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Relationships

Mumsnet has not checked the qualifications of anyone posting here. If you need help urgently or expert advice, please see our domestic violence webguide and/or relationships webguide. Many Mumsnetters experiencing domestic abuse have found this thread helpful: Listen up, everybody

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Original poster

A warning re car insurance after a relationship break up

32 replies

foxinsocks · 23/09/2013 19:58

I have just had the shock of my life when insuring my car. The car insurance before I THOUGHT was in joint names. I have just discovered it wasn't. This means that I thought I had almost 14 years of insurance history when in fact I have none as when you are not the policy owner or joint insured, you do not accrue any history as just the 'named' driver. a £600 insurance quote (based on having 14 years no claims history) has just turned into a £2100 quote :(

OP posts:

payhisdebt · 23/09/2013 20:00

try other insurers. I am sure you have already !

NickMyLipple · 23/09/2013 20:01

That's ridiculous. I have one years NCB and have been driving one year. I am mid twenties and have a 2 litre engine and mine is only £650! And I live in a crappy area in saaaaff landannn!

Original poster

foxinsocks · 23/09/2013 20:02

yes I did sadly and there isn't much I can do :(. Even the insurer I was with who KNOWS I didn't claim for 14 years won't do anything.

If I had my time again, I would insist on it being a joint policy. I thought it was :(. Wouldn't have cost any extra at the time either!

OP posts:

NickMyLipple · 23/09/2013 20:02

Oh, and that is business use based on 15000 miles!

Mintyy · 23/09/2013 20:04

So sorry to hear your sad news Foxy . You haven't been around for a while?

Original poster

foxinsocks · 23/09/2013 20:04

that is impressive Nick! Bloody insurance - it's such a rip off.

OP posts:

Original poster

foxinsocks · 23/09/2013 20:05

Mintyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

thanks x

no I haven't been around much :(. Have been busy sorting meself out

OP posts:

TakingThePea · 23/09/2013 20:07

Yes Foxi you don't earn no claims bonus as the extra driver.....

Nick who are you with?!?!?!?!

Mid twenties, crappy-ish area in NW London and on a 1.8 I got quoted around £3000 and with 1 year NCB!!
How is yours so cheap?!?!

nancerama · 23/09/2013 20:11

Have you tried Direct Line? I had similar issues as I'd been living outside the uk for 5 years and so all my records had been wiped. I was effectively a new driver and every quote I had came in at well over £1000 for a teeny Smart car.

Direct line insured me for less than £300.

samsonthecat · 23/09/2013 20:16

Yep, mine doubled when I left exh :( If it's any consolation it has been coming down slowly year by year.

NickMyLipple · 23/09/2013 20:18

I'm with diamond.. I was with direct line last year but they quoted me £1400 to renew. I payed £800 last year.

I also could have had a box fitted to my car with drive like a girl (?? Name) and it would have been £480 but I didn't like the sound of being tracked!!

I just used price comparison sites to compare prices. I got the occasional £1500 quote but nothing more!

NickMyLipple · 23/09/2013 20:20

Oh and my mum is a named driver on my policy too. That bought it down by 1/3 basically. Add an older woman, that's what I found was the best to reduce the cost.

voddiekeepsmesane · 23/09/2013 20:20

Sorry to be so blunt but how the hell did you not know you were not gaining no claims bonus as named driver? As a responsible adult accountable for my own life, even though I was named driver with DP for a few years, I made bloody sure I was getting something out of it. Sorry ignorance by the time you are in your thirties is a lame excuse.

Get ringing around there will be better quotes about.

WF · 23/09/2013 20:24

On a (related) tangent, if there is only ONE car in the household and the previously named first driver agrees to it, all their past years' no claims bonus can be transferred to you as a previous second driver.

This year, I organised the insurance and dh agreed that I should be first driver. I was transferred all his no claims bonus.

For those in shaky relationships, I'd say 'look after yourself and your financial security/future financial independence'.

Mintyy · 23/09/2013 20:31

I am the named driver in my household because my dh is a tv journalist and journalists have insanely high insurance premiums.

forumdonkey · 23/09/2013 21:04

It depends on your insurance company. I earned a NCB as a named driver and when I separated and changed the names on the insurance it didn't cost any extra. I'm with Direct Line why not give them a call and see if they will accept you were a named driver and hadn't claimed?

ThePinkOcelot · 23/09/2013 21:41

Have you tried everywhere Foxy? I was a named driver for years on DHs policy and when I got a car of my own, the insurance company took into account all the years I had been named. This was years ago now though, so perhaps they have changed the rules.

Original poster

foxinsocks · 23/09/2013 22:32

Because it didn't always used to be that way voddie. They have changed the rules (no doubt to earn more money)! And I don't drive very often to be honest, I just need a car so need to be insured. This isn't a 'little woman' type post fgs. I am totally financially independent - this was just the one (and only one) admin thing that ex dh sorted out!

I have called around. Tried go compare etc. Cheapest quote involves installing that little device in the car which I might go for especially given how little I drive!

Argggghhhh. None of this is easy is it :(

OP posts:

SmallBee · 23/09/2013 22:42

That's rubbish news, all I can advise is make sure you try a few price comparison sites & direct line (they aren't in any) Also Admiral or any of the companies owned by them are usually good.
If you're happy to get a black box in your car that might end up reducing your insurance eventually (depending on what diet of driver you are!) not all companies offer them but I think AA & Aviva do.

skyeskyeskye · 23/09/2013 23:05

I agree, to see if you can add an older person on. My friend kept her XH on the policy as it went up by over £200 by removing him as he was 11 years older than her.

This is why I have always had insurance in my own name, since the age of 21. My dad said I should be a named driver under him until I got married and then take my husbands insurance, I said no way! As it was I was 33 when I got married, so it's a good job I started my own insurance and I also kept my own insurance even after marrying, with XH named as joint driver.

Are there other things you can try, like this black box insurance? if you don't drive far, or at night, it might be a good one to try?

cahu · 23/09/2013 23:06

I was in same position a few years ago.... Found Tesco the cheapest.

exexpat · 24/09/2013 00:06

Try an actual, live, small, local insurance broker? They do still exist, and can be quite good at tracking down smaller insurance companies who are more flexible.

I returned to the UK after 12 years abroad with no driving history; the comparison websites were quoting in the region of £2k, if they would quote at all, but the broker got me fully-comp for under £900, and the premium has fallen every year since.

WeAreSeven · 24/09/2013 00:19

voddie it must be so nice to be you, perfect and all as you are! I am a grown-up responsible woman and it's only pure luck that dh and I each have our own car insurance policy and are named drivers on each other's policies. I am the person who deals with the gas bill, dh with the electricity bill simply because each of us happened to be the one who made the initial call to the respective companies when we moved in here 13 years ago. Same with the cars, and actually dh is the official name on the insurance for "my" car and vice versa because at various different times, one of us would be the one to pick up the kids and sometimes it would be the other.

foxy, keep ringing around. Someone will give you a decent quote!

BeCool · 24/09/2013 00:30

This year I brought a car. Was named driver previously for 5 years. I did get some NC credit but I had to prove I was named driver without claims etc.

Original poster

foxinsocks · 24/09/2013 08:25

Thanks everyone. I will keep looking around!

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