Car insurance

[deckhand]

Hi

 

Has anyone ever had any trouble getting car insurance whilst being a liveaboard? Just read on another forum of someone who had their car insurance cancelled by their insurer because they live at a Marina and that they live on a boat.

 

thanks

 

Kim

[matty40s]

no problem here, breakdown cover included too.

When I broke down (cam belt) in a traffic jam on Tottenham Court Road, the bloke was hoping that someone else was going to get the Blackpool trailer job. When I said just drop it at Tottenham Hale garage (by the lock - boat on the offside-50 yards away) he was very happy.

[mrsmelly]

Hi

 

Has anyone ever had any trouble getting car insurance whilst being a liveaboard? Just read on another forum of someone who had their car insurance cancelled by their insurer because they live at a Marina and that they live on a boat.

 

thanks

 

Kim

Never been a problem, if it is, bin the idiot company and use a better one.

 

Tim

[Guest]

Being devils advocate though do people always tell the ins. co. the full story about the circumstances of their keeping a vehicle??

 

Or do people say they live at a shore based address of a relative in order to get cover.

[jelunga]

 

Being devils advocate though do people always tell the ins. co. the full story about the circumstances of their keeping a vehicle??

 

Or do people say they live at a shore based address of a relative in order to get cover.[/quote

I am always totally open. To do otherwise risks your insurance being invalid since Ins Cos are notorious of finding the smallest crack to wriggle out of a claim. Also risk jail

[Guest]

Cheers yes _ I wonder how many do it though without fully realising the risks (not that they would admit to it here though)

 

I think it would be useful to list the the companies that are prepared to insure marina dwellers or live aboards.

[David Mack]

IIRC someone on here was told by their insurer that if the marina postcode was not designated as a residential address in their system then they were unable to quote. Not really a case of being unwilling to insure; more "Computer says no!"

[deckhand]

I think it is probably a case of "computer says no". We have enough difficulty insuring our vehicle as some of the sites wont recognise an import so I dont necessarily want the additional problem of the address too. It should not be that difficult though.

[Higgs]

I gave my last insurance company of 13 years the boot, because they increased my insurance from £210 to £493 - for being on the dole.

 

Well, I'm working now and not interested in insuring the car against damage, all I want is to insure myself to drive 'the' car and want cover for myself and for any possible damage I may cause to others.

 

The car isn't a banger, but can I get some kind of insurance for a car, but not about the car's value, repair or replacement or security.

 

I'm licenced to drive a roadworthy car, why do I have to insure it specifically. Whatever the car's worth, I'll stand the costs personally and make any excess, the value of the car.

 

Really trying to remove the car's value from the equation. ??

[Grace and Favour]

Higgs: - - can you not just enter the car's value at a nominal sum . . say - - £300?

[Higgs]

Higgs: - - can you not just enter the car's value at a nominal sum . . say - - £300?

 

I don't know, I just don't know why the car, a standard car, should be insured against its value or where it is being kept, when all I want is to be insured to drive it.

Edited June 26, 2013 by Higgs

[Paul C]

I gave my last insurance company of 13 years the boot, because they increased my insurance from £210 to £493 - for being on the dole.

 

Well, I'm working now and not interested in insuring the car against damage, all I want is to insure myself to drive 'the' car and want cover for myself and for any possible damage I may cause to others.

 

The car isn't a banger, but can I get some kind of insurance for a car, but not about the car's value, repair or replacement or security.

 

I'm licenced to drive a roadworthy car, why do I have to insure it specifically. Whatever the car's worth, I'll stand the costs personally and make any excess, the value of the car.

 

Really trying to remove the car's value from the equation. ??

 

You don't actually need an insurance policy to drive a car on the UK roads - you can deposit a bond at the High Court of £500,000 instead. (Road Traffic Act 1988 s.144(1).

[Higgs]

 

You don't actually need an insurance policy to drive a car on the UK roads - you can deposit a bond at the High Court of £500,000 instead. (Road Traffic Act 1988 s.144(1).

 

 

What's that, in milk-bottle tops?

[Starcoaster]

When I did my insurance, the company asked if the address I registered the insurance at is the address that the vehicle is usually stored at or is usually stored at overnight. Saying 'no' gave the option to input the address of the car park I used for the mooring I was on and that is some 200 miles from the 'home' address.

Edited June 26, 2013 by Starcoaster

[deckhand]

When I did my insurance, the company asked if the address I registered the insurance at is the address that the vehicle is usually stored at or is usually stored at overnight. Saying 'no' gave the option to input the address of the car park I used for the mooring I was on and that is some 200 miles from the 'home' address.

