Insurance - driveway or garage?

Insurance - driveway or garage?

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BUG4LIFE

Original Poster:

2,332 posts

233 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
Not sure if this is the correct place but...

Doing the yearly 'getting quotes' thing and decided I'd go with Aviva, as my current provider [Howden] is quite a chunk more expensive than the non-specialists this year.

Wanted to chat with someone at Aviva but finding a number is difficult, so tried the online chat. I wanted to ask them about the 'nighttime vehicle location' question. More often than not, I keep my car in our garage attached to the house, but would like to covered for parking on the driveway in case the need arises. However, on the MoneySupermarket forms, there isn't an option for both garage and driveway, I have to pick one or the other. I asked the guy on the Aviva chat about this and his answer was exactly that...you have to choose!

This seems to be a bit of a strange restriction. I'm sure all you guys that park your car in your garage overnight have had to park on your driveway once in a while, for whatever reason. My current Howden policy does include both, but as I said, they are very uncompetitive this year [£150 more expensive].

Just wondering if any of you guys have come across the same thing? MoneySupermarket have also given me quotes from Churchill Plus and Privilege that are close to Aviva so I might try to find a phone number to chat to someone!

Thanks,

phil4

1,485 posts

253 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
I've never quite been in your situation where I can park on the drive or in the garage. I've had cars that were parked in the garage, indeed the insurance had a special clause that it needed to be between 10pm and 8am or something similar. The rest never went near the garage and were insured on the drive (cheaper).

If you're genuinely 50:50 I'd go with the more risky, garage option. If it's only very occasional just insure whichever you normally do.

I'm not an insurance underwriter, this isn't professional advice. It's just an opinion.

toon10

6,751 posts

172 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
I'm not sure what the insurer will say if you say it's normally stored in a garage and something happens while it's on a drive overnight or vice versa.

I have been told from a mate who works in insurance that you're financially better off saying it's stored on a private driveway over a garage. I was confused at this but apparently, they put the premium up as a lot of incidents happen moving a car in and out a garage. (I still recall moving my ex girlfriends left hand drive car into my single garage a good few years ago and misjudging the gap slightly!)

Still, I'm not sure on how to handle stating that it could be kept either on the drive or in the garage.

rhamnousia5

576 posts

9 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
toon10 said:
I'm not sure what the insurer will say if you say it's normally stored in a garage and something happens while it's on a drive overnight or vice versa.

I have been told from a mate who works in insurance that you're financially better off saying it's stored on a private driveway over a garage. I was confused at this but apparently, they put the premium up as a lot of incidents happen moving a car in and out a garage. (I still recall moving my ex girlfriends left hand drive car into my single garage a good few years ago and misjudging the gap slightly!)

Still, I'm not sure on how to handle stating that it could be kept either on the drive or in the garage.
That reason is nonsense. It doesn t matter that your mate works in insurance, he doesn t work in an area that understands premium and risk. There are very, very few single underwriting items that alter a premium to a noticeable amount (age is the main one). What happens with insurance is a multitude of factors are run through an algorithm that differs by insurer based on experience. However, many of these factors are not a straight line between risk, premium and claim. It can be a correlation, that leads to the famous “it makes no sense” comment on here. It may be that drivers who keep their car in a garage are more likely to have a claim whilst driving compared to those who park on their driveway.

In reference to the OP it s unlikely to matter and unless the policy specifically states that the car must be garaged at home overnight, then it will be irrelevant. An insurer cannot enforce something that is just used as a tool to generate a premium, rather than an explicit condition of insurance.

98elise

29,832 posts

176 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
BUG4LIFE said:
Not sure if this is the correct place but...

Doing the yearly 'getting quotes' thing and decided I'd go with Aviva, as my current provider [Howden] is quite a chunk more expensive than the non-specialists this year.

Wanted to chat with someone at Aviva but finding a number is difficult, so tried the online chat. I wanted to ask them about the 'nighttime vehicle location' question. More often than not, I keep my car in our garage attached to the house, but would like to covered for parking on the driveway in case the need arises. However, on the MoneySupermarket forms, there isn't an option for both garage and driveway, I have to pick one or the other. I asked the guy on the Aviva chat about this and his answer was exactly that...you have to choose!

This seems to be a bit of a strange restriction. I'm sure all you guys that park your car in your garage overnight have had to park on your driveway once in a while, for whatever reason. My current Howden policy does include both, but as I said, they are very uncompetitive this year [£150 more expensive].

Just wondering if any of you guys have come across the same thing? MoneySupermarket have also given me quotes from Churchill Plus and Privilege that are close to Aviva so I might try to find a phone number to chat to someone!

Thanks,
Its not an restriction. Its whatever you do most, a bit like main driver, or the address its normally kept at.

As I understand it a lot of classic policies DO have a clause that it must be garaged though.

