a cohabiting option. Married etc are proven better risks

[LoonR1]

andy118run said:

Declaring kids is always going to increase your premium - not so much the cost of claims involving them, but more a case of you being more likely to be distracted by them/have an accident.

Nope. Kids under 16 are a big risk. Any claim from then is automatically more expensive as it has to go to court by law to be settled. Over 16s are much cheaper as no automatic court costs.

[LoonR1]

Rick101 said:

Again another complication.

Kids go in my Octavia, but never in the MX5 or the M3.

It's not a complication. Your pict is not bespoke. If you want bespoke then you can but it'll really cost you. Also even though you say that the insurer is still liable if you carry your kids in the other kids. Too big a risk to make it a warranty of the policy.

[Engineer1]

andy118run said:

Rick101 said:

Suppose that's another query.

I'm not technically married but near as damn it. Been together many years and have house, family together etc.

Should there be a living in sin option?

Most comparison sites I use do have that option.

Declaring kids is always going to increase your premium - not so much the cost of claims involving them, but more a case of you being more likely to be distracted by them/have an accident.

Except they don't always as they may also act as a calming influence like having a wife you have more to lose so are likely to drive a little more sensibly.

[djfaulkner]

I've wondered if asking about your car history would have an impact on costs.

For example:
35 year old, never driven anything bigger than a 1.8

Vs

27 year old, thats driven, higher powered cars, M3's RS's.... etc...

[LoonR1]

djfaulkner said:

I've wondered if asking about your car history would have an impact on costs.

For example:
35 year old, never driven anything bigger than a 1.8

Vs

27 year old, thats driven, higher powered cars, M3's RS's.... etc...

If you're insuring a high powered car on a high net worth policy then yes it is asked. On a mainstream policy it's not as most cars insured on them are mainstream cars. An Insignia VXR is still a rep mobile Insignia more than It is a Ferrari.

[Riknos]

djfaulkner said:

I've wondered if asking about your car history would have an impact on costs.

For example:
35 year old, never driven anything bigger than a 1.8

Vs

27 year old, thats driven, higher powered cars, M3's RS's.... etc...

Some specialist insurers do ask this - Adrian Flux, Sky insurance etc. So one would assume they take this into consideration because like you use in your example, above, the 27 year old may be the lower risk on a new policy with a high powered car.

[LoonR1]

Deleted as the post this related to was also deleted

Edited by LoonR1 on Wednesday 4th December 12:10

[Rick101]

LoonR1 said:

Rick101 said:

Again another complication.

Kids go in my Octavia, but never in the MX5 or the M3.

It's not a complication. Your pict is not bespoke. If you want bespoke then you can but it'll really cost you. Also even though you say that the insurer is still liable if you carry your kids in the other kids. Too big a risk to make it a warranty of the policy.

Understood. Just to be clear, there are 3 separate policies on each car, each with its own NCB etc.

[MiniBeej]

Rick101 said:

Few insurance questions I've always wondered about. Any of the peeps on the inside willing to share?

Points.
We are usually asked to declare them for 5 years. Is there a sliding scale, a drop off point or a flat premium for points over the 5 years? Just talking the normal SP30.

Varies from insurer to insurer, some ignore the first and even sometimes second 'minor' offence. eg. SP30, SP50, TS10 etc.

Have you been involved in an accident?
Does this include as passenger? What about claims as passenger whether against your driver or the traditional third party?

Depends on how they ask the question, answer what they ask you! Some will word 'any vehicle owned or driven by you' etc.

Marital status and kids
One one hand I'd have thought a married guy with kids in the car would be a safer bet than a single guy driving round impressing the ladies.
On the other hand a injury claim involving children could be quite expensive.
Which would usually give the lower premium? I'm never sure what to answer on this as kids don't live with me and probably do 2 journeys in my car per month max.

Whatever the reasons people believe exist, being married/living with a partner will be cheaper than being single and under 16s will increase a premium.


As with everything in insurance (almost), it varies from insurer to insurer and specialist vehicle policies are often different to private car policies.

Thanks

Rick.

Beej

[LoonR1]

Rick101 said:

Understood. Just to be clear, there are 3 separate policies on each car, each with its own NCB etc.

Doesn't matter. You have kids under 16 at home and are priced accordingly. Could you say that they will never ever get in one of the thee cars under any circumstances whatsoever. I doubt it. And it's too big. Risk for the insurers to take your word for it.