Insurance declined with Admiral

[keacal2705]

Hi guys,

Thought I would get a quote from my insurers, Admiral, in readiness for collecting my vehicle. I am on a multicar policy and read on the forum of other users that insure with Admiral. However as soon as I said it was a VW California, i.e camper, she said she thought they wouldn't insure. The system surprised her by letting her take things further but eventually it said no!

Any ideas on this? I am sure I read someone saying they use Admiral as there was a discussion about an insurer not insuring if you were away from the vehicle for a few days.

There has been a lot of you saying your insurance is cheap. Sadly my no claims is not near a maximum so I think I will get walloped.

I would like suggestions for good insurers but not the firm that seem to want an update as soon as you venture further than 10 feet from the vehicle!

Finally, when asked if there were extras, do I mention the awning and bike rack? What about the Brandrup storage? I dont know what is standard and what is extra on these motors (I know Brandrup is extra but not sure if the sort of thing an insurance firm need to know).

Thanks in advance.

 

[Martin]

I don't have any 'no claims' at all as I had a company car for much of my driving life and my current insurance with Comfort was still only £270 with two named drivers and 10,000 miles per year, we also tried to insure with Direct Line when we first got our Cali, they refused to insure it aswell at the time.

 

[keacal2705]

Do you remember the name of this insurer that has an issue with leaving the camper unattended for a few days? They just sounded a nightmare. If that isnt comfort then I will call them. Ta

 

[Martin]

I think that is Comfort actually!

 

[BerndRos]

Comfort , Safeguard....suspect them all until proven otherwise....

 

[keacal2705]

Doh! Just realised there is an insurance section on here. Can this post be moved so I am not guilty of putting something where it doesnt belong? Will have a read through the insurance section for companies to use. Been quoted £510 by Comfort but I expected that as got two claims in last 5 years

 

[John]

Found you a new home in insurance. :grin:

John

 

[DavidofHook]

Comfort are the ones who won't let you leave the van anywhere without carrying out a check of the site at a cost of ,I think £15 to you.
I went to Admiral and nearly got accepted but had to do it on the phone, these websites can't cope with campers. Reason i didn't proceed was that they offered a 2 cars for one and when we talked about our Smart the price went through the roof. Don't know why, could be a claim last year of course!

We stayed with the Camping and Caravan Club in the end at £340. Even they were hard to deal with, wanted a rising post in my drive to deter thieves. When I pointed out that it was my everyday car they said it was the value. They wouldn't want the post if I reduced the value to below £40000 which, with a new Cali was slightly under priced. I was tempted but then asked them to speak to the underwriters on the basis that if it was a Merc or BMW then they wouldn't ask for the post in the drive. They relented in the end. And no worries about leaving it in an airport carpark for 2 weeks!

Extras? Well, My old T$ Westie came with a bike rack and some Brandrupp storage pockets so I didn't declare them as extras and I have followed the same approach with the new Cali, they are part of the van as far as I am concerned.

Hope this helps

David

 

[keacal2705]

Thanks DavidofHook,

Tried Camping&Caravanning insurers. They lost interest when I said I wanted to use it as a work vehicle. The best they could do was one insurance said I could drive it to work and back. I am waiting on a quote from the firm that was suggested by this forum where we get a 10% discount.

Having said I wanted to avoid Comfort because of their daft rule, I am starting to think it wont affect me. They dont issure if you park the car at an airport car park and go awaywhich was a tad annoying but I dont think I would want to park my VW at an airport car park anyway.

If I continue to hit obstacles I will go with Comfort.

Ta

 

[eanni]

I was with Sheila's Wheels and they also declined when I was changing to my new California -did a few searches on line and by far the best was VW Insurance - less than all the compare sites - OK I did negotiate a bit with the person on the phone. Great cover, low excess and great price!

 

[keacal2705]

Hi eanni,

What is the website for vw insure please? I googled it but several firms come up which mention vw in a variety of names.

