Van Insurance, absolute rip off!!

[Falkirk300zx]

Having watched the Direct Line advert on the TV offering 52 days free and with a tag line of "not doing things by half", yesterday I tried them for insurance for our Hilux.

By heck, £1650.00 for fully comp and that included the discount!

On the back of that, our insurer sent their renewal in, the premium doubled from £400 to just over £800. That was third party F&F!

Looked around and got a great deal but FFS quotes over £1500.00 (the majority of insurers) for a Hilux that doesn't even use the flat bed for storage! The other crazy thing is that if I owned a Hilux model that wasn't classed as a commercial vehicle, the price was a very acceptable sub £500 even adding in full business use FROM THE SAME COMPANIES!

Rant over!

 

[Astaroth]

TPFT insurance is increasingly often more expensive than comprehensive insurance on the same vehicle due to a number of factors but mainly because of the lack of competition in the market (a number of big players stopped writing the business a few years ago)

You would also need to ensure that the "full business use" is the same as a commercial policy - in many cases it isn't as you cannot carry supplies or goods for reward etc

 

[KDMINX]

Insurance companies make out that their prices are derived from highly scientific and accurate calculations of risk etc.

However observation leads me to believe that there’s someone in a room with a set of dice and some tarot cards!

 

[BCS]

We use the CO-OP insurance services for our three vans. All are any driver, any age, fully comp with tool cover. Its done on seperate policies and the combined cost is less than £1350 for all three vans. It may be worth giving them a try.

 

[Astaroth]

It is a highly statistical measure of the risk based on past experience and then layered on top is things like propensity modeling and A/B price testing etc

 

[KDMINX]

It is a highly statistical measure of the risk based on past experience and then layered on top is things like propensity modeling and A/B price testing etc

If that is true why do quotes vary so significantly?

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Because they don't always want your business, and instead of saying "p-off, you're too high a risk for us", they say "That will be £1652 please sir".

You only price competitively on the work/clients that you want.

 

[TheGuru2010]

Very good call, & to be honest i dont think i get many clients that state there best price is with direct line ( again they pick the business they want).

You state your with the CIS, when did you last renew as i thought they was pulling the plug on the commercial side of things, the £1350 is a v good premium, dont switch from them !!!

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Have you ever seen an employee driver take good careful care of their commercial vehicle?

 

[TheGuru2010]

Probs not to be fair, but if you was to make the driver pay the Excess on any fault claims i think this might help!

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Well we all know what white van men and their vehicles are like .

 

[Graemem]

Have you ever seen an employee driver take good careful care of their commercial vehicle?

Well we all know what white van men and their vehicles are like .

To be fair though, he's wanting to insure a Hilux... You can drop it off an exploding block of high flats and it'll still work

Maybe it's more to do with the destruction it would cause if it hit something

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

To be fair though, he's wanting to insure a Hilux... You can drop it off an exploding block of high flats and it'll still work

Maybe it's more to do with the destruction it would cause if it hit something

Have you EVER seen a hilux without a dent in it?????

 

[Graemem]

Have you EVER seen a hilux without a dent in it?????

Actually the last one I remember seeing did have some odd dents

 

[Falkirk300zx]

Perhaps your right yellowduck, it is a pretty tough piece of kit!

We found a good price for the Hilux on a commercial policy, less than £500 but still £100 more than last year though!!

Ours has the odd dent but unlike many, we actually use it off-road and it goes over some serious terrain. Quick respray before it goes back......

 

[WarbyGK]

I've never understood the Insurance for Commercial Vehicles, as my wife pays less for her Jag with just 2 years NCD then I do for my Vivaro with over 10 years NCD! Somethings wrong somewhere, surely?!

 

[Dogsbody]

Just to make your eyes water - the quote for my Transit LWB 59 reg with a fitted conversion in it, total value of £35,000, with me and daughter as only drivers, doing short local journeys, was £8000 !!!!

I've now got it insured for me only at £500 p.a. Admitedly daughter is only 18. But even so - Eight Grand......

 

[KDMINX]

Just to make your eyes water - the quote for my Transit LWB 59 reg with a fitted conversion in it, total value of £35,000, with me and daughter as only drivers, doing short local journeys, was £8000 !!!!

I've now got it insured for me only at £500 p.a. Admitedly daughter is only 18. But even so - Eight Grand......

Why did your 18yo daughter want to drive your transit?

