Car Insurance for 2nd car

Yes that's the way they work. I discovered the same some years ago when I had 2 cars. The solution my broker found was something called portfolio insurance. Basically one policy covering 3 cars (including the Boss's), house and travel insurance. Actually turned out to be good value.

Regards,

Willy.

Hi Shayman

I work in the non-life insurance industry and specialise in pricing commercial business.

The insurance industry seeks to get as much premium from as you will tolerate paying!

I have long felt that the policy of forcing you to "earn" another no claims discount on a 2nd vehicle is unfair because of the following.

Pricing a car policy is mainly affected by how "good" a driver you are. However you cannot derive any reliabile informatioin by asking prospective policyholders "How good a driver are you" as they will alll answer "Yery good". The only measurable way to create a "proxy" for the question is "how many accidents have you had in the last N year"? This is measurable and objective and hence forms the basis for the premium rating calculation. Other items are also important, such as make and model and the type of driving you do (i.e commerial driving or Social/pleasure).

Hence, if you are claim free, and hence a "good driver" you should not have to do this AGAIN IN A SECOND car so as to obtain the discount for the second car (by proving you can drive this 2nd car as good as you drive the first one)!!

What you might find (and a good broker if often the best way of achieving this) is that a reasoned arguement might find you an "introductory" discount (often up to 40-50%) for the second car.

It may also be possible to insure the 2nd car with a spouse as the main drier and you as a named driver. (at a more favourable rate)

You will also find that adding a spouse to your policy REDUCES the premium (this is due to the fact that the claims experienced for married persons is better than for single people, despite the fact that there are more people available to drive the vehicle)

YOu might also find that the premium on your 1st car reduces when you state that you have "access" to a second vehicle, This is because you cannot drive both at the same time and hence there is a reduced probability of a claim.

However, for safety, I'd contact your insurer (or broker) to ensure they are hapy with your coverage and price as you would not want to have a claim denied if they feel that you underpaid on the premium due to the second no claims discount. All told, they may agree to the coverage at the price already stated rather than loose your custom.

Regards P

Thank you very very much for your interesting and detailed (PatG) posts.

I just rang elephant (who insure my current car) told them my situation and they offered me 3 years no claims discount for the second car's starting NCB. This brought the premium down by nearly 200 quid so I must say I'm very happy with them.

Thanks again.

Jonathan