Ta

 

[calikev]

Try here https://www.insurewithvolkswagen.co.uk/ ... Insurance/

 

[ejmoore]

We had trouble finding anyone to insure our California because we have to park it on the street - everyone refused immediately, except Adrian Flux, who are specialist brokers (for things like kit cars etc). They gave us a reasonable quote.

 

[keacal2705]

Thanks calikev, will call tomorrow.

Thanks ejmoore, tried to speak with Adrian flux earlier but for one reason or another didn't manage it. Even had other insurers saying to call them so shall call tomorrow,

Thanks

 

[sebking]

Currently with Direct Line on our Cali (Van insurance, not car), gives Biz use which was needed but as a van has a massive excess. Other than that it's about £350. Will take a look at comfort on renewal as they now can add the biz side. Wouldn't touch Flux ever again...

 

[GeoffB]

My car is insured with Saga (OK, I'm an oldie! :grin: ) but when I tried to get a quotation for the Cali got the message after filling in all the details "unable to insure this vehicle." Best quote so far was Comfort at £284, worst was RAC at £381. Looks like I will be going for Comfort!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi,
we recently took delivery of a new Cali. Our friend (ex insurance guy and Cali owner ) recommended a broker called Comfort Insurance, link below. They gave us a deal of £304 ! on 10,000 miles. We have full no claims though. The policy is with Aviva and gives us everything we want in terms of overseas travel and our son as a driver ( age 32). We did not take breakdown cover as its a new Cali with warrenty

I had been insured with M&S on a Nissan x trail which was more expensive but M&S also declined to insure the Cali.

Hope this helps
Barry from Bath
http://www.comfort-insurance.co.uk/

 

[keacal2705]

I have been told by Comfort that it is Aviva policy or they underwrite it and another broker say Aviva is good for Cali yet when I rang they couldnt locate my vehicle from the log book so cant quote me :censor :headwall :crazy

So comfort it is then

 

[BerndRos]

Comfort really is the best I think. Just bear in mind their 36 hour unattended in Europe rule, following which you have NO cover at all, pending the vehicle being under your control again.

 

[keacal2705]

Thanks, yes I will be def going with them. In fact because I reduced my estimated mileage down to 10,000, they requoted £425 and £483 with the aa cover. I was getting quoted anything from £700 to £1200!

If I hadnt got two blasted claims against me then it would have been well cheap.

I did say to them that they are missing out on loads of people that wont insure because of the three day rule and encouraged them to re-look at it (not that they will). I also encouraged them to read the forum as they should link up with us. Apparently we tried to get them on board as partners before but they said there wasnt enough in it marginwise. However they seem to be missing an opportunity to capture potential Cali owners or current Cali owners. Hopefully they will read the forum and realise we are a nice bunch

 

[eanni]

Hi keacal 2705 - sorry been away in Cali for a few days experienceing the islands off the west coast! The web site I used was https://quoteandbuy.insurewithvolkswage ... icle.faces

Give it a go!

eanni

 

[Gulliver]

We collect our Cali this week ( :barmy ) and have just insured it with Admiral on a multi car policy at a reasonable price. They include specific reference to Camper Vans in their policy documents so I can't understand why they declined you outright. (Having said that, when I called for a quote they initially said it was insurance group 99! and would cost more than a Aston Martin,but after I challenged it the person at the other end input the details manually and everything was okay.)
On the topic of extras, they didn't seem concerned that we had an awning and bike rack - they just wanted to know if the suspension had been lowered or the engine chipped.

 

[sebking]

Direct line, no issues.

 

[JockMacMad]

I insured mine with A-Plan that I found on these forums. Great service and I poured over the policy wordings and between Comfort and A-Plan it came down to the 36 hour rule being the sticking point for me with Comfort.

One thing I liked was bein able to ask for variations and that Neil at A-Plan can negotiate with the underwriters

Best bit was VW actually came in with a contending policy. At first it seems quite expensive until you look at the over and what it includes. By the time these additions are added to a normal policy I found they came within £30. They even managed to beat my existing broker who I do my car insurance with...