Free 1yr Insurance with VW and S5 Tracking Device

[Andy C Berks.]

The saga of the NCD continues - received a letter from VW today saying my evidence of the NCD doesn’t confirm transfer from the other vehicle and therefore isn’t valid! It does go on to say we have removed NCD from your policy but no further premium is due, but it isn’t exactly clear. So I have emailed them for clarification - will update when I hear more !

 

[Ianvonlux2023]

So here's the latest "erm" moment with the "free insurance". I paid the £57 for European cover and asked them to email me the Green Card. Apparently they don't send these out any more but they could send me the policy by email (after being told that they couldn't email it when I originally signed up). No problem, send me the whole policy.

The whole policy is a one page letter stating that the insurance is UK only.

Back to the phone and again was offered an email with the whole policy. I explained this explicitly excludes EU. So the agent offers to send me an email. This is what I received:

Hi,

Thanks for speaking to me today, I can confirm that you are covered comprehensive in Europe from the 04/07/2023 until 02/08/2023.

I hope this meets your requirements.

Many Thanks
VW
Support Team

Does anybody have any experience of this stuff? Will this be sufficient if I get stopped in France/CH?

I have no documentary evidence of the extent of my cover nor the geographical scope. This feels like a wind up it's so unprofessional.

 

[Grigio Van Grigio]

Worth looking here: https://www.mib.org.uk/making-a-cla...gistered-vehicle/green-card-system-explained/

It says “The UK is part of the Green Card Free Circulation Area (GCFCA), which comprises all 30 European Economic Area (EEA) countries as well as Andorra, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Switzerland. UK-based drivers do not need to carry green cards for their vehicles when travelling to these countries.”

I believe this is still up to date.

 

[Grigio Van Grigio]

At renewal you will have one year NCD on the VW policy. If you have another vehicle, at renewal it may be worthwhile switching over to your existing policy if it works out cheaper.

That makes sense. I will have a full NCD to transfer over to this policy, just not at the point of cover attaching (I will be selling my already insured van but not before I take delivery of my new one). However, as a NCD is valid for two years, I may as well wait until I can apply it at renewal/apply it to the replacement policy I choose to take out at renewal.

 

[RockinNRollin]

While you can only use previously accrued NCD on a single policy, if you take out a second policy to cover another vehicle then you will slowly accrue NCD on that one separately, so it’s possible to have two sets (or more!) of NCD. It’s also possible to “swap” the NCD, so let’s say policy 1 is for your Nissan Micra with peanuts insurance and you have 10 years NCD, policy 2 is for the Cali but you have only 2 years NCD on that. You could be tactical and when the policies renew (would have to happen at the same time for both) you could swap the 10 NCD to the Cali policy and use the 2 NCD on the Micra - the discount may save you more money that way. All you need are the proofs of NCD from both insurers and there’ll be no quibbles

 

[Grigio Van Grigio]

While you can only use previously accrued NCD on a single policy, if you take out a second policy to cover another vehicle then you will slowly accrue NCD on that one separately, so it’s possible to have two sets (or more!) of NCD. It’s also possible to “swap” the NCD, so let’s say policy 1 is for your Nissan Micra with peanuts insurance and you have 10 years NCD, policy 2 is for the Cali but you have only 2 years NCD on that. You could be tactical and when the policies renew (would have to happen at the same time for both) you could swap the 10 NCD to the Cali policy and use the 2 NCD on the Micra - the discount may save you more money that way. All you need are the proofs of NCD from both insurers and there’ll be no quibbles

That’s correct. We have a car and a Cali in our household (as I’m sure most of us do), each has its own NCD. I just won’t need a third!

 

[dspuk]

So here's the latest "erm" moment with the "free insurance". I paid the £57 for European cover and asked them to email me the Green Card. Apparently they don't send these out any more but they could send me the policy by email (after being told that they couldn't email it when I originally signed up). No problem, send me the whole policy.

The whole policy is a one page letter stating that the insurance is UK only.

Back to the phone and again was offered an email with the whole policy. I explained this explicitly excludes EU. So the agent offers to send me an email. This is what I received:

Hi,

Thanks for speaking to me today, I can confirm that you are covered comprehensive in Europe from the 04/07/2023 until 02/08/2023.

I hope this meets your requirements.

Many Thanks
VW
Support Team

Does anybody have any experience of this stuff? Will this be sufficient if I get stopped in France/CH?

I have no documentary evidence of the extent of my cover nor the geographical scope. This feels like a wind up it's so unprofessional.

You don’t need a green card anymore and it will be more than enough if stopped in Europe.

