Time to renew insurance

[IainB]

It's that time of year when the insurance renewal notice arrives and many hours are then spent trying to find better deals. Currently with AIB. My current car insurer Churchill could not quote (potential for multi vehicle - or so I thought). LV offered a very low quote, and having spoke to them to clarify coverage they lowered it more by reclassifying our Ocean "car" to a MotorCaravan. Sounded good, too good maybe ! Read through policy content, checked other details and I'm a little uneasy so backing off for now. Did a few other quotes online, Safeguard, not unreasonable with full "camper" coverage provided. Comfort, must have a tracker so did not continue with quotation process. Still looking, but slim pickings at present !!!

Update 8th April
Caravan and Motorhome Club insurance also require a tracker to be fitted due to value. Called LV again to discuss cover and still not comfortable that all bases are covered. Also discussed with our current insurer AIB and have decided to stay with them. Maybe costing a bit more but for us gives peace of mind.

 

[Mollymoo]

It's that time of year when the insurance renewal notice arrives and many hours are then spent trying to find better deals. Currently with AIB. My current car insurer Churchill could not quote (potential for multi vehicle - or so I thought). LV offered a very low quote, and having spoke to them to clarify coverage they lowered it more by reclassifying our Ocean "car" to a MotorCaravan. Sounded good, too good maybe ! Read through policy content, checked other details and I'm a little uneasy so backing off for now. Did a few other quotes online, Safeguard, not unreasonable with full "camper" coverage provided. Comfort, must have a tracker so did not continue with quotation process. Still looking, but slim pickings at present !!!

We have just gone through the same options as yourself decide to go with AIB not the cheapest but somewhere in the middle, got the documents after more than a week and a lot of the info was wrong just waiting for them to sort out.

 

[Calfe600]

Hi, I have been going through the same process for our long awaited GC, LV seem unbeatable but I would be really grateful to learn what your reservations are? We have previously used Comfort, great customer service, but not price….
Thanks in anticipation

Alun

 

[Doorbundle]

We use LV as part of a Multicar policy, this year the Cali bit was £246.96. Been with them for years.
Only one (Non-Cali) claim.
No complaints.

 

[IainB]

We have just gone through the same options as yourself decide to go with AIB not the cheapest but somewhere in the middle, got the documents after more than a week and a lot of the info was wrong just waiting for them to sort out.

We're just going over the AIB renewal, and there are errors on it also. Not sure if we will continue with them or not though. Just gone through the CAMH website for a quote and it comes in slightly less than AIB.

 

[IainB]

Hi, I have been going through the same process for our long awaited GC, LV seem unbeatable but I would be really grateful to learn what your reservations are? We have previously used Comfort, great customer service, but not price….
Thanks in anticipation

Alun

Just a general unease with a policy that appears more suited to cars, even though they stated that they could cover the Cali, but it would be re-classified as a VW motor caravan (in line with the v5) for the purposes of their system. Their system and the insurance policy would however make no mention of the fact that it is a California Ocean.

 

[IainB]

We use LV as part of a Multicar policy, this year the Cali bit was £246.96. Been with them for years.
Only one (Non-Cali) claim.
No complaints.

That's good to hear. Can you advise how LV have classified your Cali, they said they would need to re-classify ours as a VW motor caravan instead of leaving it as a VW California Ocean, which dramatically reduced the premium.

 

[Trevor Brown]

I have used NFU for a multiyear policy. On a VW Cali, Porsche Macan S and Mazda MX-5 the renewal was circa £900. Hope that helps.

 

[IainB]

I have used NFU for a multiyear policy. On a VW Cali, Porsche Macan S and Mazda MX-5 the renewal was circa £900. Hope that helps.

Thanks, never thought to look at NFU.

 

[66tim99]

After talking to LV twice at length about camping accident cover etc I’m happy they know what they’re insuring. There’s a thread here.
https://vwcaliforniaclub.com/threads/insurance.37084/page-5#post-554313

 

[Calfe600]

I rang and spoke to LV, as there was no option to update spec online. V pleased to be told that everything is covered, so no need for extra premium for roof mounted sat or air con as with most of the other quotes. No tracker requirement with them either (?), and good multi car discount. Will try NFU too, hadn’t thought of them.
Thanks for comments and contributions.
Alun

 

[Hawthorn37]

I had a number of quotes a few months back. Noted that our quotes from AIB, Comfort and Safeguard used the same Aviva motor home insurance policy, same wording. Minor differences between them in terms of standard contents cover, and reduced premium for a tracker. Also the terms of the “new replacement” slightly different. Costs were varied, although only around 20%. In the end we opted for Comfort as the best fit for us, particularly the contents cover.

