Minibus Insurance - anyone know a company that will insure a 12 seater?

[misscutandstick]

we have just taken proud ownership of a 15 seater , but will take out 3 of the back seats to make way for buggies and shopping .

however we cant find many companies willing to insure us with such a large car - they expect it to be used for commercial purposes and dont have a 'category' for us, so wont insure.

the old minibus (apart from being on its very last legs) was getting a tad small, with 2 parents, 5 children, and childrens friends, and grandparents.. well we were running out of room, so a 15seater was calling.

SO... if anyone knows a company thats willing to insure us, one that you could reccommend, would very much appreciate any comments too! thanks XXX

Have you posted this on the childminders' topic as well, missc? They might know more about it.

How many of you are there? It's a bit late now you've got the 15-seater but would a 9-seater do instead? (Or wouldn't that make any difference?)

Ooooh - look here - family minibus insurance!!!

& another one

looks like you just have to ask a specialist insurer, not one that does family cars only

(FWIW we bought an 8-seater MPV in 1993 when they were still relatively rare, & there were car insurance companies then who wouldn't quote for anything over 7 seats - they said it must be a commercial vehicle if it had 8 belts ))

we currently have a 12 seater, with back row taken out for shopping and buggies (2y and 3y still need a buggy each - hate doubles) so it has 9seats and it does get crowded and overrun. The other problem is that they dont actually make 12 seaters anymore - so if we were to have one then it would be just as old as the one we have . So its either a 9seater (too small) or a 14/15 seater... back to where we started.

Thanks for the links - will check them out. Good idea about the childminders forum, but is a childminders insurance classed as business or domestic??? will check it out and see if anyone can help on there either. Thanks! XXX

PS ponders - WRT 8 seatbelts OMG, thats awful! what did you do? i was asked why we had a minibus, i explained that i couldnt get 5 children and both parents in a fiesta without strapping a few to the roof and I wasnt in favor of that...

Do you really need something bigger than a 9-seater? Does the whole family regularly go out together? Do you run extra people about regularly?
We looked into the minibus thing but decided that 2 small cars might be better as we didn't tend to regularly all go out together. (Only got the one car now due to finances).

hi im a child minder and yes its classed as buisness foe me but if u say its just for your family use dont say kids friends im sure one off the childminding insures will do it try motor minders thats who im with or look on the n.c.m.a national childminding assocation sure they can help ..

yes, we ALL go out together...

DS1 16yrs ADHD cant be left at home for safety reasons, DS2 11yrs is too young to be left too, as is DS3 9yrs, and DS4 3yrs and DS5 2yrs (autism). Shopping on-line is OK but because of food intolerances (DS2 and DS5 wheat/gluten intolerant, and DS5 is also intolerant to dairy, egg, soya, and others, DH cant eat onions or mushrooms, which by the way are snook into a million things you wouldnt expect, and i cant have nuts and mushrooms) it makes it easier to be able to read lables. As a mum of 9 im sure you can appreciate the volume of food a large family gets through, so the back row of seats need to be taken out to make room, as well as room for the buggies.

I need to be able to pick up kids from school 5.7miles away (no local bus service as out of catchment but its a brill school), and take DS1 to his part-time college courses (hes home-tutored for remainder of time, as hes still in yr11). I also have to take DS5 to numerous hospital appointments with other children in tow, complete with buggies (yes i have to have 2 as DS3 is the size of a 5yr old and makes a double buggy drag to one side). DH is a teacher so works during school hours and we always travel as a family over the weekends/evenings (ie library and such), because we WANT to. Neither one of us wants to convoy, and who would i get to convoy during the week?

Because of the never ending appts, i am extremely lucky in that very often a grandparent will lend a hand in looking after my children either with me or at my home, but they need transport to help.

Im not sure why i feel the need to justify our NEED for a minibus. and as ive explained 12seater buses just arent available, otherwise we'd have one of those instead - and a 9seater is too small with the back row out, and no room for shopping or buggies with it left in cant win. the only option left in this case is a 14/15 seater with the back row out). I was just hoping that someone on here was in a similar situation, and knew a good company i could use, rather than justify why im asking.

But if you could point me in the right direction of help, i would be most appreciative. XXX

Thanks missymoo, will have a look that way, thanks XXX

Not asking you to justify why you need a minibus just pointing out another option in case you hadn't thought of it. You obviously have considered it and decided it's not for you as you seem to do a lot more all together than we do.

And yes I do know how much food is involved with feeding a large family. I do food shopping when dh is in so that I don't always have to take everybody with me. Or if I have the car for the day, I do the shopping after I've dropped the kids at school so that I only have 4 of them with me.

You do whatever you want to do. I was only making a suggestion.

your welcome have just being onto the childminders bit and someone ha ask a simlar question about car insurence so have a look u might just need class 1 buisness

im sorry, must have taken it totally the wrong way - its difficult on here sometimes when you cant see a persons face to judge the way they are feeling, i thought it was odd as i see your posts and you are such a helpful person. many apologies.

The only time i dont have a hoard of children with me is after 7pm - when i cant think straight, string a coherent sentence together, let alone examine ingredients! I have shopped late some nights but i wonder round in a daze just enjoying some time without the kids and i come back with a trolley full of cake and nice things . Online shopping always fob you off with the worst mankiest kind of fruit and veg.

Whilst i agree that a minibus is not the only answer, we feel that 2 smaller cars is not really an option for us.

hi sticks u sound like yr doing a great job i know its hard ive 4 two have sen but not as servior as yours i dont know if it helps but is ther any local farms that can deliver veg boxes near u i found one 1 on google it helped us as with on line all the fresh stuff was bad and it worked out cheaper

missc, we were OK with the 8-seater because some companies didn't have a problem with it (luckily )

I hope you'll be able to get a reasonable premium from somewhere - do you have any no claims discount from the old one?

No problem.
Hope you find something that works well for you.

Dh has 14yrs no claims (passed when he was 19) and i have 3yrs no claims, took me ages to get organised and learn to drive.

Most 'online quotes' dont quote at all for our situation and just say either; we'll get in touch (which at this time of year is just not going to happen) or "we are unable to quote at this time" meaning "we dont actually insure cars like that". its very annoying.

try gladiator or some type of broker - they can do the leg work then???

we found a couple of specialist insurers, one was www.theminibusclub.co.uk and the other was wrightsure, but cant remember the web adress, nearly died at the price!!! £734 fully comp! was only half that with the last bus we had. Some quotes were 4 figures!!!

www.minibus-insurance.co.uk - link for wrightsure - half the price of minibus club!

just insured our 8 seater with them downsized from a 17 seater conversion minibus - we are a family of 3, both children on the autistic spectrum and also their friends with disabilities - it so works for us

anyway - i could never have car again

love dem buses too much!

smile;smile;smile

shoestring, we went with wrightsure eventually, it was the cheapest we found too.

Do they do 15 seaters?