RizzoTheRat

26,905 posts

207 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
phil4 said:
I've had cars that were parked in the garage, indeed the insurance had a special clause that it needed to be between 10pm and 8am or something similar.
I've had this on a motorcycle too, not insured if left on the drive overnight, so well worth checking if you do go for the garaged options. I've also seen people claim thier car insurance was more expensive if parked in a garage due to the higher chance of parking scrapes.

ARHarh

4,761 posts

122 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
A few years ago I tried both kept in the garage and kept on the drive, they were both the same price.

Surely the question is where is the generally kept, what if you go for a long week in Manchester does your car stop being insured at 6pm?

BUG4LIFE

Original Poster:

2,332 posts

233 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
rhamnousia5 said:
That reason is nonsense. It doesn t matter that your mate works in insurance, he doesn t work in an area that understands premium and risk. There are very, very few single underwriting items that alter a premium to a noticeable amount (age is the main one). What happens with insurance is a multitude of factors are run through an algorithm that differs by insurer based on experience. However, many of these factors are not a straight line between risk, premium and claim. It can be a correlation, that leads to the famous it makes no sense comment on here. It may be that drivers who keep their car in a garage are more likely to have a claim whilst driving compared to those who park on their driveway.

In reference to the OP it s unlikely to matter and unless the policy specifically states that the car must be garaged at home overnight, then it will be irrelevant. An insurer cannot enforce something that is just used as a tool to generate a premium, rather than an explicit condition of insurance.
If I go with garaged I'll have to have a read of the t&c's to see if it does have a 'must be parked in the garage between such and such hours' condition. Finding it in the t&c's might be a challenge in itself though!

I remember last year, the guy at Howden changing the details on my policy after I mentioned that I'd like to able park in the garage and driveway, as the garage only option had that very condition.

All very annoying as there should just be the option of both! I do kind of have the same problem with 'daytime vehicle location'. I work from home but occasionally work from shared working spaces, meaning the car is either in a multi-story or carpark of an office - again, here isn't an option that covers this!!

RicksAlfas

14,077 posts

259 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
Years ago (when you could speak to people) my friend asked them to run both quotes. The parking on the drive option was slightly cheaper than in the garage. The reason? Statistically people who parked in their garage made more claims as they would run into garage doors, door frames, tool benches, lawnmowers etc!

rhamnousia5

576 posts

9 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
RicksAlfas said:
Years ago (when you could speak to people) my friend asked them to run both quotes. The parking on the drive option was slightly cheaper than in the garage. The reason? Statistically people who parked in their garage made more claims as they would run into garage doors, door frames, tool benches, lawnmowers etc!
And the Urban Myth gets repeated again.

Seesure

1,207 posts

254 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
Personally, I've found it to be cheaper to say parked on the drive ...

I did ask why with one company and the answer was it's less risk as it more likely that damage is caused when manoeuvring in and out of the garage.. also having a 2nd named driver seems to pull the price down if it's your partner/wife/husband...

rhamnousia5

576 posts

9 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
Seesure said:
Personally, I've found it to be cheaper to say parked on the drive ...

I did ask why with one company and the answer was it's less risk as it more likely that damage is caused when manoeuvring in and out of the garage.. also having a 2nd named driver seems to pull the price down if it's your partner/wife/husband...
And it gets repeated again.

The second part is true about spouses / partners, or actually anyone who is older than you with a clean licence and no claims and is no secret.

Question for those claiming this is the reason. How much damage do you think is caused and at what cost that it would make a statistically significant impact to justify it affecting premiums?

Nothingtoseehere

4,613 posts

202 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
You can't have a 'both' option. It'll just be priced as the highest risk policy. They don't know if you'll park on the drive (say) for 1 day a year or 365 days in the year.

My policies all state that my cars need to garaged when at my home address between 10pm and 8am (or such like).

If you have a policy which covers you for parking on your drive, it will also cover you if your car is stolen from your garage.

If you have a policy that only covers you if your car is parked in the garage overnight, it won't cover you if your car is stolen from your driveway (during the specified hours).

Davie

5,578 posts

230 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
This sort of thing does irritate me, more so as you can bet the insurers will be happy to squirm out of a potential claim based on some trivial technicality on the policy but it really is a bit vague. I'm similar, have a drive and and garage and I asked the same question, ie would there be an issue if say one night the car was out and something happened and there was much muttering and staring at the floor and no real conclusive answer.

I did ask which was deemed higher risk and to run with that and I did get some garbage about how a garage is higher risk as you're more likely to hit the door frame or something will fall off a shelf. But weirdly, they then said the driveway was higher risk as it'd make the cars more of a theft magnet. I also had similar issue when asked who was the main driver or each car as my previous insurer seemed to have their minds blown by the fact I / we have two cars and neither of us" own" each of them. Who owns the cars? We do. Who is the registered keeper? I am. Who is the main driver... well I don't know as my wife drives one daily for few miles each day then I usually drive it on a weekend but go further.

