Insurance prospects with 2 claims. Need advice!

[JonWB]

Hi all.

First post on the forum but have definitely benefitted from resources on here before so thanks.

I will try to do this concisely;
I've owned a lwb 18 plate t6 for 2.5 years. Bought it off a friend as a work van. It was great, loved driving it every day. At the start of this year, my wife wrote off our car. Had to claim on our (my) policy. I was due to get a company work van anyway and was wondering what to do with the t6, didn't really want to sell it so decided to turn it into a kombi. Got 3 seats and some windows fitted. Managed to insure it with brentacre despite the write off claim for about 600. My policy but wife is main driver and its insured for business use as she is a gardener and uses it for that.

Fast forward to recently when she had a very minor scrape against a parked car in the rain. The owners of the scraped car claimed against us which now puts 2 claims in 1 year against both of us. I got worried and called brentacre and they confirmed that they would not be able to insure us in the current arrangement (because of the 2 claims). Obviously we are still covered by them until the end of the contract (march next yr). I also did a quick check on LV with the mods and they also would not cover us.

My question is, am I stuffed? Someone on this forum must have experienced this before?!

 

[Bav]

Hi Jon.

If by "am I stuffed?", you're asking if you'll be unable to get insurance, then no, you're not stuffed. Anything on this planet is insurable against any risk you care to name - it's just a matter of the cost for that cover.

If you currently have NCB protection. then you usually wouldn't lose any NCB (this is subject to the specific Ts&Cs of your policy, but they usually allow 2 claims in a 3 year period before NCB is lost), but your claims history will still work against you. In this case you'll pay more, but it shouldn't be horrendous - you just need to find an insurer that'll accept your business.

If you don't currently have NCB protection, then you'll be stepped-back to zero NCB and your claims history will work against you. In this case, the cost is likely to be horrendous (sorry!) but this will depend on other major factors such as age and postcode. Again, you'll need to find an insurer that'll accept your business, except there's likely to be fewer of them, thus reducing choice further and increasing costs yet more.

To be fair, a £600 claim these days is trivial, so hopefully that won't `cause too many problems.
EDIT: Having re-read your post, I now realise that £600 was your premium following the write-off, not the cost of the claim itself.

Take a look at this thread for ideas on who you can call to try and get a quotation...

Insurance Companies

Heres a list of popular insurance companies mentioned by members along with a link to their respective websites Popular for modified vehicle policies A Plan - Car Insurance, Home Insurance and Much More | A-Plan - They have multiple offices (franchises ?) so you need to speak to the thatcham...

www.t6forum.com

Good luck!

 

[Dellmassive]

I was thinking the same yesterday.

It's just a matters of cost...they may charge you £2k for the year, but surely the insurance companies won't say No, go away?

We with A plan Thatcham branch - try them.

 

[DXX]

Managed to insure it with brentacre despite the write off claim for about 600

Is the figure of 600 correct, hard to see how a 600 quid repair bill could write off a van?

 

[WillWillWill]

I interpret that as: the cost of the new insurance policy with Brentacre was £600, despite having a written off vehicle on his history.

 

[CJW]

Is the figure of 600 correct, hard to see how a 600 quid repair bill could write off a van?

I read it as 'managed to insure with Brentacre despite the write off claim, for £600.'

 

[CJW]

Sorry - crossed posts.

 

[JonWB]

Sorry for the incredibly late reply to everyone, yes, I mis-wrote the post and I did mean to say 'managed to insure with Brentacre despite the write off claim, for £600.'

Thanks a lot Bav for your initial response to my post, very helpful, and thanks everyone else for your input.

I've always protected my NCD, so as the 2 separate incidents were in 2 separate insurance terms I still have the NCD intact just about.

I'm now about a month and a half out from having to renew and I'm bricking it a bit. Already tried the online quote thing with LV and they won't insure us.
I will work my way through the Insurance Companies link above and see where I get.

 

[Bav]

Sorry for the incredibly late reply to everyone, yes, I mis-wrote the post and I did mean to say 'managed to insure with Brentacre despite the write off claim, for £600.'

Thanks a lot Bav for your initial response to my post, very helpful, and thanks everyone else for your input.

I've always protected my NCD, so as the 2 separate incidents were in 2 separate insurance terms I still have the NCD intact just about.

I'm now about a month and a half out from having to renew and I'm bricking it a bit. Already tried the online quote thing with LV and they won't insure us.
I will work my way through the Insurance Companies link above and see where I get.

I understand your desire to try and sort this early - even if it's just a case of understanding the ball-park premium you're likely to be faced with - but you might want to read this thread before committing to an actual purchase...

The 20-26 day rule seems to work

So I had never really paid much attention to the research done by Martin Lewis and team that the best time to buy motor insurance was about 20 - 26 days before it was needed. But this year my LV multicar went from £420 to £720 with no change of circumstances. I did shop around a week ago, as...

www.t6forum.com

EDIT: Also, there are trade members on this forum that have negotiated member discounts with various insurers. Off the top of my head, I can only think of @The Van Cave, but there are others that someone might be able to point you to.

 

[JonWB]

Hi bav, thanks.
Is that just for the general info in the thread or anything in particular?

 

[Bav]

Just that there anecdotal evidence that getting your quotations within the 20-26 day window (prior to your renewal date) will likely get your best premiums.

 

[Bav]

The discount offered by The Van Cave...

10% Off A-Plan Insurance with The Van Cave

My van insurance is due for renewal soon so I’ve been phoning around. The quotes vary wildly. I’ve gone with Howden’s Thatcham branch as they were easy to deal with and offered a comprehensive policy. KGM are the underwriters. The Van Cave discount is still active so thanks to Chris for setting...

www.t6forum.com

 

[JonWB]

An update to this:

After spending a lot of time on the phone, we're finally insured with Adrian Flux for around £2k. Not ideal, but the vehicle really is in our current situation so all things considered we're just gonna suck it up and hope for a claim free future
Thanks for all helpful contributions.