 

[Grigio Van Grigio]

Picking the van up on Thursday. Called VW Insurance to arrange the insurance. Sweet as a nut. They acknowledged that I don’t need to transfer my NCD, I just need to have a valid NCD on another vehicle.

Nice and straightforward. Just hope the tracker fitment happens on Wednesday when it should!

 

[Kayleigh]

Picking the van up on Thursday. Called VW Insurance to arrange the insurance. Sweet as a nut. They acknowledged that I don’t need to transfer my NCD, I just need to have a valid NCD on another vehicle.

Nice and straightforward. Just hope the tracker fitment happens on Wednesday when it should!

Excellent!!! I think VW Insurance are finally getting it

 

[NoviceCaliOwner]

Did everyone do their VW quotes through online?? I have just looked for a quote on my 2013 Ocean and been quoted about £120 more than my last Comfort Insurance policy... came in with VW online at £489

Adrian Flux was high at £570 - supposedly due to the high value of the vehicle (I said £35,000)

LV online through their Motorhome online quote system was £555.34

I've tried to contact Comfort about a renewal and they say I have to wait for an email to come through although I am driving to France on 31st July and will be abroad when the insurance expires so ideally want to sort it now before I head off......

Anyone had any favourable quotes recently and through who?? Phone or online ??

Thank you in advance

 

[Grigio Van Grigio]

Did everyone do their VW quotes through online?? I have just looked for a quote on my 2013 Ocean and been quoted about £120 more than my last Comfort Insurance policy... came in with VW online at £489

Adrian Flux was high at £570 - supposedly due to the high value of the vehicle (I said £35,000)

LV online through their Motorhome online quote system was £555.34

I've tried to contact Comfort about a renewal and they say I have to wait for an email to come through although I am driving to France on 31st July and will be abroad when the insurance expires so ideally want to sort it now before I head off......

Anyone had any favourable quotes recently and through who?? Phone or online ??

Thank you in advance

As I had the free insurance, I just phoned them up to arrange.

I did get a quote from LV prior to this that was excellent value. Not far off half of the quote from Safeguard who I’ve used for 11 years to insure my T4 Westfalia.

 

[Corradobrit]

Did everyone do their VW quotes through online?? I have just looked for a quote on my 2013 Ocean and been quoted about £120 more than my last Comfort Insurance policy... came in with VW online at £489

Adrian Flux was high at £570 - supposedly due to the high value of the vehicle (I said £35,000)

LV online through their Motorhome online quote system was £555.34

I've tried to contact Comfort about a renewal and they say I have to wait for an email to come through although I am driving to France on 31st July and will be abroad when the insurance expires so ideally want to sort it now before I head off......

Anyone had any favourable quotes recently and through who?? Phone or online ??

Thank you in advance

Inflation: Car insurance 'shock' as premiums rise 40%

Insurance now costs an average of £776 a year, £222 more than last year and the highest on record.

www.bbc.com

 

[Grigio Van Grigio]

My renewal for my T4 Westfalia has gone up £16 from last year. Not too bad bearing in mind some of the horror stories in the press. The media hate Insurers and are pretty biased against the (IMHO). Wasn’t so much fanfare when prices went down considerably during Covid.

 

[CaliforniaCylus]

I've just managed to secure the free 1 year's insurance. First number I had for VW Insurance (which is actually run by Direct Line) I called four times and either no-one could figure out what the product was or they said I wasn't eligible. So, don't call 0345 300 6119.

Call 0345 877 6452. They both answer as VW Insurance but at this number they know how to set it up. Kind of.

My first call yesterday said I didn't need a tracker and that I had to transfer the NCD from my main car.

Based on this thread I called back this morning and spoke to Sarah who was brilliant. All you need is 2 years without a claim (no need to transfer the NCD) but she also said I needed a tracker (which I've already had installed!).

She updated all the comments meticulously and clearly understands the product. Also, at the end of the 1 years free insurance, they are offering 2 years of NCD specific to this vehicle.

Bit of a result apart from the extra cost of EU insurance.

 

[Grigio Van Grigio]

I spoke to Sarah as well. She’s very clued up.

 

[Jimmylondon07]

Sounds like I need to speak to Sarah then! How long before collection did you guys call? I am having my tracker fitted on the 28th and collecting on the 31st

 

[Grigio Van Grigio]

Sounds like I need to speak to Sarah then! How long before collection did you guys call? I am having my tracker fitted on the 28th and collecting on the 31st

Be careful with that. Tracker was supposed to be fitted on Weds for Thurs pickup. The guy from ConnectMyCar turned in sick! Not a happy bunny at all!

