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UK Insurance Ballpark Figures for City Dwellers?

I tried both with and without the missus on there. Adding her only put another ~ £90 onto the quote. So not that much of a difference, really

The odd thing is, she's had her provisional licence for 21 years. She got it when she was younger so she could ride a 125 and she has a wee scooter now. But she's never had a car so never needed to take a driving test. I wonder if that's considered good? [as in has held a provisional licence for 20+ years] or bad? [as in has held a provisional licence for 20+ years but never passed a driving test]

TBH I doubt your wife's history on a provisional would count for anything, one way or another. A provisional license is just that - it is intended as a step to full legality - not a loop hope (as an aside, if you can safely ride a 125 for years, or drive a reliant 3 wheeler sensibly, why the hell wouldn't you take your test? Even a bike test, to ride a little scooter? Unless you aren't confident of passing, which reinforces the idea of compulsory CBT.... but anyway...).

Based on all you've said, Steve's comments seem sensible - i.e. mid to high hundreds, depending on what exactly you are buying. Pretty much all insurance underwriting is driven through algorithms now, based on a huge number of variables - post code is important both from the perspective of risk (of loss) but also risk of fraudulent claims (both of which impact inner cities, so its a double whammy). Few companies really do individual underwriting, though they will have a healthy "wriggle room" on their automated quotes, to facilitate the idea of negotiating.

I'd suggest you hit as many potential quote sites as you can, note the best and use this as a blunt instrument for negotiation. Worth noting that many of the "insurance companies" are nothing of the sort - they're mostly brokers - the same half a dozen companies underwrite most of this.
 
More thoughts to reduce costs fit with stand alone fuel cut off valve a Tracker system there are a few companies that supply this service and I know smart water is more for bikes but if it cost ten quids and saves you twenty a year after you are quids in BUT unfortunately all these suggestions can only be done when you have your own truck when you are looking for quotes is there much more difference between a Colarado UK vehicle and a Prado Jap import for a press of a few buttons on your keyboard got to be worth some minutes of your time
 
Well, the guy selling the Colorado I was watching on eBay didn't bother getting back to me when I asked him for some photos of the underside. So I'll not be bidding on that one.
when you are looking for quotes is there much more difference between a Colarado UK vehicle and a Prado Jap import...

Yes. Why is that? The last couple of quotes I got were for a UK model. I previously put in details of a Jap import and the quotes were much higher. How come? Same motor, same engine size, same spec [with the odd variation in interior optional extras] and RHD. Why the discrepancy?
 
Well, the guy selling the Colorado I was watching on eBay didn't bother getting back to me when I asked him for some photos of the underside. So I'll not be bidding on that one.


Yes. Why is that? The last couple of quotes I got were for a UK model. I previously put in details of a Jap import and the quotes were much higher. How come? Same motor, same engine size, same spec [with the odd variation in interior optional extras] and RHD. Why the discrepancy?
Jap imports or Imports in general tend to be more to insure because the parts to repair are often slightly different and not available from UK dealers ....that always used to be the case.... but on a vehicle of that vintage would be unlikely to be repaired in event of a major damage incident so a bit of a moot point now .
 
Well, this is interesting. Given the dearth of Colorados / Prados about on eBay / Gumtree at the moment, I just stuck the details of a couple of mid-2000s LC5s into the insurance comparison sites and got back quotes that were actually a wee bit cheaper than the ones I'd been getting for the late 90s Colorados / Prados. It really is a roulette wheel, this insurance quote malarky. I'd not even bothered looking at the LC variants as I assumed that, if I was getting such high quotes for a 20+ year old Land Cruiser, then quotes for the newer, more high spec models would be even more eye-watering.

No wonder one of the comparison sites is called "confused.com"!

Oh well. At least this widens my options quite a bit now, as I hunt for a Land Cruiser. There are far more of the LCx ones about than there are Colorados / Prados. It's just a pity nearly everything seems to be an auto.
 