 

[Spotlight Kid]

Prices seem to have gone through the roof this year. My premium has increased by 40% so I started looking around and the Comfort quote I just got is even more at just over £1k with breakdown cover!

 

[ArunAlec]

Prices seem to have gone through the roof this year. My premium has increased by 40% so I started looking around and the Comfort quote I just got is even more at just over £1k with breakdown cover!

Mines dropped By £60! 4 cars including the California …. £596…. A small window in the driver age loading, too old to be a “risky” driver but not yet old enough to be a hazard on the roads!

 

[Ozzy Pete]

So many variables. Age and how many drivers. Mileages. Occupation. Vehicle value.Where parked at night. Where you live. Any claims and who was at fault. Any convictions.
What’s good for one family won’t suit another. You just need to find the best deal you can or it just drives you crazy comparing the different insurers.

 

[Spotlight Kid]

Thing is, nothing has changed since last year except I'm a year older. Same van, same house, still retired, full no claims, no convictions. Don't understand why everone is quoting me such a high price. I've tried all the companies I can think of and the comparison sites and they are all exorbitantly expensive.

 

[Ozzy Pete]

Thing is, nothing has changed since last year except I'm a year older. Same van, same house, still retired, full no claims, no convictions. Don't understand why everone is quoting me such a high price. I've tried all the companies I can think of and the comparison sites and they are all exorbitantly expensive.

That certainly doesn’t seem right. Our insurance went up about £40 but we did have a claim from storm damage on the car. Try ringing them and ask why it’s gone up so much, there must be a reason.

 

[Hawthorn37]

I’d be tempted to your current insurer (Comfort?) and ask them what in your profile is making the change. It’s possible that someone has entered a risk that isn’t valid / correct.

 

[Spotlight Kid]

I plan to give them a ring once the bank holiday is over. I'm mystified at what's happened. I wondered if this was a general increase across the board for vehicle insurance but from what you all say that is not the case.

 

[jeff]

I plan to give them a ring once the bank holiday is over. I'm mystified at what's happened. I wondered if this was a general increase across the board for vehicle insurance but from what you all say that is not the case.

My insurance with the ccc went down about 30% I have just paid £225.00
fully comp.

 

[Spotlight Kid]

My insurance with the ccc went down about 30% I have just paid £225.00
fully comp.

It's the CCC that I'm with so I'm really mystified at my quote

 

[Spotlight Kid]

Seems I'm being hammered for a combination of living in East London and using the van as my only vehicle. All the insurers seem to have suddenly taken a dim view of this. Maybe I shou;d buy an electric scooter and claim that is my main vehicle!

 

[Hawthorn37]

Seems I'm being hammered for a combination of living in East London and using the van as my only vehicle. All the insurers seem to have suddenly taken a dim view of this. Maybe I shou;d buy an electric scooter and claim that is my main vehicle!

Well at least you have some form of rational answer, even though it isn’t what you’d like. In fairness, when arranging our insurance, the brokers wanted to understand what other vehicles we had access to and how we’d use the van. Looks like we need to keep the Robin Reliant going for a while!

 

[Joker 1299]

Well at least you have some form of rational answer, even though it isn’t what you’d like. In fairness, when arranging our insurance, the brokers wanted to understand what other vehicles we had access to and how we’d use the van. Looks like we need to keep the Robin Reliant going for a while!

If you had a ‘Robin Reliant’ then you’d know it was a Reliant Robin.

 

[66tim99]

Seems I'm being hammered for a combination of living in East London and using the van as my only vehicle. All the insurers seem to have suddenly taken a dim view of this. Maybe I shou;d buy an electric scooter and claim that is my main vehicle!

I live in east London and the Cali is my only vehicle and zero no claims, but it’s parked in a basement car park, I don’t use it for business and have a 10k annual mileage limit. £540 with LV but it says 60% NCD after 1 year so hoping no big hikes to eat that.
Have you tried LV?