Mods declared To The Insurance Company

[culzean]

when kath passed her driving test i rang the insurance company to let them know and they charged me an extra £50,i asked why and was told that she will be making decisions by herself with no guidance from another driver ,my reply to them was she has been riding a scooter for 7 years and has been making those decisions everyday so she is used to decision making i was still charged £50 .

IMHO riding on two wheels is excellent for teaching people about weather conditions, road surface awareness and defensive driving all of which probably never sink in if you start your driving in a air-conditioned fug-box (car).  On two wheels not being aware of the affect of ice and water (and spilled Diesel fuel) on the road can lead to more than just a little sideways skid - they can leave you in hospital.  Lets face it, the weather is a minor inconvenience in a car, you never really notice it, difficult to ignore on two wheels when you are cold / wet / being buffeted around.  As for defensive driving / hazard awareness you are constantly watching other drivers especially when you are on main road and they are waiting to pull out (are they looking at you / are they messing with their phone / have they seen you / I better slow down and cover my brakes just in case).   You are more vulnerable on two wheels and you develop skills to compensate - most motorbikes have power to weight ratio and levels of performance unheard of in any car - (example a 600cc Honda CBR will do 0-60 in 3 seconds and 160mph) even some +400cc scooters now will see most cars off. 

I think that Kath having spent 7 years on two wheels should have meant a reduction in insurance cost.

[VicW]

Insurance companies calculate their premiums from statistics based on driver claims. It does not take into account individual circumstances or individual abilities.

If driver type A has more claims than driver type B then type A pay higher premiums.

A simple example is the fact that drivers with a speeding offence on their record are considered to be potential ignorers of the law so with most companies their premium is higher even if they have taken the driving course option and not the points.

Vic.

[guest5079]

I think Culzean has made an excellent point. Riding motorcycles/scooters is a very good grounding for any driving. Certainly, if taken seriously, I say this observing some learners, it teaches a very good grounding in recognising the perils of extreme weather and the people that have only ever driven cars. Being now an old 'F***t' and too crocked up with arthritis, I am as guilty as the next in forgetting one thing drummed into us and that was the life saver.  Looking over the shoulder BEFORE a manoeuvre.  I rode a m/c for some 16 yrs, I know I covered a good 100,000 with my old 250cc Fanny Barnett. I also had the benefit of a 3 week course to enable me to ride a m/c for the constabulary. I was able to ride one before but I was told they had to make the numbers up. I learned a lot. Yes I have sat on my bum a few time but that was the learning curve, it does seem however that Insurers are manned by City types who drive around in their BMW X5's. To many, a m/cyclist is a pain in the neck. From observation the modern driving test for motor cycles seems to be rather lax. This again from observation, it makes me cringe to see a motorcyclist take a right hand bend on the centre line leaning across the path of oncoming vehicles. Right hand bend on the n/s and a left hand bend on the outside. This gives more vision of the road ahead and believe it or not to the boy racers you cover ground just as quick as the race boys cutting corners, it's also safer. The human head does not compete well with the motor car and that is from experience of picking the bits up. The point of my grumble. Keep you wits about you, try and remember the less claims you make means less premiums you pay. It is amazing the attitude of the protected no claims people, I might as well claim, it costs me nothing. Think again!!!!!!!!!!No I 'm not a goody two shoes I got done for speeding in 1964!!!!!!!!!!!!!and I have a protected no claims bonus. Yes, I also exceed the speed limit BUT ONLY ON a derestricted road depending on traffic!!!!! Oh I am a naughty boy.

[guest2913]

same fight I point up as well, riding a bike is alot more of risk than a car, one you can go faster, more likely to claim as they 2 wheels and 3 every time you ride it's you and the road and one error can be the end of life for your self but the jazz has that thing called a shell which I've expereinced can take some hell of banging around hehe

[babybadger]

I have to say the insurance companies  should be more interested in what tyres you have on the car, tyre grip and braking is more important, ABS only kicks in when the tyre is not gripping and is slipping, I have Michelin pilot road 3s on my Honda hornet and I can nearly get my knee down in the wet!


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[madasafish]

My experience of motor cyclists is that many drive insanely, speed in 30 mph limits, overtake as if trying to commit suicide and kill themselves in the process. It happens weekly round here: we have the most dangerous roads in England  : Leek - Buxton, Snake Pass and Congleton to Buxton. The police have to patrol by helicopter to save motorcyclists from themselves.

Not all motorcyclists of course- but a sizable minority... (One seriously injured three weeks ago hitting an oncoming cars as the biker was passing a car on a blind bend- within a mile of our house). And a high profile muppet videoing himself at 150mph http://tinyurl.com/ogsgw5o

[culzean]

Myself (and the police by the way) always watch out for the bikers wearing flashy leathers as their ego normally far exceeds both their ability and their respect for other road users.    I am a biker, but don't lose my innate self preservation instinct when I get on two wheels,  and am as amazed as any non-biker at the stupid way some riders behave on the road,  including that they think double white lines and speed limits just don't apply to them. Another thing that bothers me is that bike manufacturers go to great lengths to make bikes quiet,  and the first thing the numpties do is either remove the baffles or fit silencers clearly marked ' for track use only' because they are so loud - they are not winning any friends for bikers by riding around sounding like a pneumatic drill with wheels on.

[degzi]

Insurance fluctuates vastly too, by variants on your postcode. I had the opportunity to do a little experiment on this.

The guy across the road had his windscreen smashed few years ago. A few weeks later my then neighbour had her tyres slashed. It sound like I live in a war zone but it's not that bad now.

My insurance was quoted an extra £50 that year. I managed haggle it back down.