I wouldn't get hung up on wanting a manual when looking at later vehicles....
I've got a manual 80 series and also for a while had an auto at the same time .... the auto was better off road and for towing and later autos are much better than the reliable but stone age auto fitted to most 80's .
My wife's Merc is a 7 speed auto and it's way better than a manual box .
Only reason I can see now for a manual is the fact you can tow or bump start it in remote area's if the battery dies.... in all other ways a modern auto is equal or better than a manual
 
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Well, I'm being gradually persuaded not to rule out an auto [which is probably just as well, as they seem to outnumber manuals by about 4 to 1 in the ads I'm seeing.

My main concern, [as discussed in another thread] is more to do with my having absolutely zero experience of autos. I've never even sat behind the wheel of one, much less driven one. So, shopping for an LC with an auto box, I'd be clueless as to whether or not it was doing what it's supposed to do properly, when I took it for a test drive. Whereas, with a manual, I can get a reasonable feel for the state of clutch and gearbox pretty quickly.

As I say though, I'm not as steadfastly opposed to the idea of an auto as I once was. Just a bit a'feared of the 'unknown factor.'.
 
Best bet is just to get out there and drive a few (CV19 permitting). Autos should change up and down smoothly, drop a gear on kick down when you floor the accelerator, and hold on a moderate slope, facilitating pull away without handbrake if needs be. Ideally get it hot and work it on a long hill climb and watch for slipping or nasty smells. Personally I still prefer driving a manual (our 80 and Hilux are both manuals), but autos have their place (my DD Lexus is an auto and a lovely drive).

Oh, and if you're new to autos, you need to watch you don't accidentally try to use the (non-existant) clutch - and stomp on the brake pedal with your left foot by accident! If in doubt fold your left leg across the front of the seat, to remind you not to use it.
 
The more I look into this, the more I'm convinced that the insurance companies just spin a big roulette wheel or press a button marked 'Random Number Generator' before issuing a quote. I've got my details and those of the missus saved on one of the comparison sites and, over the past couple of weeks, as I've been perusing the 'ads on eBay and Gumtree, I've been updating my quote by putting in the reg no. of various trucks on my watch list.

As you can see, with the exception of the quote for the D4D LC5, the only thing that's changing on all of these quotes is the reg no. of the vehicle, the year [between 1997 and 1998] and the proposed start date [between 31st July and 3rd June] and yet the quotes fluctuate by more than £100. Even changing the trim level from GX to VX changed the quote on the exact same vehicle [It seems having a second aircon switch in the rear makes your vehicle £7 more of a risk to insure!]...


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I think this one is my favourite though. Last night. Just for the LULZ [as the kids say], I stuck the same details into my current insurance company, who I had my VW camper insured with....


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If there's an award out there for All-Time Most Ridiculously Inappropriate Usage of the Word ONLY, I think we've found a winner!

For double the amusement, I had a missed call* from them this morning. Some poor call centre monkey they employ was obviously rubbing their paws together, in horribly mis-placed anticipation of a nice juicy commission.


* By "missed call" I mean I looked at who was ringing, thought "You must be fecking joking!" and didn't bother to answer.
 
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Just for my tuppence worth.......
I drive an Auto 1999 Collie and love it although I'd like a 6th gear. I insure thru Lancaster including Roadside/Recovery etc. comes out under £400 if paid in one lump and it made no difference whether I applied with no NCB or 9 years worth, as everyone says its a lottery if your numbers, post code etc are correct you get a reasonable price. Good Luck with your LC journey which ever way you go :thumbup:
 
Get some very basic mods on there and try 2Gether and their 'modified' 4x4 insurance. I have 2 x 80 series with them both at £300 pa. They only insure modified vehicles. So AT tyres, a bash plate underneath and it's modified in their eyes.
 
I insure thru Lancaster including Roadside/Recovery etc.

This was one of the things I noticed about all those comparison site quotes. They all included things like roadside recovery, courtesy vehicle etc. I don't know if those are standard on all policies now, or are things which are bumping up the premiums. But there was no way on the forms to de-select those as optional extras.