 

I am surprised that they accepted a car park as an address. must have been registered on their system? did it affect the price of your insurance?

[Starcoaster]

It's not a public car park, it's a gated car park belonging to a business, with a post code.

My insurance is for a motorbike and it's low anyway, but when I played with different address options to see how that affected the quote it only ever varied by a pound or two.

 

Think of all the people who store their car in a garage that is not attached to their house? I reckon that having a different overnight or storage address/postcode is not that uncommon.

[tillergirl]

we had this whilst in the marina over winter............car registered at one address - usually parked at another............the result was the insurance premium was more because of the postcode it was kept at (a Liverpool postcode) even though it was a tiny village about 30 miles away from Liverpool itself!

[simon&jan]

When i changed my motorbike insurance , they said they classed living on a boat as no fixed abode!!! And they wouldnt cover me , so had to cancel after 10 yrs with them, could not believe it , this is the 21st century after all !!!!!

[mayalld]

 

I don't know, I just don't know why the car, a standard car, should be insured against its value or where it is being kept, when all I want is to be insured to drive it.

 

Because the insurance company sets a premium based upon what it percieves the risk to be.

 

Their view is that people who insure third party only are actually a higher risk than those who insure fully comp.

 

Add to that the fact that paying out on damage to the insured vehicle is actually a minor outlay compared to third party outlay, particularly on a throwaway car.

 

As a result, TPO and TPFT are very little cheaper (or even more expensive than comprehensive

[Higgs]

 

Because the insurance company sets a premium based upon what it percieves the risk to be.

 

Their view is that people who insure third party only are actually a higher risk than those who insure fully comp.

 

Add to that the fact that paying out on damage to the insured vehicle is actually a minor outlay compared to third party outlay, particularly on a throwaway car.

 

As a result, TPO and TPFT are very little cheaper (or even more expensive than comprehensive

 

Insurance companies suit themselves, have scams with other businesses.

 

As for risk assessment - that doesn't ring entirely true from my experience. For instance, I had an insurance company for 13 years, their risk wasn't obvious to me. Only one thing had changed - I wasn't working. Now, they may see reason to re-evaluate an otherwise clear record and suddenly more than double my premium, but to me, it just sucks of nonsense and disloyalty.

 

I think the risk was all mine, for treating them to so many years of support.

[mayalld]

 

Insurance companies suit themselves, have scams with other businesses.

 

As for risk assessment - that doesn't ring entirely true from my experience. For instance, I had an insurance company for 13 years, their risk wasn't obvious to me. Only one thing had changed - I wasn't working. Now, they may see reason to re-evaluate an otherwise clear record and suddenly more than double my premium, but to me, it just sucks of nonsense and disloyalty.

 

I think the risk was all mine, for treating them to so many years of support.

 

Insurance companies don't do an individual risk assessment , because to do so would cost a lot of money.

 

Instead, they look at a range of factors and look at statistics as to how that factor affects risk taken at a population level. If the stats say that unemployed people have more accidents, then they will weight the premiums for unemployed people.

[Higgs]

 

Insurance companies don't do an individual risk assessment , because to do so would cost a lot of money.

 

Instead, they look at a range of factors and look at statistics as to how that factor affects risk taken at a population level. If the stats say that unemployed people have more accidents, then they will weight the premiums for unemployed people.

 

 

Well, I guess this is because we have alot of faceless wonders who no longer deal face to face with their customers. So, any mention of the 'individually catering for the needs of our appreciated customers' is just so much drivel that we all have to endure these days.

 

The idiots who were my insurers thought that, rather than informing me of the re-evalution, they would just let me find out when my usual renewal details didn't arrive and I called for an explaination. They did however manage to send me a flyer by the due date informing me of their merits. ??

Edited June 27, 2013 by Higgs

[tillergirl]

Direct Line told us the biggest factor to them is the postcode where the vehicle is "normally" kept. That is the main thing they base their premium on.They couldn't care less if you lived in a cardboard box as long as they have a postcode. Or as the man said " if the DVLA are happy for you to have a c/o address who are we to argue? What is the postcode where the vehicle will normally be parked?."

Edited June 27, 2013 by tillergirl

[Higgs]

Direct Line told us the biggest factor to them is the postcode where the vehicle is "normally" kept. That is the main thing they base their premium on.They couldn't care less if you lived in a cardboard box as long as they have a postcode. Or as the man said " if the DVLA are happy for you to have a c/o address who are we to argue? What is the postcode where the vehicle will normally be parked?."

 

I think I can give them a postcode. My car is parked alongside many other boaters' cars - I would just like to say to these other parkees, please stop using mine as a bumpstop when getting in and out of your cars. It was dentless. I shall not mention this to my next insurance company.