Gets a bit pedantic but then again you don't want to be faced with the situation where the insurers are trying to body swerve a claim based on something that could be deemed a bit of a grey area, depending on the wording...

mmm-five

11,762 posts

299 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
When I asked, they just told me to pick the place where it was parked the majority of the time...which was on the road outside the house.

Got even more confusing when I told them it was parked outside 2 different addresses (Liverpool or London) for almost equal amount of time...so they told me that they'd use the highest risk location.

Then, whilst one of my cars was being recommissioned by a specialist over 200 miles away, they suddenly came up with a rule that they couldn't/wouldn't cover a car stored that far away from my home address.

Timbo_S2

621 posts

278 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
Nothingtoseehere said:
If you have a policy which covers you for parking on your drive, it will also cover you if your car is stolen from your garage.

If you have a policy that only covers you if your car is parked in the garage overnight, it won't cover you if your car is stolen from your driveway (during the specified hours).
This. All my cars are insured as parked in the driveway, for exactly this reason. Apart from the classic, which has to be garaged. So it is.

rhamnousia5

576 posts

9 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
Davie said:
This sort of thing does irritate me, more so as you can bet the insurers will be happy to squirm out of a potential claim based on some trivial technicality on the policy but it really is a bit vague. I'm similar, have a drive and and garage and I asked the same question, ie would there be an issue if say one night the car was out and something happened and there was much muttering and staring at the floor and no real conclusive answer.

I did ask which was deemed higher risk and to run with that and I did get some garbage about how a garage is higher risk as you're more likely to hit the door frame or something will fall off a shelf. But weirdly, they then said the driveway was higher risk as it'd make the cars more of a theft magnet. I also had similar issue when asked who was the main driver or each car as my previous insurer seemed to have their minds blown by the fact I / we have two cars and neither of us" own" each of them. Who owns the cars? We do. Who is the registered keeper? I am. Who is the main driver... well I don't know as my wife drives one daily for few miles each day then I usually drive it on a weekend but go further.

Gets a bit pedantic but then again you don't want to be faced with the situation where the insurers are trying to body swerve a claim based on something that could be deemed a bit of a grey area, depending on the wording...
I take it my posts are invisible so I’ll just say it’s a shame that they are as I’ve covered all of this Urban Myth nonsense already.

And it doesn’t matter who is the owner / keeper / pays the lamp etc on a car in a marriage. All assets are jointly owned in law. Insurers know this and don’t care either so you haven’t found some bizarre legal aspect that’s going leave them baffled. Oh and it’s pretty obvious you’re the main driver as you state you do more miles in the car, but don’t let common sense allow you to answer a question, instead pretend the insurer is the one being awkward. Unless there’s a massive age difference between you where she’s under 25 and you’re in your late 30s onwards, they don’t give a stuff either. Again, not that difficult.

They can’t wriggle out of claims for something unless it’s stated explicitly as not covered, or a requirement of the policy. Garaging it rarely is unless you’re buying a highly specialised policy for a special type of vehicle.

Shame you can’t see any of this, though I doubt you’d accept it anyway.

BUG4LIFE

Original Poster:

2,332 posts

233 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
Nothingtoseehere said:
You can't have a 'both' option. It'll just be priced as the highest risk policy. They don't know if you'll park on the drive (say) for 1 day a year or 365 days in the year.

My policies all state that my cars need to garaged when at my home address between 10pm and 8am (or such like).

If you have a policy which covers you for parking on your drive, it will also cover you if your car is stolen from your garage.

If you have a policy that only covers you if your car is parked in the garage overnight, it won't cover you if your car is stolen from your driveway (during the specified hours).
Ha, how all very confusing! I am going to have to speak to someone at whoever I decide to go with, so not Aviva as I can't get a phone number. Carole Nash popped up on the list of quotes and I think have a phone number so might as well give them a go. If only Howden could be more competitive, I'd stay with them as I'm currently covered for both driveway and garage.

Pica-Pica

15,210 posts

99 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
rhamnousia5 said:
RicksAlfas said:
Years ago (when you could speak to people) my friend asked them to run both quotes. The parking on the drive option was slightly cheaper than in the garage. The reason? Statistically people who parked in their garage made more claims as they would run into garage doors, door frames, tool benches, lawnmowers etc!
And the Urban Myth gets repeated again.
No.

rhamnousia5

576 posts

9 months

Monday 14th July
quotequote all
Pica-Pica said:
rhamnousia5 said:
RicksAlfas said:
Years ago (when you could speak to people) my friend asked them to run both quotes. The parking on the drive option was slightly cheaper than in the garage. The reason? Statistically people who parked in their garage made more claims as they would run into garage doors, door frames, tool benches, lawnmowers etc!
And the Urban Myth gets repeated again.
No.
It is an Urban Myth. The amount of damage caused by people driving into and out of garages is so small that it will barely register on the overall claims costs and won’t make it statistically viable to alter a premium.