I suppose I could ring one of the companies and haggle to remove those things and see if that brings the quote down. But, quite frankly, I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than have to deal with phoning any call centre, least of all an insurance company one. So I might just suck up the extra <whatever it is> per year, to avoid that torment.

Get some very basic mods on there and try 2Gether and their 'modified' 4x4 insurance. I have 2 x 80 series with them both at £300 pa. They only insure modified vehicles. So AT tyres, a bash plate underneath and it's modified in their eyes.

I might give that a go. As, if I can find a nice reliable vehicle, I'll be treating it to a few accessories over the coming months. Quite ironic that one insurance company will only insure it if it's got mods and most of the others will only insure it if it's not modded in any way.

Since it's all a legalised protection racket and the feckers will do everything they can, anyway, to avoid paying out in the case of a claim, I don't see any harm in describing the same vehicle as "modded" to one firm and "not modded" to another, in order to get the best quote.

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Well, this is interesting. I just ran the comparison site quotes again. Same type of vehicle, same age, etc. But, this time for a manual instead of an auto and...



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I never knew it made a difference whether the transmission was auto or manual. But those are around £100 or so lower than the best quote I've had for an auto so far.

This is almost into acceptable territory for me. As I've said before, my mental dividing line is at about £365 / year as, anything below that I can think of as less than a quid a day. My previous premium was £270. But that was for a 1,6l van and without the missus as a named driver. So, not too shoddy, if I can move up to a 3l Land Cruiser + named driver for another £150 or so.
 
My daughter damaged another car so lost her ncb then her fella wrote it off losing his . Horrified that insurance cost more than doubled she hammered away at getting quote after quote for about 3 weeks and in doing so actually trebled it .

Its a profit driven scam so their car is now parked in my backyard for a month in the hope the computer generated bullshit reboots before she gets one quote from Admiral (because it seems to be the biggest car insurer i the UK) and if they can't afford the price given the car gets sold . Over 3 grand to insure a 13 year old Honda Jazz ........ not for profit my ass .
 
It really is a ridiculous protection racket. If you've read the full thread you'll have seen that the insurers for my previous vehicle quoted me £3615 for vehicles I'm getting quotes in the £400s and £500s from the comparison sites. And that's for someone mid 50s with a clean driving licence held for 25+ years and 9 years NCB. What would they quote someone in their early 20s with a new licence?

In addition to the randomness of it all, something else I found out the other day; if you arrange the policy further in advance, it costs less. I'd got quotes of about £500-£600 for a vehicle I went to look at earlier this week, on the basis of the policy starting at the end of the month.

In case I decided to buy that vehicle [SPOILER: I didn't] I put exactly the same details in, but changed the start date to that day. The premiums went up to £700 - £800. Then I looked at the price of temp insurance, to see how much that would be to cover me for driving it home; £76 for 2 hours!

So, if you give the insurance company a couple of week's notice of when you want the policy to start [which is impossible on a vehicle you haven't bought yet], your policy might be £200 cheaper. But, those quotes are only valid for 24 hours so, by the time you've actually bought the vehicle that quote will have expired and you'll have to get a new quote for a policy to start immediately... in which case it'll go up by £200.

Talk about 'damned if you do, damned if you don't!'
 
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I had multi policy with admiral so called them when I got 200. I was surprised by the quote. I dont exactly remember how much it was but not much more than my 19 year old accord. Worth trying multi car policy. Admiral doesn't come up in comparison sites always so worth calling such insurance companies separately.
 
Mines now with Direct Line, another company not on the comparison sites but have their own website so you can quote without calling, think it was around £250 this year fully comp protected for the 120 but that could be £30 out either way given what passes for my memory, nice to deal with too if you need to speak to someone, two cars and the house insurance with them.

Used to have all our insurances with NFU at one time and i can't recommend them highly enough in how they dealt with the aftermath of a lightning strike 500 yards away which took half the house electronics out, but they priced themselves out of my wallet, maybe its because we live on the edge of a midlands town not officially rural.

Note if you haven't got them already, get surge protectors for your expensive audio/electronics.
 
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