I called VWFS about three days before.

 

[Jimmylondon07]

Be careful with that. Tracker was supposed to be fitted on Weds for Thurs pickup. The guy from ConnectMyCar turned in sick! Not a happy bunny at all!

I called VWFS about three days before.

Ha good to know, they’re fitting the tracker of another forum member at the same time as mine so they’ll have double the trouble if they play silly buggers

 

[CaliforniaCylus]

Sounds like I need to speak to Sarah then! How long before collection did you guys call? I am having my tracker fitted on the 28th and collecting on the 31st

10 days before collection, took 2 days to be fully sorted and paperwork is sent out in 7 days

 

[Grigio Van Grigio]

The saga of the NCD continues - received a letter from VW today saying my evidence of the NCD doesn’t confirm transfer from the other vehicle and therefore isn’t valid! It does go on to say we have removed NCD from your policy but no further premium is due, but it isn’t exactly clear. So I have emailed them for clarification - will update when I hear more !

Did you get this sorted? I’ve just got a letter from VWFS saying before they accept my NCD, they need to see the expiry date of the previous policy. This sort of suggests they still haven’t quite got it yet!

 

[Andy C Berks.]

Did you get this sorted? I’ve just got a letter from VWFS saying before they accept my NCD, they need to see the expiry date of the previous policy. This sort of suggests they still haven’t quite got it yet!

Its still rumbling on - very nice lady on the phone at VW Insurance about 4 weeks ago confirmed their policy for leisure vehicles as being that they only need evidence of >2 years NCD, rather than transfer of it from previous vehicle. But asked would I mind emailing my evidence of NCD again as previous person hadn’t saved it to my file, which I duly did. Two weeks ago I get a letter saying as I havent transferred my NCD they may consider my policy for cancellation. Handily that letter arrived 13 days after it was dated, saying I had 14 days to transfer it. I immediately emailed them saying please treat it as a complaint, and not heard anything since, that was 15 days ago. I have emailed a couple more times so I have evidence that I am being proactive. It’s still showing as insured on the MID database. Their letters infuriate me as all they ever say is please phone us - which we all know means half an hour on hold before get to speak to someone. As I keep pointing out to them, phone me you have my number, or email me. Several of their staff have confirmed their policy for leisure vehicles is that we don’t need transfer NCD, it also never said that in the marketing blurb (so that’s miselling of a regulated product if they want to get funny) - so am sure it’s just their back room staff don’t know the difference between a Cali and a car policy when they are processing it.

 

[Grigio Van Grigio]

Cheers. I’ll phone them on Monday. I can now transfer my NCD from 15/08 as I’ve sold my other van but I still want to understand if they know their own underwriting manual.

 

[Grigio Van Grigio]

Did you get this sorted? I’ve just got a letter from VWFS saying before they accept my NCD, they need to see the expiry date of the previous policy. This sort of suggests they still haven’t quite got it yet!

A quick update on this. I phoned VW and they confirmed this letter was sent out in error. Confirmed again, you only need to evidence two years no claims discount and not transfer it. I’ve decided not to transfer my seven year NCD so it isn’t affected should I have a loss in the next 12 months. I shall apply it to whatever policy I take out in 12 months.

 

[stationmaster]

Hello
I purchased a California and it is being delivered today - full retail price just below 75,000 - dealer sent over the required info. for me to contact VW Insurance and i called them, took 5 minutes and they put me on cover, did not ask about a tracker, £300 excess and it is fully comprehensive cover. Easy process. I think the tracker requirement is for full retail price over 75,000.

 

[Andy C Berks.]

A quick update on this. I phoned VW and they confirmed this letter was sent out in error. Confirmed again, you only need to evidence two years no claims discount and not transfer it. I’ve decided not to transfer my seven year NCD so it isn’t affected should I have a loss in the next 12 months. I shall apply it to whatever policy I take out in 12 months.

Just curious if you ever had any more contact from VW Insurance around the NCD? Asking because I had yet another let from them last week saying could I contact them about a problem with my insurance. So I phone them again, the lady on the phone says yes, it’s because you haven’t transferred your NCD to us. Quick conversation putting her right on that, and her then saying can I please send my NCD evidence across - me explaining this will be the 4th time. So it still rumbles on and I have chased again this week to say have they filed my NCD evidence on my record now (just so I have a record of being proactively in contact with them). At this rate will be at the first annual renewal date before get it sorted!

In the meantime I keep checking the MID database to make sure it’s still showing as insured - not really how it should be. I also have two other car policies coming up for renewal next month and not in the slightest am I inclined to give VW Insurance an opportunity to quote.