Insurance

Probably because it was cheaper than third party only.

Probably because the kind of folk who take out third party only have a high accident rate.

Not always. We paid £170 for our Motorhome insurance in March and got £32,000 back when it got stolen. (More than I would have got selling it privately).

Doubt it will make much difference.

Sorry, can?t help you there.

Tim

We were very happy with our last couple of Astra estates. Boring but quiet and pleasant to drive, nice practical boxy space and useful set of roof bars.

Since you know that the insurance will never fix your car, a good ploy is to opt for a large voluntary excess - say £1000. That should bring the premium down by more than reducing the notional value.

Is there any structural damage to your car - or is it just the plastic bumper? If the latter, get a replacement bumper from a breakers yard.

Thanks, I might investigate that idea when my next car loses its resale value.

Unfortunately a lot has been pushed in, sides and lights damaged as well as a re-enforcement bar pushed into the aircon radiator. So I could spend a fair bit at the breakers, and then there is the bonnet to close.

It would be cheaper me buying another working car of the same age, and swapping parts between them to keep one going. And selling bits I don't need on eBay. However, need space to store things. Er, no.

I'll be shopping, probably end up with another Octavia.

You don't do that much damage by accidentally reversing into a car. That amount of damage suggests it was a ramming.

I had my 200SX reversed into by a petrol tanker about 2 years ago. He was using a weight limited road as a cut though. Someone saw it and left me his reg number. Just put a small scratch up the nose, broke the number plate, distorted the number plate mount and pushed the wing out so it detached about 10mm from the arch liner.

Beware that the excess also applies if you have an at-fault claim. For example, you run into the back of another car and it's clear that it's your fault. So you're not putitng at risk just the value of the car but the full value of the excess.

That said, you may still reckon it's worth it given your assessment of the risks.

IME changing the voluntary excess doesn't make a huge difference once you go above £150 - maybe about £5-10 on the premium per step (£250 -> £500 v.excess, etc). So for me it doesn't work out worthwhile, but everyone's quote is going to be different.

ISTM they don't pay a lot of attention to the value figure you provide, they calculate costs based on the make/model of car you have, its age etc. So if you want to save on insurance, run some quotes with different cars and see how it affects the premium.

For example, one car has a base spec model in insurance group 15, and the model with Bluetooth and better speakers in group 16. There seems to be a threshold at 15 that means the group 16 car has a noticeable jump in insurance, even though the actual difference is irrelevant to the number of accidents (it's not a car for boy racers).

Theo

With my insurance policy, the excess doesn't apply to third-party claims

- just for damage to my own vehicle.

Because it is the cheapest option ?

Because the people who ask for TPI insurance are bad risks.

People who have a car worth only £1 will be bad risks. Just play about with a online quote sites; 'Household duties' is a much better then being 'unemployed'.

People who have a large excess will not be a standard risk.

I'm on my third, but the roofbars from my 1998 Astra F dont clip securely onto the Astra H bars. Bugger.