Down sizing fun facts

[Steve A]

I just thought I'd share my experience of what I thought would be a straight forward process, but I was a bit surprised with what my insurer had to say
Long story short :We are now both retired and don't really need three cars so we're selling two "daily's "and getting a newer one (the Elan is the third car and not being sold).
I have no claims on the car registered to me and my wife has likewise. The Elan is on a classic insurance policy, but I have no no-claims on this as you can't have two no claims running at once.
What I thought I would do is keep my wife's no claims going on the newer car, and I would then move my no claims to the Elan policy thus keeping mine going, or so I thought.
I was told because my Elan policy is a classic it will not allow me to have no claims, in fact as soon as I sell my car I must inform my insurer and my policy will be canceled because the Elan will be my only car, and most classic policies insist that the classic must not be your only car.
It's a bit frustrating as the Elan will still be sorn for six months, but it looks like this will cost me more money.

[Fredjohn]

Steve
Simple answer is to put your daily in your name and insure with you as the main driver, using your NCB and with your wife as a named driver, advising them of her NCB.

You can then keep the Elan on a classic policy.

[Steve A]

Steve
Simple answer is to put your daily in your name and insure with you as the main driver, using your NCB and with your wife as a named driver, advising them of her NCB.

You can then keep the Elan on a classic policy.

Yeah I did suggest that, it works in the short term, but after a couple of years she will loose her NCB, and if something happens to me, she will struggle to get insured,
we're not getting any younger

[MPx]

Easy Steve...give up the mistaken thought that you only need two cars. Keep a daily each and then get your wife a classic too. Worked for me....

[Dave Eds]

Who is the classic insurance with Steve?

[Steve A]

Who is the classic insurance with Steve?

The broker is: 2Gether insurance
Ageas is the company

[dapinky]

Okay, here's an 'outside the box' answer.......

Have L as the registered keeper of the daily, with her NCB..... transfer the Elan to her (on the V5c) and insured on the classic policy......

It is a recognised principle that the registered keeper is not the owner by right.

However, I don't think that it is a problem for her to be the owner of the daily, and you still to be a named driver on it (which can maintain your NCB entitlement anyway), and when it comes to the Elan, you can still state that you use "her" car as your main vehicle, and the Elan as a secondary.

Failing that, it may be a case of phoning another broker to see what they can do for you (Footman James and Peter James are 2 companies who are actually brokers not insurers.... and also 'A Plan' are meant to be good at sorting out odd situations.)

[Tuga2112]

i am aware of the non-sensical insurance quirks your refering too.

theres a lot of stuff about insurance that contradicts (not so) common sense.

something worth considering is being the main driver in the car for 2 years and then having your wife as the main driver for 2 years. that way neither the yours or mrs NCD is void from lack of use.

I currently have 2 insurance policies. the 4runner has a normal policy with 5k, and the other policy used to be a classic policy limited to 10k on Elan + 2 celicas + MR2.
2 years ago i added to the list a the blue car as well as an Alfa spider. the policy became a "multi car/fleet" policy. the mileage became unlimited and i saved 200 quid.... i asked how much it would be to add my mum to the policy, and there was no aditional cost... 4 months later my brother needed a car urgently and he got added to the same policy for the aditional cost of the admin fee...

I have came to the conclusion that insurance prices are based heavily on statistical historical data. and from observation of quotes, the data appears to be grouped by policy type, the less data they have about scenarios similar to yours, the less claims are historically recorded against your "profile" meaning that you get a cheaper quote.
I mean.. who the hell is running a "fleet" of 7 90's sports cars ? maybe a rental company from back then.. and even then seems unlikely.

Maybe one day end up writing software for this industry, my previous experience in car finance industry probably puts my CV ahead of many. if that ever happens, ill report back

[Steve A]

I've looked through the Elan policy and can't find anything that states that it must not be my only car.
Nothing has really changed with the use of the car, it still has a limited milage. I understand that like many classic policy's
You can't have a NCB with it, but I fail to see why I would have to cancel it and start another
I would have thought I could let my Elan policy runout before changing to a policy that I can use my NCB on.
Or maybe swapping NCB on the daily every two years is worth exploring.

[Dave Eds]

I'd be talking to other classic car insurers mate because it sounds like a load of bollox (bless you Sy )

I understand that you cant use or attract NCB on your classic policy, but it doesn't sound correct that you need another policy running on another car (where you may or may not be attracting NCB anyway!). I used the Elan as my only car (albeit within the agreed annual mileage ) after the Evora write off was paid out and the policy cancelled by the insurer as a matter of course

You're on agreed value with the Elan? It's a one off premium with no partial refund regardless of whether you cancel the policy part way through it's full term? Shop around, see what you find......

[Simon_P]

I'd be talking to other classic car insurers mate because it sounds like a load of bollox

Nothing to stop you having more than one NCB on more than one car, but you can't use the same NCB on more than one car - you even used to be able to split it in two and use half on each policy.

You insurance asks something like "is this your main vehicle" or "do you have use of another vehicle" to which the answers are no and yes - you can easily evidence that it isn't your main vehicle as you SORN it. So it might technically be "your only car" but that isn't the question.

Normal Insurance asks if you are the registered keeper - If you aren't you need to be spouse or child/parent - ie close family so no problem if it is registered in either name and no need to change registered keeper.

NCB expires after a gap of 2 years so you might need to switch between you who is the policyholder to keep both NCB going.

When I sold my daily driver and had no normal insurance cover the classic car broker gave me a months grace.

What quotes do you get for the Lotus on a normal policy? and what is the downside?

Its never been unusual to have a single shared main car.

Hope that helps!

[Steve A]

It's time to look for the best insurance policy for my Elan.
I managed to find several companies that will let me use my spare NCB on a classic policy which gets a big tick from me,
and another bonus is, the car I have access to doesn't have to be registered in my name, another big tick.
I thought I'd found a cracking policy from Peter Best, it's still quite good, but you have to read the small print twice
Some of the bullet points for £150
Agreed value
EU cover
Salvage retention
Spare parts
Accidental damage
Audio cover
Fire and theft
Loss of keys
Medical expenses
Personal accident
Personal belongings
Personal registration plate
Third party property
Windscreen cover

I was particularly impressed with the added breakdown cover, but this is where it all went a bit wrong for me
On the quoting page it advertised the breakdown cover :

"UK Roadside Recovery
Recovery to a destination of your choice anywhere in the UK if the breakdown occurs more than a quarter of a mile from your home address or the normal place of garaging and the vehicle cannot be repaired by the end of the working day."

That's great I thought, I'll have some of that, but when I started to buy the policy the breakdown wording changed to:

"If the insured vehicle cannot be repaired within one hour at the scene of the breakdown,
we will pay for the cost of transporting the insured vehicle, driver, and passengers, to one
of our approved agents or if the breakdown happens in the United Kingdom, your home
address provided it is nearer."

So that sounds like UK just to our nearest garage cover, and not "to a destination of your choice anywhere in the UK"
How many people have signed up for this policy thinking they have UK recovery ?
It's misleading to the point of dishonesty

[TrevorK]

I used Aviva. I switched to them because they were cheaper than other quotes I got for my MR2 Roadster on a limited mileage, classic car policy. I had to have the use of another vehicle in the household (my son's Motability car which is what we normally use). My insurance was due for renewal at the end of this month and their quote was £30 less than last year's premium.

Unfortunately, the MR2 got sideswiped by an artic a couple of weeks ago. Aviva were straight on it. Unfortunately, it was declared uneconomic to repair and the car was collected and I was paid out within 2 weeks of the accident happening and I've received from the m my proof of no claims bonus.