However an interesting fact this year is that I cannot get it lower whatever I try, I'm sure all insurance companies share quotes and details, it's like Google gone mad.

Anyways it's up to them to prove its modified and not a honda copy properly fitted. And then that it caused an insurable loss. However badly fitted parking sensors can't cause your brakes to fail etc. Don't let them scare monger you that's how they make money, if anything argue for a discount as you have de valued your car by fitting a non approved certified honda part, thus having a lower resale value.

[Beaver]

In 2014 I wanted to fit a RoadHawk dashboard camera to my Jazz and would have preferred it to be hard-wired in by a professional auto electrician.

I phoned my insurers to state that I had not yet added the camera, but wanted their advice whether it would affect my annual premium if I had the camera fitted and was told that as it was modifying the vehicle, my premium would increase.   On a change of insurer this year, I repeated my request and was again told that the premium would increase if I modified the vehicle, even if it was with a device that some consider a safety item.

The end result is that I have two cameras now (forward and rearwards) but both fitted as a temporary installation that can be easily removed in less than 30 seconds.   This ties up my 12v socket with a double adaptor and makes for a messy looking lower centre console.   Basically the same as when using a SatNav.

I can understand when an insurer charges more for some cosmetic or performance enhancing "boy racer" type change to a vehicle, but not with an item such as a recording camera.

After all, if a camera was hard-wired in and I was involved in an incident, the camera might actually clear me and save my insurer a payout to other parties, or damn me by exposing something I'd done wrong in which case my insurer might choose not to pay me at all in some cases.   Either way, I'd have to have a superb excuse if I claimed not to have recorded an incident - as it is, I have the option of ripping out the cameras and playing dumb if I was in the wrong, as the insurer doesn't know of their existence.

[culzean]

If you fit something to the car which adds value or may attract attention of a crook (dashcams are very nickable) and in any case you may claim  if the cameras get damaged in an accident then the insurance company may well increase your premium. 

They take the view that any modified car will cost more to return to its original state after an accident or theft,  and a cosmetically modified car may be classed as more attractive to thieves. 

Insurance companies are hard headed business people who deal with statistics and facts and look at you and your car from a drivers age perspective (younger drivers have more accidents - as proved by statistics), and at how attractive / nickable your car is.   The Insurance premium you pay is only the stake in a bet you make with them as to how likely something  is to happen to your car, the more likely the lower the odds and the higher the premium, but unfortunately if nothing happens they don't give you your stake back (just a bit of no-claims for next time).

[Beaver]

A fair point!

[richardfrost]

Insurance companies are hard headed business people who deal with statistics and facts and look at you and your car from a drivers age perspective (younger drivers have more accidents - as proved by statistics), and at how attractive / nickable your car is.

Exactly. I used to work for an insurance company. One of the reasons I bought my first Jazz, the 2005 GD I still have, was that it was the cheapest car to insure for my 20 year old newly qualified son to drive. I was able to spend £1,100 on Insurance and get a £3,000 car, instead of spending £3,000 on insurance and get a £1,000 car. We have just renewed his insurance for the third time and the fee has dropped to £450, which is great for a 22 year old lad with two year's no claims.

The Jazz is seen as a modest car with a low nick-ability value. No young tearaway would want to be seen in a Jazz, apparently, but my son loves it. He is a filmmaker and has been using it this last two weeks as a van and a store for his film props!

[harry22673]

Insurance companies are hard headed business people who deal with statistics and facts and look at you and your car from a drivers age perspective (younger drivers have more accidents - as proved by statistics), and at how attractive / nickable your car is.

Exactly. I used to work for an insurance company. One of the reasons I bought my first Jazz, the 2005 GD I still have, was that it was the cheapest car to insure for my 20 year old newly qualified son to drive. I was able to spend £1,100 on Insurance and get a £3,000 car, instead of spending £3,000 on insurance and get a £1,000 car. We have just renewed his insurance for the third time and the fee has dropped to £450, which is great for a 22 year old lad with two year's no claims.

The Jazz is seen as a modest car with a low nick-ability value. No young tearaway would want to be seen in a Jazz, apparently, but my son loves it. He is a filmmaker and has been using it this last two weeks as a van and a store for his film props!

That's what I look forward to with mine
Being 20 at the moment its high
Was £1500 with a box but keep it long enough and it'll pay off

[guest5079]

It saddens me to read these tales of woe over Insurance companies. I have been insured with More Than for many years and I do think at times that I might pay too much BUT as I wrote on April 5th last, whenever I have contacted my broker about extras I have always been told no problem no surcharge. My windscreen is covered with no excess and when I had a screen go ( some nice little chap drew a cross on it) it was replaced no argument. The next year no increase in premium. Several years ago in a supermarket carpark , my Wife trying to park was hassled by a motorist trying to intimidate her. She clipped a Micra. We didn't claim but we had waited around for the owner to come back and did the honest thing. He tried to screw us. I told the Insurer what the damage was and the claim was reduced. My premium was NOT increased.Neither did I have to pay any excess. The problem is, as we were told, that under a few thousand the Insurers don't send assessors due to the cost, so your friendly body repair shop who offers a free car is probably onto a good thing. I have already posted about a branch landing on the Jazz's bonnet. Estimate was from £250 to £400 ( Honda main dealer) It was done by the spoon method and I gave the chap my excess (£50) which was £15 more than he asked. No doubt I am paying a bit more than most BUT I can honestly say I don't feel as though I am being ripped off. Might change my tune next June on renewal BUT as I will be three score years and 15 no doubt my premium will start to climb. AS to youngsters driving, our hairdressers Son is just 20, he drives a Peugeot 208 special BUT his premium is quite low as he has a restrictor installed. He says it doesn't spoil his enjoyment. It is literally horses for courses.