 

[BCS]

You state your with the CIS, when did you last renew as i thought they was pulling the plug on the commercial side of things, the £1350 is a v good premium, dont switch from them !!!

Two of my vans have been with the CIS for over 15 years and one was added last year. These are not fleet insurance but individual policy vans.

On the age part of the policy we have always had younger drivers on the policy my son is now 21 has been on them since he was 17 and one of our girls who works with us is only 19. Going by the posts on here I count myself lucky to be with the CIS.

 

[TheGuru2010]

Two of my vans have been with the CIS for over 15 years and one was added last year. These are not fleet insurance but individual policy vans.

On the age part of the policy we have always had younger drivers on the policy my son is now 21 has been on them since he was 17 and one of our girls who works with us is only 19. Going by the posts on here I count myself lucky to be with the CIS.

To be honest with you the feel i get from the market is that CIS are trying to build a good quality profitable book (and doing very well at it by the sounds) as i speak to some comemrcial clients (fleet & none fleet) & even on the plant side who state that CIS are not offering renewal. So my best advise to you is stick it out with CIS as you may get offered a better deal one year but they will be buying your business in (on a hope to make money on changes & renewal) but then you will see a rise next year & will then be out of the CIS inner circle - So can we all add our commercial vehicles to your policy

 

[adventurelife]

I think a lot depends where you live. I have a van , a pick up and a land crusier all on a commercial policy for £1600.

That said no one under 25 can drive them

 

[Billmccallum]

I count myself lucky to be with the CIS.

Have you actually had to make a claim on these policies?

I was in an accident two years ago, I was parked and a HGV hit my car when he turned a corner.

I asked CIS to invoke my legal cover and chase the other drivers insurer. Over a year later they told me that the driver had denied responsibility, was no longer working for the company, was not contactable and the insurer refused to pay up. They advised me that they could get a 50% deal from the insurer, so the £1600 repair bill cost me £800.

 

[KDMINX]

Have you actually had to make a claim on these policies?

I was in an accident two years ago, I was parked and a HGV hit my car when he turned a corner.

I asked CIS to invoke my legal cover and chase the other drivers insurer. Over a year later they told me that the driver had denied responsibility, was no longer working for the company, was not contactable and the insurer refused to pay up. They advised me that they could get a 50% deal from the insurer, so the £1600 repair bill cost me £800.

Jesus you could have got out of that one in about 5 mins!

Just fill out te form for the small claims court. Thely'll never turn up over £1600! Why do people let these insurance companies bully them? The law surrounding 3rd party motor insurance is overwhelmingly in favour of the claimant.

 

[Billmccallum]

Jesus you could have got out of that one in about 5 mins!

Just fill out te form for the small claims court. Thely'll never turn up over £1600! Why do people let these insurance companies bully them? The law surrounding 3rd party motor insurance is overwhelmingly in favour of the claimant.

Forgot to add the caveat....the insurance is in my wifes name... CIS rang her and told her if she did not accept they would not be able to recover anything.

 

[KDMINX]

Forgot to add the caveat....the insurance is in my wifes name... CIS rang her and told her if she did not accept they would not be able to recover anything.

It was probably more like:
“The other insurance company are offering you 50%, they say if you want more you will have to take them to court”

The answer is always “court please”.

If they weren’t liable they wouldn’t have offered a penny.

 

[Simply Business]

I've read some of the posts in here asking why insurers quote differently with the same vehicle. Differences can be huge.

Main reasons:

- area code (try a different postcode in a quote form and see what happens). Some insurers classify certain area codes more risky and thereby increases the premium

- type of van

- type of business you have

Some insurers can temporarily stop accepting new policies for commercial vans and focus more on other insurance products. They don't stop selling policies, they simply increase the price to a level you basically don't want to buy the insurance.

We but also other websites offer comparison between insurers for you van. Just ignore the ridiculous priced insurers

 

[BCS]

Have you actually had to make a claim on these policies?

Yes on two of them one of our workers decided to take the tall price adverts from the foundation of a local petrol station and the other was msashed by a lorry when they were parked. As the first was our fault it was sorted easily the other was resolved with hire van costs refunded and repairs done within a four week period.

I did have the CIS for home insurance and life cover but changed after bad experience with the home cover.

 

[drunknmonk]

I have just put 2 vans on fully comp any driver over 25 £915 for both
[trickettsinsurance.co.uk

Gary